Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Push and Pull Toys

Defining the Concept and Its Importance

To define push and pull toys, we must first understand what a toy is.  A toy is a type of object that is used for children to play with (Healey & Mendelsohn, 2019).  These objects are important for their development over the course of their growth.  Push and pull toys are a type of toy that is effective in helping to motivate children into walking when they are first able to move (Bredin, 2020).  For example, push and pull toys can have wheels on them while attached is some form of string/handle that a child can grab onto to pull around as these handles can help provide stability for them while they walk (Bredin, 2020). Push and pull toys help with the development of gross motor skills fine motor skills, coordination, and various cognitive skills (BabySparks, 2020).

Role in Childhood Development and Contemporary Considerations

Push and pull toys are a part of play for children.  Play is a very important part of the development of children because it directly affects their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being (Healey & Mendelsohn, 2019).  A few things that are positively affected by push and pull toys are children’s gross motor skills, coordination in the hands/fingers, and spatial skills (BabySparks, 2020).  Children will often exert larger muscle force when using push and pull toys and therefore their muscles will become stronger while learning how to push/pull a toy requires coordination (BabySparks, 2020).  Children’s fine motor skills can also be improved as their hands and fingers will help to learn how to grip the handles/strings attached to them in different ways so that they can move these toys more effectively (BabySparks, 2020).  Lastly, children’s spatial skills (awareness of where objects are in relation to each other) can be improved with push and pull toys as they will learn how to decide where to push/pull a toy, how far they can go, and where they want to end up (BabySparks, 2020).  Some contemporary issues that should be made aware of is that studies show that too having many toys may hinder a child’s ability to develop.  According to Leake & Robbins (2001), children under the age of five can be overwhelmed with having too many toys to play with and will resultantly play less than children who have less toys to choose from.  Too many toys leads to not being able to concentrate on one particular toy, long enough to learn from it (Leake & Robbins, 2001).

Game 1

Title: The Shopping Game

Purpose: To develop gross motor skills, coordination, and cognitive skills in the child through the use of a push/pull toy.

Target Age: 2-5

Equipment Needed: 1 shopping cart per child and multiple plastic food items per child (If you don’t have access to plastic food, using beanbags that you pretend to be food is also acceptable). 1 bucket per child

Environment/Space Needed: Adequate space for each child to be able to freely walk around without bumping into others. Can be outside or inside

Instructions:

Scatter food all other the floor throughout your space

On go, kids must push their cart to one food item at a time, picking it up and putting it in their cart. Once they have a food item in their shopping cart they must then push it back to their designated bucket and place it inside. They repeat this until all food items have been picked up.

Modifications:

-For older children, give them a food category (i.e vegetables) and allow them to only collect food from that category. If using beanbags you can designate each child a specific colour

-If it’s too easy, increase the playing area making the children have to push their cart further in order to get to each food item

-If it’s too hard, eliminate the buckets, and allow children to simply fill up their shopping carts until all items have been collected. This will decrease the distance they have to push their cart.

Game 2

Title: Scooter board Shuffleboard

Purpose: To develop gross motor skills and coordination. To introduce the concept of forces to children. Uses a push/pull toy that is more suited for slightly older children in order to continue the development that they would have attained from other push/pull toys when they were younger.

Target age: 6-10

Equipment needed: scooter board, wall, tape

Environment/Space Needed: Gym

Instructions: Child sits on the scooter board, with their feet on the wall. On go, they push off the wall as hard as they can. When they stop moving, the teacher places a piece of tape as a marker for their distance. Then, the next child goes. Each child gets three turns and then takes their highest score of the three rounds. The kid who goes the furthest distance wins!

Modifications:

-Have the child lay on their stomach and push backwards off the wall with both hands

-Play on a surface that has more resistance, such as a carpet.

-Allow the child to only push with one leg

Summary

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References

BabySparks. (2020, May 26). The Power of Push and Pull Toys.  Retrieved, 2020, October 19. https://babysparks.com/2020/05/26/the-power-of-push-pull-toys/

Bredin, S. (2020). KIN 355 Movement Experiences for Young Children Module 2: Toys [PDF Slides].  Retrieved from UBC Canvas https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/60344/files/9881401?module_item_id=2419818

Healey, A., Mendelsohn, A., & Council on Early Childhood (2019). Selecting appropriate toys for young children in the digital era. Pediatrics, 143. (doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-3348) Located at : https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/143/1/e20183348

Leake, J., Robbins, T. (2001, February 25). Too many toys may impede playing ability: Study shows child's development at risk: [final edition]. Calgary Herald. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/244880900?accountid=14656