Volume 12 - Issue 67
/ July 2023
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http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.67.07.16
How to Cite:
Artemova, L., Zahorodnia, L., & Marieieva, T. (2023). The choice of toys by early childhood children. Amazonia Investiga, 12(67),
173-184. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.67.07.16
The choice of toys by early childhood children
Вибір іграшок дітьми раннього віку (ukr)
Received: May 29, 2023 Accepted: July 18, 2023
Written by:
Liubov Artemova1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7070-2927
Liudmyla Zahorodnia2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2217-1041
Tetiana Marieieva3
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5664-4070
Abstract
The article deals with the problem of choosing toys
by children aged 0-48 months. It represents how
children's situational involuntary interest in toys
gradually transforms into cognitive interest. The
latter determines the young children’s choices in
various spheres of their life and, in particular, in
choosing among the most accessible and feasible
items – toys. The children’s cognitive interest in the
choice of toys has been studied in the object and toy
environment. A comparative analysis of children's
choices among three types of the most common toys
was carried out. It has been proved that figurative-
interactive toys are the most popular among young
children, figurative toys are in the second place, and
collapsible toys are in the third place. The
functional features of toys that encourage children
to choose them have been revealed: sound,
mobility, colour brightness. The more such features
a toy has, the more often children choose it, the
longer and more meaningful they play with it. It has
been found that young children choose toy
according to their psycho-physical, sensory
capabilities and skills to act with it.
Keywords: choice, early age children, figurative,
interactive and collapsible toys, properties of a toy,
toys.
1
Doctor of Pedagogical Science, Full Professor of the Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology Chair of Oleksandr Dovzhenko Hlukhiv
National Pedagogical University (Ukraine). Researcher ID: AAZ-4452-2021
2
Doctor of Pedagogical Science, Full Professor, Head of the Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology Chair of Oleksandr Dovzhenko
Hlukhiv National Pedagogical University (Ukraine) Researcher ID: AAY-2014-2021
3
Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology Chair of Oleksandr Dovzhenko Hlukhiv National Pedagogical
University (Ukraine) Researcher ID: AAW-9911-2021
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Introduction
A toy is one of the objects that attracts a new-
born’s attention from the first days of life. It
accompanies the child from an early age
throughout preschool childhood. That is why
toys have been created by adults and children
since prehistoric times and have changed and
become diverse according to the national and
civilizational development of mankind. Many
researchers have studied various aspects of
preschool children's development by means of
certain types of toys: figurative, didactic, mobile,
musical, etc. These aspects are less studied in
regard to early age children.
At the present stage, there is still a lack of
comparative studies on young children's choice
of a certain type of toy among others and analysis
of children’s activities with them. Previous
studies (Artemova, 2019; Artemova, 2021;
Artemova, Borova & Marieieva, 2022) revealed
a clearly expressed selective attitude of children
from the first year of life to certain toys and
leading actions and games with them. At the
same time, all known recommendations in early
childhood and preschool pedagogy on the
selection of toys take into account their
importance for certain aspects of children’s
development from the point of view of adults.
There are no recommendations that would take
into account the child’s interests and his or her
selective attitude to toys and play with them. That
is why there was a need to find out the main
priorities of toy selection by infants and toddlers.
The purpose of the study is to find out the
priorities of young children's choice of toys. It
involves the following tasks: 1) to study the
young children’s choice of toys of a certain type
among others; 2) to study the features of toys that
stimulate children's choice.
The results of the study will allow educators to
select toys for children of different age categories
of early childhood more skilfully, according to
children’s preferences and the developmental
effect of toys.
Literature Review
The toy as an object that accompanies children's
activities in the game, as well as its influence on
children has been studied in different historical
periods in various countries and in many aspects:
collapsible toys in sensory education (Froebel,
2005; Montessori, 2014), history of toy (Arkin,
1935; Elkonin, 1999), ergonomics of toys for
their perception and use by children (Radina &
Ezykeeva, 1968; Florina, 1973; Manchuk, 2018),
role of toys in sensory development of young
children (Kryvonis, Drobotiy & Achkasova,
2012), in the emergence and development of
preschoolers’ role-playing games (Havrysh &
Shchehlova, 2004; Hladun, 2005; Artemova,
2021), folk toys in child’s development
(Bogoraz-Tan, 1934; Bogoraz-Tan, 1939; Fihol,
1956; Naiden, 1999). Much less attention was
paid to toys regarding young children (Ministry
of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2006). The
mentioned research focused on a particular type
of toys and children's play with them; the toy was
considered from the psychological or
pedagogical position of an adult as an object
intended for the implementation of certain
cognitive and developmental tasks of teachers or
parents towards children.
According to Topaloğlu & Aslan Gördesli
(2012), the child’s choice of toys for a play is
important because they are a kind of bridge
between the imaginary and real situation during
the process of play. Scholars also indicate that the
toy should meet both the child’s age and safety
requirements.
Dag N., Turkkan, Kacar, & Dag H. (2021) trace
the influence of age-related characteristics on the
content of children's play activities from birth to
18 years and identify priority games and toys that
can be used in them. They also emphasise the role
of paediatricians and family physicians as
advisors to parents on the choice of toys for
children in terms of their safety and impact on
children's mental, social, emotional, mental and
physical development.
Onur Sezer & Sadioglu (2012) consider that toys
are closely related to a child's self-presentation,
imagination, interests, developmental level, and
understanding of gender. The researchers analyse
the impact of toys on a child's physical, mental,
social and speech development during early
childhood. They emphasise that the primary
factor in choosing a toy is the child’s age. In
particular, they believe that babies like colourful
rattles that stimulate all their senses, and these
toys play a big role in the development of their
senses, which are yet to be formed. Toddlers
prefer to play games where they assemble and
disassemble towers or other structures from
blocks of different shapes and sizes. Using their
newly acquired wrist movement skills, children
under 24 months prefer simple LEGO-sets that
they can use with other toys to act out simple
stories. Preschool children like different objects
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that stimulate the development of their creativity.
Based on this, scientists conclude that children
choose toys that enhance their skills, which they
are acquiring at their current age. That is,
according to Onur Sezer & Sadioglu (2012),
every child should play with toys that are
appropriate for their development and needs.
A similar point of view is supported by Healey,
Mendelsohn & COUNCIL ON EARLY
CHILDHOOD (2019). According to them, the
best toys are those that match children’s
developing skills and abilities and help them to
form new skills. Some toys are able to "grow
with the child" – can be used in different ways as
the child develops – 18-month-old child may
struggle to use the cubes functionally (e.g., by
stacking them one on top of the other), while 24–
36-month-old child may use them to participate
in complex symbolic play (e.g., feeding a doll
with a cube instead of a bottle) or to build a
bridge, demonstrating the development of spatial
perception.
Clarke (2022), based on the age characteristics of
infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, recommends
parents to have a separate set of toys for each year
of a child’s life that would stimulate their
development.
Dauch, Imwalle, Ocasio, & Metz (2018),
Koşkulu, Küntay, Liszkowski, & Uzundag,
(2021), Sivaraman & Skoler, (2023), studying
the problem of the number of toys that a young
child needs, concluded that when children have
fewer toys, it leads to better quality of play,
enhances the development of creativity and
promotes longer interaction with an adult
involved in children’s play. Scientists explain
that babies and toddlers are more easily
distracted when there are many toys in front of
them. This leads to a shorter duration of play with
each toy and a loss of opportunities for deeper
learning of particular toy. A large number of toys
also does not contribute to the duration of joint
play between a child and an adult. In addition,
researchers point out that open-ended toys, which
allow children to play in several ways, may be
the best option for toddlers.
The study by Todd, Barry, & Thommessen
(2016) was devoted to the choice of toys by
children aged 9-32 months of different genders.
According to their results, both boys and girls
showed a tendency to increase the dominant
choice of stereotypical toys for boys. At the same
time, the scholars emphasise that biological
differences give boys the ability to determine
how to act with a toy in a mental way, while girls
are more interested in looking at the face of a
figurative toy and are better at developing fine
motor skills and manipulating objects. In general,
researchers have found that children choose toys
according to their gender - boys are more likely
to play with masculine toys, and girls are more
likely to play with feminine toys. The study by
Lam (2023) notes that the tendency to choose
toys based on the child's gender begins to be
clearly visible from the age of 36 months, even
when playing with a new toy.
Taking into account the analysis of available
research in psychological and pedagogical
science, we consider it necessary to carry out
research on the choice of toys (figurative,
figurative-interactive, figurative-collapsible and
collapsible) by young children.
Methodology
The study was based on a personality-oriented
approach to the child, which covers identifying,
studying, understanding the interests of a kid that
determine his or her various choices, as well as
on the principle of subject-subject interaction
between an adult and a child, which involved
taking into account and supporting the child’s
choice.
The following research methods were used:
observation of children’s behaviour to find out
the interests and corresponding choices of young
children in the toy environment; creation of
situations for children to find their interests and
make them choose a toy among toys of different
types; recording of children’s actions,
statements, games, behaviour with chosen toys
by means of photo, video, audio recording;
surveying educators and children's parents in
order to identify interests, choice, and use of toys
by children.
The obtained data were subject to description,
comparative analysis, generalisation, scientific
interpretation, and evaluation.
The studying young children’s interests and
choices took place in the conditions of the
subject-toy environment in families and
preschool educational institutions in Ukraine and
in Germany. During the research, 990 choices of
toys by children were identified and analysed.
Results and Discussion
The scholars’ principled position was formed
under the influence of modern global trends in
the humanistic approach to the child who grows
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and develops in the conditions of
democratisation of social and educational
relations between the family and the preschool
education institution (Melnyk, Vertuhina,
Artemova, Avramenko, & Pavlushchenko,
2020). First of all, the toy was considered as an
object chosen by children according to their own
preferences and psycho-sensory capabilities.
Also, the toy was studied as a means of indirectly
encouraging the child to perform functional
actions with it and, therefore, as a stimulus for
the development of meaningful games of young
children (Artemova, 2019; Artemova, 2021;
Artemova et al, 2022). This approach ensured the
child’s self-expression, self-realisation
(Reipolska, 2020) in game actions, episodes of
the game plot and self-expression in game roles.
The analysis and interpretation of the research
results are presented in Table 1.
Table 1.
Children’s interest and choice of toys (number of choices)
Children’s age
up to 12 months
12-24 months
24-36 months
36-48 months
Total
Figurative toys
66
96
90
48
300
Figurative-
interactive toys
120
210
72
24
426
Figurative-
collapsible toys
0
18
36
12
66
Collapsible toys
18
102
66
12
198
Total
204
426
264
96
990
Table 1 shows that children are interested in
figurative toys even before the age of 12 months.
They are mostly attracted to soft animal toys. In
the age 12-24 months, children's interest in toys
and choice of them expands due to the increasing
of their assortment. Along with toy images of
various animals, children aged 12-24 months are
interested in and choose dolls and toys to play
with: children's kitchen, other household
appliances, and medical instruments. Children
know how to act with such objects because adults
use them in activities with or in the presence of
babies. As toddlers aged 24-36 months expand
their understanding of the environment, they
reproduce it in play with a wider range of toys:
baby dolls, a doctor doll, cartoon characters,
dinosaurs, and various utensils. Interest of
children aged 36-48 months in figurative toys
somewhat fades due to the satisfaction of the
need for their active use in various games in
previous years. For this reason, female children,
closer to 48 months become more interested in
and choose new toys, such as a Barbie doll and a
dollhouse. Thus, the peak of interest in and
choice of figurative toys is between 12 and 36
months. This trend has an explanation.
According to previous research (Artemova,
2019), by the age of 12 months, plot play only
begins in the form of individual imitative play
actions. In fact, the plot of the game (a
meaningful chain of play actions) emerges from
12 to 24 months. Therefore, children are
interested in and need toy household appliances
to reflect the adults’ current actions. At the age
of 24-36 months, toddlers already reproduce
elements of play roles – acting as mum, dad, car
driver with the appropriate toys. They also often
act like a doctor with some "medical
instruments". Toys such as a doctor dolls
(Aibolit, Dottie McStuffins, Peso from
Octonauts cartoon) are interesting to them as an
image, but they do not help them to realise the
role. Children manipulate such toys like
directors, i.e., move them, speak for them,
developing a directorial game. Role-playing and
directing games reach their peak at the age of 36
months. But children who play roles themselves
need toys or objects necessary for the
characteristic actions of the image they like and
reproduce. Therefore, the images of people and
animals expressed in a toy are of less interest to
them and are chosen less often than before, when
children were not yet able to identify themselves
with them in a game role.
Childrens’ (0-24 months) interest in figurative-
interactive toys and their choice grow twice as
compared to interest in figurative toys. They are
interested in toys that can act somewhat
independently by being able to set in motion.
Toddlers’ (24-36 months) interest in figurative-
interactive toys decreases slightly, and after 36
months, it halves. From the age of 12 months,
children are interested in a more diverse set of
toys, dividing their choice between figurative,
interactive and collapsible toys. This is due to the
sensory and motor development of children, in
particular, small hand muscles and motor
locomotion.
Some collapsible toys are designed in the form of
certain images (stacking toy in the form of a
duck, sorter in the form of a car). The choice of
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these toys was recorded only in a few children
after 12 months; interest of children aged 24-36
months in them grows twice, but it decreases
after 48 months.
At the same time, children's interest in
collapsible toys without a fixed image was quite
significant. A selective attitude towards them
was already noticed in children aged 0-12
months; at the age of 12-24 months, interest in
such toys increased almost 6 times; however, it
decreased by a third in children aged 24-36
months, and was clearly manifested only by 2
children at the age after 36 months. Children
aged 36-48 months made structures from
collapsible toys according to the situation
dictated by the game; sometimes they guessed an
image in the construction by association (for
example, G. aged 38 months, showing a tower
made of several parts, commented: "Ice cream!
Ice cream!"). Children aged 24-36 months were
not yet able to create an image based on a task,
picture or adult model.
In general, summarizing the analysis of the data
given in Table 1, we note the following. At the
age up to 12 months, children show interest in
different toys; it mainly concerns the choice of
figurative toys. However, babies prefer
figurative-interactive toys that attract them with
sound, mobility, brightness, that is, not so much
with their image, but with their interactive
characteristics. Children aged 12 to 24 months
are twice as likely to be interested in choosing
different toys. However, even at this age, the
predominant kids’ choice is still figurative toys.
Children choose figurative-interactive toys twice
as often among them. At the age of 24-36
months, children's interest in figurative toys
generally decreases, but they most often choose
figurative-interactive toys. Thus, if we analyse
the choice of different types of figurative toys by
young children, the following priority is obvious:
they most often choose figurative-interactive
toys, then figurative, and, finally – collapsible.
As the data summarised in Table 1 shows, most
of the toys chosen by infants among the
figurative toys were figurative-interactive. This
prompted us to find out what exactly attracts
children of the first year of life to these toys. The
analysis revealed the following interactive
properties of such toys:
1) sound of toys: sound effects, the ability of
rubber toys to squeak, bug to buzz, duck to
quack, doll, telephone to talk;
2) melodies, singing of musical toys – musical
carousel, toy piano, dog, bird, elephant,
fawn, bunny that sing, musical cube with
images of different animals on its sides,
multi-functional music centre;
3) attractive colours, their change, flickering,
brightness, contrasts;
4) movement of toys: cars, motorcycles, which
drive, ball, that bounces, rolls; dog, cat,
turtle, which walk, finger theatre with
images of animals that are set in motion by
fingers;
5) pleasant tactile sensations: softness of the
toy, it is pleasant to stroke, squeeze, press on
it;
6) size, weight: fits in the palm of the hand,
comfortable, easy to use – hold, lift, shake,
tap with a toy (teether to chew, massage the
gums),
7) practicality of the toy in use, when a child
with still imperfect sensory and motor
capabilities can use it in the game.
Children are most interested in toys with a set of
interactive features, for example, a beetle that
sounds like different animals, speaks, changes
colours, moves on the floor; a duck that quacks,
tilts and raises its head, steps with its paws, flaps
its wings, lays eggs; a finger theatre with images
of animals that can be moved by bending and
unbending fingers, imitating their sound; a bear
that sings and speaks. Such toys encourage the
child to imitate the sounds of conversations with
them, singing, dancing.
We will demonstrate the interest of children of
different genders in figurative toys:
0-12 months
Girls are interested in soft toys, for instance S.
(from 3 months) chose fish; V., U., H., S., G. –
various soft animal toys – dogs, cats, bears,
penguin, and rubber dog.
Boys are also interested in soft toys: A., M., 3.,
D., T. (from 3-6 months), M. (from 8 months),
A., O. chose dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, horses,
cows, goats, bull, birds, hares, bear, elephant,
rhino, lion, hedgehog, fish, shark, etc.
12-24 months
Girls S., G. chose a Ukrainian girl-doll, that
sings; E., V., V., V., V., V., O., M., S., M., V.,
V., O. (from 14-18 months) – pets (cat, dog,
horse, pig), aquatic creatures (fish, whale,
stingray, frog, crocodile); M., S., G. (12-18
months) – doctor’s/nurse’s instruments.
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Boys D., A., A. chose toy animals (horses, goats,
dogs, kittens, rooster, duck, bear cubs, monkey,
mice, hares); D. – toy kitchen, soldiers.
24-36 months
Girls S., G. chose baby dolls, animals, food,
dishes, household appliances, medical
instruments; V. – kinder-surprise toys without
small details, cartoon characters.
Boys: E. preferred baby dolls, dishes, dinosaurs;
A. – soft, rubber, plastic animals (panda, squirrel,
cow, horse).
36-48 months
Girls S., G. chose cartoon characters, baby dolls,
soft toys (elephant, Peppa Pig, cat), toy kitchen,
V. – Barbie dolls, dolls' house, M. – dinosaurs,
V. – medical kit, toy hairdresser, toy kitchen.
Boys R., B. were interested in dinosaurs, cars,
soldiers.
Here are examples of the revealed girls’ and
boys’ interest in figurative-interactive toys:
0-12 months
Girls: V. chose a talking doll, a toy piano with
programmed melodies and animal sounds; S., G.,
Al. (from 3-8 months) – rattles, musical toys;
Mar., M., S., G. – glowing balls, cars that make
sounds and glow; S. (from 3 months) – finger
theatre with images of animals; S., G. – duck that
quacks, walks, lays eggs, clockwork animals –
cat, dog, turtle, etc.
Boys: E. chose robots; Z. – mobile, musical
carousel; M., Mack, Mick, D. (from 3-7 months)
– car; D. – bizi-cube; E. – tractor, excavator.
12-24 months
Girls preferred to play with different toys: V.
chose interactive animals; S., G., Al. – doll
strollers; V. – rolling toy Bunny; S., G., V., M. –
balls, musical instruments, balloons; V., S., Zl.,
M., D., N., K., G, S., G. – trucks and cars with
opening hood, doors, lifting body, tractor with
trailer, garage.
Boys Ar., D., An., Ig., Myk., E., S. chose car,
tractor, ball; M. – music house.
24-36 months
Girls S., M., S., G. – dress-up doll, baby doll, car,
kettle from the toy kitchen that makes a sound
when it boils.
Boys D., B., N., S., Myk. – different cars, tractor;
B. – transformer.
36-48 months
Girls chose dress-up doll, baby doll, car, kettle
from the toy kitchen that makes a sound when it
boils, dancing cactus, interactive house.
Boys R., E., B. – ball that makes sounds, cars,
transformers, robots, gun that shoots balls,
military vehicles, helicopter.
Also, we found out the choice of collapsible toys
by children of different genders:
Girls and boys at the age of 0-12 months chose
stacking toys – stacking rings. puzzles, nesting
boxes, stack up cup toys.
12-24 months
Girls A., Z. S., G. chose construction sets with
large details; O. – LEGO-constructor set, S., G. –
stacking blocks, geosorter
Boys D., S., M., E., E. played with cubes,
construction set, puzzles, mosaic,
24-36 months
Girls U., S., G. preferred puzzles; V., S., G. –
cubes, construction sets.
Boys: D. – stacking blocks, construction set; O.
– LEGO construction set.
36-48 months
Girls used puzzles, mosaic, Lego constructor,
prefabricated house.
Boys chose stacking blocks, construction set,
transformer cars, cars that can be disassembled
into parts.
The analysis of the results allows us to assert that
infants mainly observe selectively the interactive
features of figurative toys, study them tactilely
and aurally. And only from the age of 11-12
months and later, they choose to imitate certain
interactive actions of toys: they sing, dance,
imitate sounds, and join in setting the toy in
motion.
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During the research, babies and toddlers chose
figurative toys without interactive features twice
as rarely as similar toys with interactive features.
Children were interested in:
1) attractive images of toys (penguin, Blue
Tractor, Peppa Pig);
2) similarity of toys to people and animals.
However, there were certain toys that caused
children's disgust. For example, the unpleasant
face of a teddy bear caused the girl O. (8 months)
to dislike it and not choose it among other toys;
girls S. and G. (after 7 months) always ignored
the plastic toy giraffe and did not choose it, but
their attitude to the giraffe was somewhat
improved by the adult's kind actions with it
(gentle stroking, intonations to it), pitiful
"complaints" of the giraffe about loneliness,
requests to children to take it to play with them.
Under the emotional influence of the adult's kind
attitude and the giraffe's "requests", the children
temporarily took it into their games, but soon
forgot about it.
Among the collapsible toys, the most interesting
for babies aged 6-12 months were those to which
they had free access and with which they could
perform various actions – folding/unfolding,
fastening/unfastening, etc. (puzzles, boxes,
nesting cups, stacking rings, etc.).
The possibility of active play according to the
design of the toy and the actions that the child can
perform with it encourages babies to choose
these toys. They are also happy with the achieved
result (assembled picture, inserted cup,
assembled tower of stacking blocks, etc.) and
draw adults’ attention to it, expect their praise.
Babies aged 12-24 months were more interested
in figurative-interactive toys than infants and
chose these toys twice as often as ordinary
figurative or collapsible toys.
Among the features of figurative-interactive toys
that interested children in the age of 12-24
months, we singled out the following:
1) sounds of animals, cars, tractors that
children imitate while playing with them;
2) musical accompaniment of a toy, which the
child listens to and imitates, sings or dances
to;
3) colour and brightness of the toy. First, the
colour of toy attracts the children’s attention,
and then its size, shape or pattern (police car,
animals, dolls);
4) movement: cars, helicopters-rollers, doll
strollers; ball that increases in size when
moving or acting with it;
5) number of different moving parts on the toy:
doors that open, wheels that spin, button that
starts the movement of the toy;
6) multifunctionality of the toy – transformer
toys.
It has been found that infants and toddlers
primarily choose figurative-interactive toys
based on identical interactive features and
functions (different movement, sound, colour
change, etc.).
According to the growing cognitive interests,
sensory and motor capabilities of babies, the
range of figurative-interactive toys they choose
to play with changes and becomes more diverse.
Thus, children turn from passive observers of the
actions of toys into active users, taking into
account their interactive properties.
It should be reminded that children aged 12-24
months chose figurative toys twice as rarely as
figurative-interactive toys. Along with individual
imitations of the sounds and movements of the
toy, babies were interested in a wider range of
functional play actions and their active
reproduction in the game. Namely:
1) to use toy animals (domestic and wild)
adequately;
2) to imitate the sounds made by animals and
their behaviour;
3) to reproduce sounds, special signals and
movements of different cars, robots, trolleys
or doll strollers;
4) to perform various actions with the doll's
hair (wash, comb, dry with a hair dryer),
treat dolls, animals with a medical
instrument kit, put them to sleep, roll them
in a trolley or a doll stroller; dress, undress,
feed dolls or animals.
When choosing dolls to play with, children
preferred baby-dolls or dolls depicting the
images of their favourite cartoon characters.
Toddlers’ independent playful imitative actions
occurred with figurative toys; it was not observed
among infants or toddlers of the same age with
figurative-interactive toys. The mental, sensory,
motor capabilities of children aged 12-24 months
are significantly developed than those under 12
months, so they could realize their acquired
abilities to act independently with the toy,
activating its functional potential more widely
and in their own way.
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The collapsible toys satisfied the children’s
interest and encouraged them to choose with their
multifunctional properties. They were more
varied in their movement and more complex in
their structure than the toys chosen by infants.
The toddlers’ ability to cope with the game task
fuelled their desire to choose toys and intensified
actions with them, particularly:
1) to create constructions, assemble a sorter,
select and put together puzzles with images
of animals, vegetables, fruits;
2) to play with the constructed structures in a
game with figurative toys (dolls,
accessories, dishes, furniture, animals, cars).
Toddlers aged 12-24 months combined figurative
toys with collapsible toys: dolls in a house, on a
bench, in a bed, at a table; cars in a garage; pets
on a fence, wild animals in a zoo. Such
situational placement of toys, modelling real
situations, actually initiated a pretend and role
play.
Figurative-interactive toys interested children
aged 24-36 months mainly because of their
interactive characteristics (sounds produced by
toys – singing, dancing, growling; bright colour
of the toy, its size, shape, movements) that
encouraged and allowed various actions with
them:
1) to vocalize toy animals;
2) to imitate the sounds of different
automobiles (cars and lorries, special autos);
3) to play with musical toys and instruments in
order to produce sound;
4) to learn different colours and shapes;
5) to drive cars and lorries, special autos;
6) to examine and learn the sensory properties
of the toy by touch, - soft, smooth, fluffy etc.
Children in the age of 24-36 months chose
figurative toys (dolls, babies, cartoon characters,
animals, dishes, furniture, cars) in order to use
them in directorial, pretend and role-play games.
For example, girl K., having chosen a doll,
dressed it, fed it, put it to sleep, treated it as her
"child", built a doll house for it, cooked meals in
the toy kitchen, washed its clothes, took it to
kindergarten, playground, hospital in a toy car,
etc. The boy Z. transported "wounded soldiers"
in an ambulance, chased criminals in a police car,
and delivered blocks for the construction of a toy
garage in a truck. Among the toys most often
chosen by children, a significant place was
occupied by the characters of their favourite
cartoons (Lol doll, Peppa Pig, Pinky Pie, Lady
Bug, Spark and Blaze cars, Robocar Polly); at the
same time, the plot of the cartoon could be
reproduced in a game – directorial or role-
playing.
We have noticed, that children of this age
personify themselves in the corresponding play
role, along with the logical combination of
individual play actions in the elementary plot of
the game, e.g., a girl-mother takes care of a baby
doll. In a child's play, a toy is an object that is the
focus of the role-player's actions. At the same
time, the toy is able to activate the child's actions
due to its functional capabilities. The more
opportunities there are for functional actions with
a toy, the more interesting it is in the game, the
more often the child chooses it, the more diverse
and active he/she is in his/her actions with it.
In games with collapsible toys, children aged 24-
36 months were interested in:
1) the process and result of assembling: sorter,
Lego, puzzles, towers of stacking blocks;
2) the possibility of playing the created
structures with the dolls, animals, cars, etc.;
3) the possibility of using puzzles, dominoes,
picture lotto, selecting paired pictures in a
joint game with an adult, a peer or an older
child;
4) the novelty of the toy.
When playing with these toys, children have a
certain task, which they try to perform as best as
possible: to pick and assemble the toy in the order
programmed in it to achieve the final result – to
create a picture, a slender tower, etc. Also, we
have found out such tendency: children are
particularly interested in various constructors
that can be used to build something new, and the
larger the structure the child builds, the more
interest he/she has in this process. During the
game, children follow the rules for acting with a
particular toy. However, the children’s
impulsivity and unrestrained activity in this age
lead to frequent involuntary violations of the
game rules. Playing with a partner complicates
this situation.
The selectivity of children aged 36-48 months
showed a more established interest in certain
toys.
Children liked the following characteristics of
figurative-interactive toys:
1) sounds made by toy animals and musical
toys: dog that sings, car that plays a melody,
emits a special signal;
2) brightness of the toy – car that glows;
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3) mobility of the toy;
4) multifunctionality of the toy – the ability to
roll the car, launce/start it with the keys,
open the door or the hood.
Interactive features were just as interesting to
children of this age as toddlers, but much less so.
They were twice as interested in figurative toys.
It is due to these toys activate the ideas of
children of the 4th year about the adults’ actions
and characteristic behaviour of animals,
encouraging kids to reproduce them in role-
playing games:
1) to take care of dolls, babies, animals;
2) to perform game actions with cartoon
characters according to their plots;
3) to perform familiar roles: E., S., G. E. (42
months) played as a pilot, a policeman or a
builder, S. (40 months), G. (45 months) –
played as a daughter or a mother, cartoon
characters Elsa or Anna, tigers, Bagheera,
horses and riders;
4) to note the similarity of toys to real objects
(clothes, dishes, furniture) and to use them
appropriately in the game.
Children aged 36-48 months used figurative toys
in the process of directorial games – they
performed typical actions with the toy (like
horses hop); in role-playing games – the toy
sometimes was used by the child to perform a
certain role (rider). Also, the toy activated and
helped children to identify role-playing
behaviour during certain actions (a girl in the role
of Elsa made miracles with a magic wand); an
attribute toy complemented the child's image in a
certain role (Elsa's dress, braid, crown created her
game image).
Collapsible toys interested children of this age
with their opportunities to create various
structures, play games (didactic) with
predetermined tasks and rules. Namely:
1) children made houses for dolls from
coloured cubes without fasteners;
2) they made pictures with different plots from
puzzles, selected lotto, domino pictures,
constructed buildings, cars from
constructors (E. most often chose a LEGO-
constructor, S., G. – dominoes "Vegetables,
fruits", "Water world", "Wild animals",
puzzles "Where is my mom?", "Who eats
that?", "Who lives there?");
3) in the process of construction, children made
structures that differ in shape, colour, and
functional purpose (one day G. built a train
of the chosen (from two) construction set, S.
built an aeroplane; the next day, G. created
blocks of the same colour – white, red,
green, yellow – and was proud of his colour
selection, showed them to adults, kept and
displayed them).
It has been found out, that didactic games attract
children through the process of choosing the right
piece, comparing and combining it with a pair
(puzzles) or a similar one (dominoes). Successful
completion of this task makes children happy and
encourages further actions, games with the same
toy. Adherence to the rules for successful and
honest performance of the game task forces
children to be persistent, patient, and make
efforts for success. The lack of such endurance
provokes violation of the rules, despite the fact
that they are understandable for children of this
age. Failure upsets and disappoints children, and
lack of restraint and violation of rules often
causes children to leave the game and do not play
with the toy in the future.
In addition, at this age, some children quickly
lose interest in musical toys (toy piano, telephone
that plays programmed melodies, music box) and
toys that suggest the logic of actions with them
(houses with bushings, stacking toy with rings
that differ in the shape of the holes).
Thus, the child's choice of toys changes
depending on their characteristics at different
stages of early childhood.
The analysis of research in the field of pedagogy,
history of pedagogy, psychology, paediatrics,
and ethnology allows us to single out the
following areas of study of children's toys:
1) history of the toy (Arkin, 1935; Elkonin,
1999); 2) features of a toy as an object for
children's play (Havrysh & Shchehlova, 2004;
Hladun, 2005; Onur Sezer & Sadioglu, 2012;
Artemova, 2021); 3) role of toys in child
development (Froebel, 2005; Montessori, 2014;
Artemova, 2021); 4) requirements for the toy, in
particular ergonomic ones (Radina & Ezykeeva,
1968; Florina, 1973; Manchuk, 2018; Dag et al.,
2021); 5) folk toy in child development
(Bogoraz-Tan, 1939; Fihol, 1956; Naiden, 1999);
6) choice of toys by children (Topaloğlu & Aslan
Gördesli, 2012; Onur Sezer & Sadioglu, 2012;
Healey et al. 2019; Clarke, 2022; Artemova et al.,
2022); 7) influence of toys on the formation and
development of play skills (Healey et al., 2019;
Dauch et al., 2018; Koşkulu et al., 2021;
Sivaraman, & Skoler, 2023); 8) toy selection
based on the child's gender characteristics (Todd
et al., 2016; Lam, 2023).
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It has been found that although the concept of
children's play has not changed over the past
century, the modern toy is significantly different
from the one of the previous centuries and it
encourages the child to choose it. This trend is
partly explained by the proliferation of electronic
and sensory noise, which are characteristics of
interactive toys that parents may perceive as
necessary for a child's development. However,
according to Healey A. et al., (2019), the main
elements of such toys (e.g., lights and sounds
coming from the robot) diminish the child's
social participation, which could otherwise occur
through facial expressions, gestures and
vocalisation and is important for their social
development. Instead, when developing
recommendations for parents on toys for
children, paediatricians (Healey et al., 2019)
point out that toys should stimulate the child's
imagination, encourage interaction with the toy
and establish social contacts with other children
or adults about the toy chosen for play.
The article has enriched the field of early
childhood with scientific findings regarding the
choice of different types of toys by children of
different ages (0 to 12 months, 12 to 24 months,
24 to 36 months, 36 to 48 months). Also, the
conducted research has contributed to
distinguishing the properties of toys that
influence a child’s choice in a certain age and
identifying among them the ones that are priority
for him/her at each stage of early childhood.
The results of our research extend and clarify the
information available in science on the dynamics
of choices of figurative, figurative-interactive,
figurative-collapsible and collapsible toys by
children aged 0-48 months. The natural
tendencies of children's choice of toys revealed
in the study should be taken into account when
parents and teachers choose an assortment of toys
for children of different early ages. The facts and
trends obtained and substantiated in this study are
also recommended to designers and
manufacturers of toys to produce them adequate
to the age and functional capabilities of children
of different early ages.
Conclusions
1. The study has found that children's
spontaneous interest in toys is transformed
into cognitive interest, which encourages
them to choose a particular toy among
others. Functional actions with the chosen
toy to a certain extent satisfy the child's
interest and contribute to its further
deepening and development. Non-functional
actions with a toy occur when the child is not
yet able to use the toy according to its
intended play functions. In such cases,
children adapt their actions with a toy to
spontaneously arising short-lived interests,
random figurative or spatial coincidences,
and situational choices. Both functional and
non-functional actions satisfy the child's
cognitive interest and justify his/her choice
of toy.
2. The analysis of children's actions and games
with toys has revealed that children aged 12-
24 months made the largest number of
choices out of the total number of all
recorded choices. This can be explained by
the increase in cognitive activity and the
development of children's sensory and motor
abilities in relation to objects and play
activities with toys. In the second place
according to this indicator are children aged
24-36 months. Along with the experience
gained by children of the previous age
group, they have significantly expanded
possibilities of satisfying cognitive interests
and choices in other non-game activities –
painting, working with a book, etc.
The third place in the ranking of choices is
occupied by children under 12 months. Their
interest and choice of toys increases especially in
the period of 6-12 months, but their sensory and
motor abilities to act with toys are still
insufficient. The last place in the ranking in terms
of the number of toy choices is occupied by
children aged 36-48 months. Children of this age
need fewer figurative toys in their games, as they
are more interested in playing a role in a role-
playing game than in acting with a toy. Their
interests are often focused on collapsible toys,
but the analytical and cognitive capabilities of
children of this age to act functionally with them
are not yet sufficient. This determines the limited
range of collapsible toys that children can use
according to their functional characteristics.
3. The study has shown that children aged 0-48
months mostly chose figurative-interactive
toys. Figurative toys were in the second
place among their interests. Their choice of
collapsible toys, including some with
figurative features, was somewhat less
frequent. The reasons for such children’s
uneven choice were identified. Figurative-
interactive toys attracted them with
interactive features: sound, movement,
brightness, colour change, etc. Children
successfully launched such functions of the
toy from the age of 10-12 months and were
satisfied with watching and listening to
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them. This corresponded to the age-related
psycho-physical and sensory children’s
abilities. With the further development of
mental processes, in particular imagination,
children aged 12-48 months were more
interested in the image of the toy, and its
interactivity was a complement and an
expression of the image. Therefore, toddlers
and preschoolers were more likely to choose
figurative toys and use them in games. The
further psycho-physical development of
children encouraged them to imagine
themselves in a certain image and,
accordingly, to be their own performer in a
certain role in a role-playing game. The
above analysis allowed us to identify the
approximate age parameters of children's
priority choices of toys and their use in
object and play activities.
4. The revealed dynamics of children's choice
of collapsible toys and games with them has
demonstrated progressive changes from
children's actions by trial and error at the age
of up to 12 months to understanding of game
tasks and game rules at the age of 12-36
months, and conscious compliance or
ignoring them at the age of 24-48 months. In
these games, it is important to have a
partnership (interaction) between an adult
and children as a preparation for joint games
with peers.
In the perspective of further research, it is
important to study the development of object and
play activities of early age children in the
conditions of satisfaction of their choice of toys
in the subject-toy environment and subject-
subject interaction with adults and peers.
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