THE DAILY BELLELLI: The Power of Play by David Elkind

TOYS AREN'T US

Children learn about themselves and their world through their play with toys. 

Toy play is one of the ways in which children nurture their disposition for imagination and fantasy. Like other human potentials, imagination and fantasy can only be fully developed through practice. Yet the sheer number of toys owned by contemporary children weakens the power of playthings to engage children in dramatic thinking.

Whimsy and imagination are often stimulated by the simplest things...This imaginative activity is the basis of creativity in the arts and sciences.