Why are they not playing toys............advi ce

[5 Little Monkeys]

Yes, for sure! Pretty much all my toys are opened ended - play kitchen, baby dolls and accessories, dress up clothes, little people play sets, trucks and cars, dress up clothes, blocks. If the only play comes from pressing buttons itsn't going to keep them busy long.

it is very interesting to hear about the number of providers that seem to have kids unable to play with anything that isn't electronic. I feel lucky because I can't say I have that problem with my crew at all. Interesting...

Almost all my toys are open ended and I only have a few that require batteries ( hate those toys lol) but I have found a lot of kids are being given technology toys early on. I had one mom tell me that her child got an iPod of some sort for his 3rd birthday!! The even crazier part is that they returned it for one that was internet capable! ( the first one wasn't a regular iPod it was for children...I'm not up to date on tech stuff lol. Seriously this 3 year old knows more than I do!) I've also had a 4 year old who brought her own iPad ( yes her own! Brother had one too!) to daycare to use after nap. When I told mom she had to nap/lay quietly for 30 mins first, mom was ticked off at me!

I know technology is taking over but it blows my mind when such young kids are given access to it. I've worked with large groups in dc centres and the style of play has changed so much in the past 10 years. Kids pick up toy phones and take "pictures" with them instead of the toy camera, books get turned sideways and they are now "iPads", instead of pretending to go to the grocery store they go to the apple store!