Children are busy writing notes

ABILITIES AND INTERESTS

Primary School Age 6, 7 and 8 Years

 

Through play children learn, grow up and develop physically, mentally and socially. Toys are a tool that should serve the proper development of a child. A good choice of a toy is a very important part of parenting because it is closely linked to children’s development.

PHYSICAL

  • large muscle interests and abilities include: water sports, hopscotch, jumprope, roller skating, stunts and climbing (trees, trapeze), ice skating, riding bicycle,  ball play (but most not ready for competitive team sports)
  • small muscle interests and abilities include: simple sewing (can sew straight line), printing, braiding, drawing with pencils, cutting out paper dolls, simple carpentry (can saw straight line), weaving, string small beads, puzzles.
  • will practice in target activities or to improve a skill.

MENTAL

Interest in:

  • reading, spelling and printing activities and games.
  • simple arithmetic activities and games, and in time, calendars, weights, value of coins.
  • nature and in simple science activities and experiments.
  • collecting things and in hobbies.
  • the line between fantasy and realitylikes magic and “tricks”.
  • producing finished products (art, models, crafts, sewing, carpentry)
  • other times and other places.

SOCIAL

  • Special friends, clicks, gangs, secret languages ​​and passwords enjoy a great interest in a group of colleagues and “belonging”.
  • prefers to play with same sex peers.
  • great increase in ability to play cooperatively with othersenjoys group activities.
  • interest in “fair play” and living up to standards (own and group’s standards of excellence).
  • continues interest in dramatic games (puppets, dolls, paper dolls, dress-ups, war games, cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, space games) by age 8 increased interest in producing shows and plays.
  • starting interest in the wider community.
ALL TOYS
  • The child is primarily concerned with the goal, not the means or processes.
  • Experimentation is becoming more “scientific”.
  • A child less dependent on a particular subject for a concept.
Child can:
  • sort and classify using more than one criterion increasingly make use of reading, writing and simple arithmetic in games and toys.
  • do simple sewing, weaving, braiding, ceramics, jewelry kitshas greatly in- creased fine motor control
  • use simple mechanical toys (cars, trains).
Child is interested in:
  • time and seasons and in toys marking wood time
  • collections of things line between fantasy and reality (likes tricks and magic and disguise kits)
  • paper line between fantasy and reality (likes cardboard tricks and magic and disguise kits)
  • producing products in arts, crafts, woodworking etc.
  • kits (science, craft, models) and can follow simple directions
  • adult roles and likes realistic costumes and props for character play
  • rudiments of sports and skill development
  • Children show increasing variation in interest and abilities.
  • Reading interests vary but child beginning to be able to use dictionary.
  • Beginning of interest in giving “shows”.
  • Great interest in “fairness” but hates to lose and will cheat to win in games.
  • Toys should have no sharp points or edges.
  • No electrical parts without adult supervision.
Three boys ride threesomes
Three boys ride threesomes

ACTIVE PLAY

Push and Pull Toys
not suited to age group

Ride-On Toys

  • two-wheeled bike (sized to child-child should be able to straddle male bike with both feet on ground)
  • push scooters
  • battery-powered ride-ons

Outdoor and Gym Equipment

  • complex gym sets with rings, bars, swings, ropes, rope ladders, slides
  • complex climbing structures
  • jump ropes

Sports Equipment

  • regular baseball bat and ball
  • basketball (junior size for ages 6, 7)
  • soccer
  • regular flying disks
  • adult-sized football
  • roller and ice skates
  • ski equipment
  • hockey equipment
  • badminton equipment
  • ping pong (age 8)
  • horseshoes
  • croquet
  • sleds, including ones with steering mechanisms and handbrakes
  • toboggans
  • simple swimming and underwater equipment

MANIPULATIVE PLAY

Construction Toys

    • large sets of blocks or bricks (80-100 pieces)
    • construction sets (wood, plastic, metal) complex, can manipulate tiny nuts and screws
    • sets with motorized parts
    • complex gear systems
    • can copy or build models following instructionsprefer sets that produce realistic models

Puzzles

  • (50-100 pieces)
  • three-dimensional puzzles
  • map puzzles more complex
  • tangrams

Pattern Making Toys

  • esign/pattern toys
  • various types of materials to produce products: wood, plastic, paper, cardboard, beads, ceramic tiles
  • cloth
  • block printing kits to produce design products

Manipulative Toys

  • complex lock boxes
  • balance scales (5-7 years)
  • small number rods and blocks
  • math modelsillustrating concepts like fractions and arithmetic
  • mechanical modelslevers, pulleys, pendulums, etc.

Dressing, Lacing, and Stringing Toys

  • stringing beads of any size, including pottery, glass, or other fragile beads
  • simple sewing, weaving, braiding
  • making simple clothes for doll
  • jewelry kits, spool knitting, sewing kits, handloom, braiding materials

Sand and Water Play Toys

  • working models of boats
  • elaborate sailboats
  • realistic working boats
  • battery-operated boats
  • remote-control boats
  • sandbox tools and molds of all sizes

Children stare into the water
Children stare into the water

 

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY

Dolls

  • likes lots of accessories, clothes and special equipment
  • big baby dolls or dolls of own age, fashion dolls and teenage dolls, collector dolls, hair cutting dolls, paper dolls, fantasy character dolls/action figures, doll house dolls

Stuffed Toys

  • small collectible toys
  • large, floppy stuffed toys (some interest in oversized animals)
  • very realistic toys
  • replicas of famous animals
  • unusual, unique stuffed toys

Puppets

  • puppet theater with curtains and scenery
  • soft hand puppets, rod puppets, puppets with arms, jointed puppets

Role-Play Materials

  • wall and hand mirrors
  • realistic accessories for role play that really work
  • adult role dress-ups and elaborate make-up
  • magic and disguise kits
  • props for dramatic play (store, school, library, office, war games, robots, space, etc.)
  • cooking and sewing equipment that really works

Play Scenes

  • doll houses (number of rooms, stories, special furniture and dolls)interested in minute detail
  • models with more grown-up themes (space, military toy soldiers)

Transportation Toys

  • little vehicles (3-4 inches) particularly preferredcollectible vehicles
  • large-scale realistic trucks, planes, etc. with working parts
  • elaborate wood or metal train sets
  • electric trains (8-9 years)
  • simple remote control vehicles
  • electric racing cars

Projectile Toys

  • action figures (5-7 inches) with projectile weapons
  • guns that shoot ping-pong balls or soft darts helicopter-type projectiles water pressure rockets (8 + years)

CREATIVE PLAY (arts, crafts, music)

Musical Instruments

  • rhythm instruments
  • learning to play real instrument and read music
  • may be interested in formal music lessons (piano, autoharp, ukulele, recorder, violin, horn) age 7 or 8
  • may be interested in formal dance lessons (girls especially) (ballet, modern dance, tap dancing, folk dancing, acrobatics) at about age 8

Art and Craft Materials

  • crayons, paint, markers, pencils
  • pastels and art chalks
  • variety of papers and more complex color- ing books
  • sketch pads
  • all art papers
  • construction paper and cardboards
  • all glues except dangerous ones
  • regular scissors
  • clayoil-based and self-hardening
  • plaster of paris
  • stencils
  • papier mache
  • looms (heddle and looper)
  • knitting spool
  • leatherwork kits
  • jewelry-making kits
  • bead/braiding kits
  • sewing kits with needles
  • mosaic tile kits
  • jewelry/copper/enameling kits
  • more complete woodworking tools (with adult supervision)
  • beginning photographyreal camera
  • model airplane, other kits

Audio-Visual Equipment

  • record or tape player to run by self (not too fragile)
  • radio
  • blank tapes to make own recordings
  • more complex stories and books on records or tape
  • folk songs
  • introduction to orchestra records fast
  • dancing (such as folk dancing) records

LEARNING PLAY

Games

  • simple strategy and rule games such as: dominoes, marbles, race games, card games, strategy games, checkers, Chinese checkers, word games, bingo, arithmetic games (simple adding or subtracting games), rummy, simple spelling games, simple quiz games, simple guessing or deduction games, games based on familiar characters, games with fantasy or adventure themes

Specific Skill Development Toys

  • conceptual modelshuman body, physical world, stars, space, moon
  • science kits: chemistry set, science models, weather kit
  • calculator (simple arithmetic functions)
  • clocks and watches
  • balance and other scales
  • protractor
  • microscope
  • telescope/field binoculars
  • toy or simple real typewriter
  • more complex printing sets
  • more complex printing sets (checkers and chess programsage 7 and olderand some target games)
  • electronic/computer teaching games:
  •  arithmetic
  •  drawing/graphics
  •  story writing
  •  word processing
  •  simple programming concepts
  •  music writing

Books

  • developing individual reading preferences common interests:
  • childhood classics
  • myths, legends
  • biographies
  • poetry
  • fairy tales electric trains (8-9 years)    folk songs dictionaries
  • books about: children, animals, nature, space, planes, electricity, magic

Source:

Which Toy For Which Child, Dr Barbara Goodson, Dr Martha Bronson, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

Read about:

*Choosing the right toys for your child

*Toys for older Toddlers – 2 year old

*Toys for preschoolers 3, 4 and 5 years

*Checklist for Toy Shopping

* Toy safety

Written by

Irena Canji

I am a teacher in kindergarten. I have been working with children aged from three to seven since 2000. Also, I am a mother of two kids. My son is a teenager and my daughter is going to kindergarten. My main goal through the website is to show that the process is more important than the product. In childhood, kids need to play, have fun, learn through their experience.

The content of this website is an interesting activity for children. You don't need special skills, lots of money or too much preparing.

Just smile, only positive energy, and goodwill!