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Show . Professor suggests type of toy most appropriate for all aqes trains, garden tools, farm sets, puppets, toy telephones and housekeeping toys. Equipment and toys which can be enjoyed with a friend and which provide opportunity for social development are dolls, blocks, balls, wagons, trucks, doll furniture, tea table, ta-ble, play tents .dishes, charts and a toy village. I H When the little ones climb upon Santa's knee, they'll undoubtedly un-doubtedly whisper in the jolly old gent's ear about glamorous dolls, wagons and bright red trucks. But how does the Santa Claus of every household go aDOut selecting toys for the two two to five-year-old girls and biys? Which doll or truck will be best for the child? Professor Carroll Lambert, assistant professor of family and child development at Utah State University and supervisor - of the Child Development Laboratory, Lab-oratory, offers some Christmas shopping hints. "Toys should be durable, safe, sanitary, well constructed, should meet the child's interests inter-ests and needs and should be suitable to his age and level of development," Prof. Lambert said. "Most of all, it should be a plaything with which the child j can do something," she stressed, stress-ed, "instead of something he can only watch. The more versatile ver-satile a toy is ,the more opportunities oppor-tunities it offers." Playthings for the child should be items which need little adult supervision super-vision not an electric train or complicated toy. "Many parents judge by looks and purchase expensive toys which require adult supervision. su-pervision. It would be better to buy three or four inexpen- sive toys the child can really play with," the laboratory supervisor su-pervisor said. "Because it is expensive does not mean it is good." Recommends Prof. Lambert highly recommended rec-ommended picture books, puppets pup-pets and manipulative toys with which children can become be-come involved. "Blocks are always al-ways good for children because they can use their imagination with them," she said. "If you're buying a truck, put money into one the child can actually ride on and put things in, rather than one he can only push." Prof. Lambert recommended well-bulit wooden wood-en trucks with ball bearing wheels rather than metal trucks. "Many metal trucks have sharp edges and don't last as long as wooden trucks would." ' If the Santa in your home is shopping for a doll buggy, the same hint applies. Buy a sturdy wooden buggy that a child canp ush dolls or another anoth-er child in, she suggested. Prof. Lambert recommended dolls that little girls can dress and said a rubber doll is more sanitary than one stuffed with cloth because it can be washed off easily, and the child can wash it as well. The simpler the toy is, the better it is. And the more uses a toy provides, the more fun a child can have with it. For example, ex-ample, a plain wooden truck, with a bit of young imagination, imagina-tion, can be turned into a fire-truck fire-truck or a moving van. The supervisor recommended the following toys for developing develop-ing strength in skill for preschool pre-school children: push and pull toys, wagons, wheelbarrows, wading pools, wooden beads to string and three-wheeled scooters. scoot-ers. She also recommended balls, roller and ice skates, bubble sets and simple throwing throw-ing games. For constructive and creative play, she suggested large hollow hol-low blocks, blunt scissors and colored paper, tinker toys, peg boards, blocks, simple tool chests and picture puzzles (five to eight pieces). In the dramatic and imaginative imagi-native play area, Prof. Lambert Lam-bert recommended doll carriages car-riages .brooms .sweepers .toy animals ,dump trucks, simple |
