From the infant stage, babies start learning from their surroundings. The curiosity among children keeps them exploring things they see, hear, and touch. Toys help kids learn things in a better and more engaging way. Learning toys are great examples that aid in overall child development and stimulate essential life skills.

Educational or learning toys are designed to activate and enhance cognitive and physical milestones among kids. From pretend play, babies start imitating real-life activities and are given appropriate toys; they quickly learn motor, social, intellectual, emotional, and linguistic skills. Learning toys come in different forms, each for specific child development.

This guide focuses on the importance of learning toys, their kinds, and their benefits. So read along and pick the best learning toys for your children.

Contents

• Benefits of Learning Toys Designed for Child Development
• Develop Fine and Gross Motor Skills
• Boost Concentration
• Promote Imagination
• Advance Problem Solving Abilities
• Encourage Creativity
• Ending Lines

Learning Toys – An Overview

Educational or learning toys are objects designed to stimulate kids’ senses to make them learn new things. Learning objects boost kids’ imaginations and motivate them to learn and explore basic life concepts through play.

Although toys are made to entertain kids, each toy teaches kids at least something. For instance, a musical toy boosts toddlers’ hearing sense and urges them to respond to different sounds. Kids may repeat the sound they hear or dance to the music as a response. Learning toys are available for every age, which is why it is vital to pick age-appropriate learning toys for your children.

5 Benefits of Learning Toys Designed for Child Development

Playing is fun, and learning toys make kids willingly participate in educational games and play. Learning toys help kids to observe and experiment while teaching them the cause and effect of their actions.

Here, we will mention five benefits of learning toys that effectively boost child development.

Develop Fine and Gross Motor Skills

From stimulating hand-eye coordination to encouraging kids for physical activities, toys play an important role in fine and gross motor skill development. Fine motor skills involve controlling hands and fingers to pick and handle objects. In comparison, gross motor skills trigger larger muscle movement.

While playing with toys, such as stacking toys, kids pick the objects with their hands and stack them carefully with the help of their vision or sight. This activity results in hand-eye coordination development. Similarly, the Montessori frame set is an excellent play and activity pack to develop gross motor skills among children.

Best Toys to Develop Fine and Gross Motor Skills

• Infants: Play Gym, Water Activity Mat
• Toddlers: Ride On Toy, Push n Pull Toys
• Preschoolers: Climbing sets, Mini Trampoline, Hand Puppets
• Juniors: Scooty, Bicycle
• Teens: Badminton or any other Sports Kit, Frisbee

Boost Concentration

A newborn is like a blank canvas, as infants have too much to learn and explore. Little do we know, but toys start playing their instructive role as soon as a child is at the infant stage.

Yes, you read it right.

You must have put or seen hanging toys on your baby’s cots or play gym.

Do you know what they do?

Hanging toys promote kids’ concentration, helping them to reach the milestone of one of the primary senses – sight. Babies concentrate on hanging toys’ movements, and their imaginations take them to the fantasy land.

Best Toys to Boost Concentration

• Infants: Nursery Mobile
• Toddlers: Ring Stack Toy
• Preschoolers: Puzzles, Blocks
• Juniors: Mechanical Toys, Construction Toys
• Teens: Science Toys, Board Games

Promote Imagination

Imagination is the happy place for children where anything can happen. In other words, imagination alone is enough for a child to play. To visualize this scenario, try giving your toddler a spoon and see them pretend to play with the common household object.

Learning toys boost children’s imaginative power by allowing them to think out of the box and let their imagery and fantasy drive the play.

Best Toys to Promote Imagination

• Infants: Textured Objects, Flashcards, Cloth Activity Book
• Toddlers: Play Sticks, Magnetic Tiles, Charades
• Preschoolers: Play Dough, Figurines
• Juniors: Kitchen Set, Doll House, Doctor Set
• Teens: K’nex, Legos

Advance Problem Solving Abilities

Cognitive abilities are learned in childhood but help us throughout our lives. Learning toys engage kids in logic and challenge their minds to solve a specific problem. Playing with a learning toy positively develops problem-solving skills among kids. And, as kids attentively take part in play, they don’t feel like being forced to solve a problem. Critical thinking practices increase the IQ of kids. Several researches have proved that kids with learned problem-solving skills perform better academically than those who never had played with educational toys.

Best Toys to Advance Problem-Solving Abilities

• Infants: Activity Boards
• Toddlers: Shape Sorting Toys, Color Cards
• Preschoolers: Phonics Toys, Writing Gadgets
• Juniors: Science Kit
• Teens: Crossword Puzzles, Tabletop Role Playing Games

Encourage Creativity

Creativity is the only element that keeps your thoughts fresh and alive. Creative play is the imagination out into action. It is also related to cognitive skills, as exploring ideas and applying those ideas for a better outcome of where they may be implemented is what creativity is all about. Learning toys makes kids creative. While playing, kids set their own rules and create strategies to win a game – here is when your child becomes a creative thinker.

Best Toys to Encourage Creativity

• Infants: Rattles, Colorful Mobiles
• Toddlers: Play-Doh, Kinetic Sand
• Preschoolers: Pretend Play Toys
• Juniors: Art and Craft
• Teens: Fort Kit, Costumes and Accessories

Ending Lines

Though learning is a basic human instinct, some help in learning would encourage motor and intellectual development – that’s where learning toys come into action. Accessibility is also important when playing at tables.  Children should be able to able to willingly participate and do not get tired. Even studies say that a child’s only profession is play. Kids engage in educational activities while playing with learning toys and enjoy problem-solving scenarios while reaching major mental and physical development milestones.

If you are a parent or a Montessori teacher, you must provide children with age-appropriate learning toys. Because if you give a toddler chess to play, what possible outcome would come?

Author Bio: Hadiya has expert-level knowledge about cyber security solutions as she has been writing online safety guides for more than 5 years. Her goal is to educate her readers about online safety in the best and the easiest way possible. Follow Hadiya on LinkedIn

Seeing the need of the hour, the United Nations (UN) made a universal call to transform the world in the form of 17 sustainable development goals. This 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to protect the earth and its inhabitants.

The current situation is still dire. Scientists and environmentalists believe that our precious world is “quite sick” due to ecological pollution. It has entered the danger zone, pushing past seven out of eight scientifically established limits of safety.

The massive shift from an agrarian to a manufacturing economy during the Great Industrial Revolution has impacted the environment. With climate change being a heated topic, every citizen must join hands to reverse the problem.

This includes children, as Harvard University explicitly conveys through its ‘Children are Citizens’ project. However, we need to make environmental concerns relatable to them.

It is not enough that your child learns about environmental issues in their eco-education classroom. They need to engage in real-world participation through their parents. Generally, a child is an observational learner, picking up behaviors through imitation. Since parents spend more time with their kids than other adults, they can directly influence them toward a greener future.

This article will discuss five important reflexes to inculcate in your child so they become an ecologically responsible citizen.

The Daily Economic Reflex: Saving Electricity and Water

According to the US Energy Information Administration, fossil fuel accounts for the largest energy generation source (60.2%). At this rate, the day is not far when our non-renewable energy sources will run out.

What’s even worse is that the US also leads in energy wastage (with electricity wastage being the second leading cause). In an age of heavy tech use, it’s vital to teach your child to conserve electricity (beyond switching off the lights).

You can start by cutting down your own screen time and engaging in fun board games. Teach your child why you choose to do so and encourage them to follow suit. Also, instruct them to unplug a device once completely charged.

You can even turn it into a fun game – ask your kids to compete against each other for the shortest screen time. The same goes for water conservation – who takes the least time to shower? Additionally, let them know the importance of watering plants with water left from washing vegetables, not letting the tap run as they brush their teeth, and so on.

The Must-Have Reflex: Reducing Waste

The three Rs of saving the planet may have become cliché, but they’ll never lose their relevance. The process of ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ begins with minimizing waste. It is the easiest to do as there’s no need to reuse or recycle what you reduce.

Let’s use a different take to understand the waste generation scenario of the US. Statista revealed that the US waste management and remediation services market had a net worth of $140 billion in 2022. That is almost double the figures of 2010 ($78.82 billion).

This alone should give you an idea of how urgent the need for waste reduction is. But how can you teach this to your kids? Definitely not through statistics! You can start by letting them see the mountain of trash in a local landfill. As repulsive as that sounds, a strong mental image is a good motivator.

Moreover, let your kids accompany you for grocery shopping to teach them about intentional purchases. This includes preparing a grocery list and sticking to it. Choose fruits and vegetables in reusable bags rather than those available in plastic boxes. Additionally, take the opportunity to educate your children about environmental sustainability by discussing topics such as what is fast fashion and its impact on the planet.

If you’re tempted to buy something impulsively, resist the urge and let your kids know why you won’t need it.

The Solidarity Reflex: Donating Items 

The next on the environmental Rs hierarchy is reusing waste materials. This is a method of keeping waste from ending up in landfills. Reuse works best for items with great longevity and a slow decomposition rate.

The first thing that probably comes to mind is plastic. Does your child already own plastic dolls or other toys they’re bored of? Encourage them to donate unused ones to a local charity. Teach them how so many children are not as privileged as they are. Then, you can introduce them to the world of all-natural dolls and toys.

These include soft toys filled with organic hemp or cotton, bamboo or wooden kitchen sets, wooden cars and animals, etc. The same goes for clothes, as textile production is responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions.

If possible, invest in natural fibers like linen and cotton (while teaching your child why). If you have children only one or two years apart, let the garments go down the pipeline. If a child complains that they’re bored with a piece or there are visible spills and stains, sustainably upcycle it.

Some examples include tie-dye, adding or removing sleeves, patchwork, etc. Get your kids involved in the fun process!

The Eco-Conscious Reflex: Recycling What’s Recyclable

Despite reducing and reusing waste, there are times when you must resort to recycling. Providing your child with whatever they want, whenever they want, gives them the impression that resources are limitless.

Making recycling info for children available in relatable ways will help them lead conscientious lives. Start with something simple, say, waste cans or plastic bottles. Gather your kids and engage in a fun DIY project where you convert the waste into beautiful planters.

This will help them realize the multi-purpose of any object and awaken their inner crafters. Other examples of recycled projects include egg carton flowers, a recycled robot, tin can wind chimes, cardboard box organizers, etc.

Install different trash cans in your home for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. This will spark your child’s curiosity to learn more about each. If you want, invite your kids to help decorate each bin to segregate the waste.

Follow in the footsteps of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to pack your kids a waste-free lunch. You can also take them on a recycling scavenger hunt where they find items to turn into glamorous art projects. Have competitive children? Make this hunt a race!

The Green Reflex: Loving and Respecting Nature

It’s challenging to raise an eco-conscious child if they have little respect for nature. Creation, in all its glory, is healing to the body and mind. This is why it’s vital to let your kids play in the outdoors daily.

Not just play, allow them to hold the soil in their hands and feel its texture. Also, let them enjoy a few splashes in muddy waters. If they loved playing with leaves and flowers, let them bring home a few to play with later.

Teach kids that everything is connected.  The use of non-toxic products in the home greatly protects the environment outside, from time any product is created and manufactured in a production plant, to when they are disposed of down the sink or toilet drain, or into a landfill.

Sadly, an entire generation is apathetic or worse yet, scared of nature. There was a time when kids enjoyed holding bugs in their hands and chasing after butterflies. But all of this seems to be lost now. Repeated exposure to trees, blades of grass, insects, and farm animals will instill a deep sense of reverence for creation.

Furthermore, you can install a bird feeder on one of the trees in the backyard (preferably made using “waste” materials). Plant an herb or vegetable garden, and let your children take part in the process. Watching life grow from tiny seeds is nothing short of a life-altering experience.

On lazy days, just spend time on the patio gazing together at the sunset or watching birds chirp. This is sure to raise some curious questions from your little ones. The more you make nature a part of their childhood, the more they will love and revere it as adults.

A Final Word

Besides the reflexes mentioned above, you must also infuse the healthy reflex into your children. This includes choosing seasonal and organic produce as well as traveling smart. For instance – lead by example and make intentional statements while eating. It could be as simple as, “These strawberries are sweet, delicious, and good for the immune system.”

Help them understand nutrient labels, read books on healthy eating, and have fun with food by introducing healthy rainbow recipes. As for traveling, choose to walk or bicycle wherever possible and explain to your kids the reason behind this choice.

Allow them to accompany you to a run in the woods for exercise and forest bathing. Do not worry about the fact that they’re children. Every child is capable of making healthy and sustainable choices when given the right example.

Reverse socialization, where children help parents to make sustainable choices, is also a real phenomenon. Raise them right, and you don’t have to worry about them going wrong!

Additional Reading:

Learn whether or not you can recycle or repurpose a mattress.
Discover fun and educational ways to celebrate earth-day.

Halloween can be fun for children, especially when they go trick-or-treating. But this activity can expose them to potential dangers, especially if they don’t know what they should and shouldn’t do when they are out there. You can keep them safe with these five trick-or-treating safety rules to teach your kids.

Wear or Carry Reflective Items

When your kids go out in search of candy on Halloween night, it can get dark fast. Nighttime can make it harder for drivers to see trick-or-treaters, which can result in a dangerous accident occurring.

However, your kids can avoid these accidents if you teach them to wear or carry reflective items while out and about. This can be something as simple as bringing a flashlight with them or putting reflective tape on their outfits or candy bags. That will allow drivers to see them better and drive more safely.

Cross the Road Safely

Some kids may feel tempted to jaywalk so that they can hurry to a house across the road and get more candy. Unfortunately, this can be risky and put them in harm’s way. You can prevent this from happening by taking your time to show your kids how important it is to cross the road safely.

Make sure they know that they should go to the crosswalk and look both ways before they go to the other side. This caution will help them stay safer. You should even consider teaching your children other essential road rules before Halloween night.

Travel in Groups

Going trick-or-treating with many people is another good safety rule to teach your kid. Even if your child is old enough to go trick-or-treating without parental supervision, ensure they do it with their friends. Tell them to stay with their buddies, avoid lagging behind, and stay away from strangers.

Maintain Clear Vision

When going over fun Halloween costume ideas with your kids, make sure they pick one that keeps them safe. For example, if your child plans to wear a mask while trick-or-treating, ensure that they can see out of it before they go trick-or-treating. Otherwise, your kid may trip and hurt themselves due to impaired vision.

If they wear face paint instead of a mask, they can avoid having their vision impaired altogether. Now, you won’t have to worry about them having an accident.

Check the Candy

When your child comes back from trick-or-treating, they may want to immediately dig into their haul. Remind them that they should carefully examine their snacks first before they indulge.

This caution will prevent them from consuming anything that experienced any tampering before it reached their candy bags. Throwing away homemade snacks is also a good idea since it will eliminate the risk of them eating something that may make them ill.

When your child knows these rules, they will have a much safer Halloween adventure. Plus, you will have peace of mind while they stay careful and have a good time.

Manipulation is an art of dark psychology that compels the victim to do what the manipulator wants. Just like the devil enticed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, hackers these days manipulate innocent and vulnerable people to share private information that they can use for false purposes – the consequences can be frightening.

The Shadow Behind Technology!

We all live a digital life, sharing pictures, check-ins, and even posting daily routines online. To some, these are just casual social media activities, but there is a very dark side of digital footprints everyone should know about.

Hackers are all around the internet, tricking individuals and ventures through social engineering. The term social engineering is used to describe manipulative actions that result in personal or corporate security breaches. Thankfully, services such as VPN servers in Canada can help you protect your private information and secure your digital footprints.

But before everything, you should know how hackers manipulate you to trust you, their tactics, and tricks so it becomes easy to identify a cyber-criminal.

Read along because we are going to mention some effective cybersecurity tricks in the later section.

Table of Contents

Part 1: How Cyber Criminals Manipulate Your Trust?

• Phishing
• Baiting
• Tailgating
• Pretexting
• Catfishing

Part 2: How to Identify a Hacking Attack?

• Urgency
• Scarcity
• Authority
• Fear
• Familiarity

Part 3: How to Outsmart Hackers? Effective Cyber Security Tricks?

• Always Use a VPN
• Avoid Clicking on Links & Popups
• Install an Anti Malware Software
• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
• Stay Alert

Final Words

Part 1: How Cyber Criminals Manipulate Your Trust?

There are around 2,200 cyberattacks per day, which might mean that over 800,000 people are hacked yearly. Most people think a hacking attempt would be like opening up uncontrollable windows or popups on screen, which is untrue. Scareware was primarily used in past times to scare the victim by indicating harmful viruses on the device, making the victim install the suggested software (which contains the virus).

Hackers these days have become smart, just like modern technology. Instead of sending an obvious malicious bug, hackers play psychologically and discreetly through social engineering.

Social engineering attacks psychologically manipulate the victim and exploit trust, vulnerabilities, fear, or greed.

Hackers can befriend you online or scam you through a malicious bug (that doesn’t like a virus).

Here are some tricks hackers use to manipulate people’s trust;

Phishing:

Have you ever received an email promising a big prize by clicking on a link? Most of us have been in a situation where we get a popup on our screen or a message pretending to be a legitimate source offering something big. Beware, it’s a phishing scam. As per a study, by 2023, it is predicted that over 33 million data would be stolen, with a ransomware or phishing assault occurring every 11 seconds.

Phishing is a fraudulent act in which a cybercriminal tricks the victim into opening a virus-containing link or downloading a bugged file. It’s all intimidating and inviting.

Then comes spear phishing, which has the same motive, but hackers target specific persons or workplaces instead of randomly attacking.

Baiting:

Just like phishing, baiting is manipulating someone to do an action. Digitally, baiting involves sending free coupons, significant discounts, or grand offers to a targeted person so that they can click on the vicious file and the hackers can breach into their device.

Tailgating:

Instead of targeting the victim online, tailgating involves tracking someone physically following them to their house or workplace. The attacker pretends to be a technician, delivery guy, or someone else to access the victim’s home or office. Tailgating can result in violent attempts.

Pretexting:

Cybercriminals sometimes mask themselves as fake people to gain the victim’s trust. They may create fake profiles as a bank officer, colleague, or so to contact and gain confidential information. Pretexting false scenarios often tricks the victim and helps hackers in their malicious mission.

Catfishing:

One of the most happening online crimes is catfishing. Cybercriminals make fake profiles of someone you know to maintain contact with you. They befriend their victims and indulge them in inappropriate activities. The victim does everything out of trust and does not know they are being used.

Part 2: How to Identify a Hacking Attack?

Every crime has a motive, and in the case of hacking, the perpetrator is usually looking for monetary benefits. If not, they want to ruin the target’s reputation or spy on them.

Identifying a hacker is simple, but you have to be alert. You must be vigilant of your actions whenever you encounter the following scenarios in an online message, email, or conversation.

Urgency:

Hackers create urgency to provoke actions. They may tell you that your account will expire soon or that an urgent situation must be tackled. Research shows that urgency has a 332% higher conversion potential. That is why hackers use urgency as bait.

Scarcity:

Just like urgency, scarcity also intimidates people to take quick action. Hackers create a scenario of scarcity by offering limited-time discount coupons with only a few minutes to expire. Users take quick action and fall into the trap.

Authority:

This trick is used in pretexting, where hackers pretend to be someone related to official authorities and ask for confidential information.

Fear:

A cybercriminal directly or indirectly creates a sense of fear among its victims, urging them to act impulsively. They may threaten the victim by telling them there is a virus on their device or can blackmail the victim straightforwardly.

Familiarity:

Most hackers gain the trust of their victims by familiarization. It means that they pretend to be someone from their victim’s circle, perhaps an old friend or long-distance relative, to gain trust and exploit it afterward.

Now that you have read all the tricks and tactics a hacker might use on you or your loved ones, let’s jump to the next section, explaining how to outsmart hackers.

Part 3: How to Outsmart Hackers? Effective Cyber Security Tricks?

Cybercriminals manipulate human feelings to the extent that the victim impulsively falls into their trap. Educating yourself and your family, friends, and colleagues about digital etiquette is essential.

Here are some security tricks you can use to outsmart hackers.

Always Use a VPN:

A hacker wants to get into your device to fetch all the details stored on it. A good VPN connection creates a firewall around your network and hides your IP address. The Virtual Private Network secures your IP address and offers high encryption, making it difficult for hackers to intercept your confidential details.

Avoid Clicking on Links & Popups:

Staying vigilant is the first rule to protect yourself from hacking attacks. Try not to click on random URLs or pop-ups because they offer something promising. Remember, all that glitters is not gold.

Install an Anti Malware Software:

It would be best if you did not trust anyone online. That’s why you always have authentic anti-malware installed on your device as a second line of defense. So, in case you download a malicious file online, the malware will instantly detect it and help you remove it from your system.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication:

2FA or multi-factor authentication is the best way to secure your devices and accounts. Suppose a hacker has gained access to your bank account; in that case, if the 2FA is enabled, you can get the verification code on your phone, and the hacker can’t get into your account unless they have the OTP. Clever, isn’t it?

Stay Alert:

Never fall for tempting online offers, discounts, and free trials, as they are all traps to lure confidential details. Say no to offers displaying urgency, scarcity, or anything mentioned above.

The Final Words:

Hackers’ manipulating techniques are getting more sophisticated with time. As people become more informed of the possible online risks, manipulation tricks become more realistic. That is why it is essential to outsmart hackers. Stay one step ahead of them and protect yourself, your family, and your workplace from hacking attacks.

Start by installing a secure VPN connection and follow all the cyber security tricks mentioned above. Stay attentive, stay informed.

Author Bio:Hadiya has expert-level knowledge about cyber security solutions as she has been writing online safety guides for more than 5 years. Her goal is to educate her readers about online safety in the best and the easiest way possible. Follow Hadiya on LinkedIn