![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, he has only ever once actually used it as a marble run. But my 5-year-old sees the pieces as a leprechaun-catcher, a fireworks-launcher, and a slushy machine. When I see the marble run, I feel like I should build a marble run. Kids are tiny scientists, and I find my kids’ brains can often imagine far more possibilities than mine. Letting them build imbalanced structures that you can tell will come crashing down has caused plenty of tears, but I try to remind myself that the more cause-and-effect they experiment with, the more adept they become at manipulating the materials. Often the hardest thing for me is to step back and try not to “fix” or guide my kids’ construction. I’ve found that having bins and baskets that sit within reach of my kids makes it much more likely that they go for these toys - and also makes it more likely they’ll help clean up. Even though it adds visible chaos, it’s worth it when I hear them pad out of their room before the sun is up and head straight for the blocks instead of waking me up. It makes for an ever-evolving march of beautifully colorful structures that are easy to throw back into baskets when your kid finally declares it okay to stop playing and clean up. We often use all of these toys in combination LEGO rooms accompany Magna-Tiles parking garages and are connected with marble-run bridges. They are modular, so it’s okay if you lose a piece under the couch, unlike with a jigsaw puzzle, and you can infinitely expand on sets that your kid loves. The best are usually made of wood or a durable plastic and can handle a lot of stacking, falling, and washing. A good open-ended building toy - whether blocks, Magna-Tiles, LEGOs, or marble runs - is made to withstand hard and repeated usage. Depending on the kid, the environment, their age, and their imagination, they can use them how they want. “Open-ended toys” is developmentalspeak for toys with which there’s no prescribed way to play. I’ve also worked on children’s physical- and digital-toy development for 15 years, started the team behind NYT “Parenting,” and, in the process, I’ve talked to hundreds of parents exhaustively about how and what their kids play with. I say this as a parent of two kids, ages 5 and 7. The modern toy world likes to tempt parents with colorful, battery-operated, fancy-looking playthings, but the toys that stand the true test of time are simple, open-ended building toys. ![]()
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