By Cameron Eittreim

Learning how to improve your children's cognitive function is essential to growth and development. We don’t always have the time to teach our children every hour of the day, and there are periods where they will be playing by themselves. The art of improving your children's cognitive function is the simplicity of it. You don’t need expensive technology or the newest tablets with the latest apps. Instead, you can dramatically improve your children's cognitive function with good old-fashioned wooden play toys.

Wooden play toys are often a forgotten but vastly important ally in early child development. Being able to utilize wooden play toys has several benefits, including a lower cost and the lack of battery operation. Wooden toys require your child to use their imagination like we used to back in the golden days. Long before electronic toys were everywhere around us, and you’ll notice that your child will react better as well. Whether it's building logs or a wooden track there are a variety of different wooden toys that are excellent for learning. We are going to explore the ways that wooden toys will help to improve your children's cognitive function.

They help children focus

Look, we all know that electronic toys and tablets are overstimulating our children. We also know that there are a lot of benefits that tablets can bring as well. But, as with anything in life moderation is the key, and finding that happy medium will make all the difference in the world. Likewise, wooden toys are fairly easy to come by and many different types are geared for different age ranges.

A 2017 study from the National Institutes of Health found that “contact with wood induces physiological relaxation.” In an age of overstimulation and constant input, toys that promote a quieter and more sustained play environment can be enormously beneficial to young children and their cognitive development.” Honing in on your children's concentration can help in all facets of teaching, from figuring out how to share to focusing on what they are building. 

Less Is More

The main thing that I love about having wooden toys around is the fact that there are fewer. When you start having Hot Wheels tracks, Legos, plushies, and just about everything else under the sun around. Things can get messy very quickly, and with three kids it is almost impossible to clean up after them every day. The wooden toys however are generally focused on a generalized topic such as building blocks or wooden cars.

Wooden toys don’t have any moving parts and you don’t have to worry about replacing the batteries. Your child will be able to focus on what they are building and there will be less risk of overstimulation. Oftentimes the problem with our children's behavior can be attributed to the fact that they just have too much stuff. We as parents can also negatively affect this because we are always striving to please our children. But, in the case of stimulation more is not always better.

Promote Creative Play

This should come as no surprise but your children are going to be a lot more creative when it comes to building with wooden toys. The toy market has pretty much anything that you can imagine, from flashing lights to interactive screens. All of this overstimulation will do nothing but overwhelm your child and slow the progression of their learning. Likewise, wooden toys are a great way to teach your children how to be creative without all the mess of paints or crayons.

A lot easier to clean up than modeling clay, and for the most part, you’ll enjoy watching your children explore their little world. Wooden toys are also a lot more durable than plastics, they can’t get stained or broken. The worst thing that you’ll have to deal with when having wooden toys is the pieces becoming damaged over time. Yet, the durability will help these toys to last many years into the future with a good quality set.

Teach Cause and Effect

Wooden toys teach cause and effect in a couple of different ways, the most notable is taking the time to build things. Your children can see that by building their sets the way that they want to there will be a cause and effect to things. Plastic toys and even Legos won’t give them the same type of satisfaction that wooden toys will. Wooden race car tracks are also a lot more in-depth and there are so many different ways that the kiddos can build these tracks up.

My kids have all kinds of little bridges, stop lights, and different trains for their town. The same kind of detail wouldn’t be found on the generic plastic playsets that you can find. Remember that all wooden toys play great on a play rug as well, which can be found right here at IVI World. Creating an interactive space for your children that doesn’t overstimulate things, is a lot more important than going for the cheapest thing that you can find.

A Quiet Introduction To The Real World

Wooden toys are in a lot of ways an introduction to the real world, and these are the first things that your children will see. The simplest wooden toys will teach your children to focus on what they are doing. Learning concentration long before they get to school is a groundbreaking thing. But, you’ll notice the difference in your children's behavior early on. Wooden toys are generally crafted from high-quality materials and the colors are a lot more welcoming to little eyes and hands.

By using the wooden toys as a stimulation builder you are going to teach your children the hardest things early. Getting an introduction to the real world at an early age teaches important life skills that are building blocks for the future. You’ll notice a lot that your child will learn and do, while at the same time building a foundation for the future. Incorporating these cognitive building blocks into your children's routine is crucial in making sure that they have a happy development.

Math and Physics

With all of this talk about STEM toys, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, but you don’t have to spend a lot to get a lot back. Wooden toys are the original STEM toy, and they can be used to teach children math and physics with ease. Whether it's counting blocks or playing with logs your child is going to be constantly counting and doing work. While you might not think that such a simplistic toy could do all of this, you’d be wrong.

Wooden toys have been the building blocks for many generations of children. You can use wooden play toys to increase all of your children's cognitive function with ease. The patterns of the wooden toys are important for learning recognition. Whether it's learning recognition of shapes or sizes the toy will make all the difference in the world. You’ll get a lot of learning out of the littlest wooden toys, a stark contrast to everything else that’s on the market right now.

Durability

Wooden toys are a lot more durable than they get credit for. Of course, you know that almost everything in the world is made from wood. The same goes for wooden toys, be it building blocks or even a train set tabletop. The wood can take a beating, whether your toddler likes to throw their blocks against the wall or drool on it all day. You’ll get a lot more usage out of a wooden product than you would from the traditional table. The thing that I like about wooden toys the most is that they are easy to store and clean.

You’ll always have a clean play area when your child is done with their wooden toys. Alphabet blocks and logs are the easiest to stack and put away. Wooden cars have been making a comeback as well recently, thanks to the uptick in classic toy makers. The benefits of wooden toys far outweigh the negatives when it comes to improving your children's cognitive function. The durability is just another benefit to the entire process, which in the end makes for a great part of your child's early development.

Fewer Toys Is a Better Option

Look, less is more nowadays and studies show that we are vastly overwhelming our children with all of their toys. Wooden toys are generally lesser and easier to come by, which means that your child can focus more on their development and less on playtime. Even if you only have a few wooden toys you’ll immediately notice that your child is coming along in the process of learning. You don’t need to have the most expensive learning toys available to improve your children's cognitive functionality with ease. 

What wooden toys are your kids' favorite? Let us know in the comments below!