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The Early Leaning Centre is a UK popular store company, with shops spread around the planet.

Born as a Swindon distance selling outfit back in the 1970’s, the Early Learning Centre is a one stop shop for children’s toys – many of you must remember playing with wooden railway tracks in the shops when we were kids.

The timeline of the firm includes multiple owners, at the moment the chain makes up part of Mothercare. Since the purchase of the ELC name in late 2007, Mother Care have introuced the toy brand into their Mother Care stores – you should see the Early Learning Centre name next to Mothercare items.

Most known for their wooden products, in recent years the Early Learning Centre brand has expanded into plastic materials, likely both to increase the number of items available, but also to stay well priced and maintain margins.

Reputation is of course key to any store selling to the newborn and child market – and this powerful brand recognition is a massive contributor to the success of the ELC. Few mums and dads would be able to ignore the stores, as it is a very popular choice for presents to babies, first christmas gifts and other occasions. The careful designs of the items sold by Early Learning Centre are not only a reassurance but essential for friends selecting presents.

The Early Learning Centre stores seem impressively immune to the economic decline some high street retailers have suffered with the ecommerce shopping boom and more recently the recession – maybe the requirement to pick up and play with toys for children gives significant protection.

From time to time it is possible to get reductions on orders from Mother care, via discount voucher sites such as Offer Up so that you can get cheap delivery, or perhaps a voucher for money off.

If you’re struggling for gifts, why not take a look around the Early Learning Centre shop and enter the competition to win £500 in Mothercare vouchers?

Win vouchers

It’s tempting to put our kids in front of the TV or allow them to play video games all day to pacify them and keep them busy and well-behaved. Even if we know that too much TV and video games is not good for them, sometimes this strategy seems to be the only way for them not to bother us with their hyper-active imaginations and stubbornness, and for us to gain a little peace of mind.  Kids can be ultra-focused when watching their favorite cartoons or playing an interactive digital game—as opposed to playing with traditional kids toys such as dolls or trains, which kids these days tend to get easily bored with, what with all the exciting technologies that stimulate and distract from the microwave oven in your kitchen to the MP3 player and ultra-hip gadgets of your teenager, to the lawnmower in the garage and media messages hovering all around.  With all these exciting objects in your house alone, it’s hard for your kid to be occupied with one lousy toy for a considerable amount of time. 

Simpler toys for better imagination

There are parents who try to ban television and video games all-together and raise their children in a low-technology and traditional household where toys are made of natural or recycled materials. They believe that raising a child in a simpler environment without the clutter and saturation of high technology (especially television) will help develop a child’s imagination and increase their focus and concentration. With simple educational toys, kids can create an entire universe in their minds, as opposed to having a toy that already recreates a planet or simulates the workings of a universe in detail.

There’s no escaping technology

We can’t deny advances in technology, however, in the same way that we can’t deny that life goes on even if we locked ourselves in a bomb shelter or lived in a secluded island.

Depriving our children of the technologies available to everyone in this day and age is like painting a different world from what is actually happening.  We will be creating a bubble for them that will make their perspectives and perceptions about life and the world distorted, and ultimately, irrelevant and obsolete.  They will be at a disadvantage when they grow older, to the point of becoming naive. 

Combining education and entertainment

There is no point denying that technology and the Internet permeates our society; and as decades pass, we see that we’re becoming dependent on these technologies even more and more. Toy manufacturers are taking heed and riding the technological band-wagon and are creating high-tech toys.  Edutainment toys are one of the latest in toddler educational toys. As you would have guessed, these toys combine education and entertainment. These toys usually have high-tech electronics and computer chips embedded on them, making them fun and interactive; at the same time, they contain educational content, anywhere from math to science, to logic and sounds.  Some of these have educational videos which require a push of a button or have touch-screen interface. With these toys, not only are kids learning through the educational content showed in the video, they are also getting a “head-start” on manipulating technological gadgets—a primer for learning how to use a computers and other technological gadgets that are so ubiquitous today (i.e. cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and so on). Traditional toys such as dolls and trains are also getting technological make-over these days. There are dolls that are designed to interact with your kid, as well as the Internet. There are also trains that can be controlled using infrared remotes and make electronic sounds. 

The balance between technology and imagination

But there is also a flipside; we can’t saturate our children with technologies and high-tech toys and expect them to be imaginative and be appreciative of life.  Chances are, they will grow weary too fast and will lose their sense of awe and wonder, making them cynical, and well, bored.  Like zombies or robots, they will be filling their database and collecting information that has no meaning to them. Thus, when buying our children’s educational toys, we have to strike a balance between technology and its ability to hone imagination. 

While high-tech toys introduce children to computers and technologies which they will no doubt have a great need for when they grow up, there is still no substitute for real-life experience and using the imagination with, say, a couple of wooden blocks or some sticks and a sandbox.  The question is, how will you be able to integrate simplicity and high technology to create a balance?

Appreciation not saturation

One way to keep our child’s imagination and awe and wonder of the world is to think of their toys as their initiation to the workings of the world and the tools they need to succeed in life.  If you see toys as a form of education, then you should think about them in stages. It’s unlikely to understand quantum mechanics without some knowledge of Newtonian physics. Before your child can go to the next stage, they should be able to grasp basic concepts. But then, never underestimate the mind of a child.  Their neurons can make twice as many connections than your own. Give them toys that are appropriate for their stage of learning, but at the same time, are challenging enough for them to sustain their interest. For them to learn how to appreciate things, particularly, their toys, you should buy and give toys one at a time, not all at the same time.

Toys and the stages of learning

Baby toys should be about stimulating the five senses: touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing. For toddlers, you want to advance to toys that teach classification, identification, differentiation, cause and effect, relationships, and motor skills. For preschoolers, you want them to improve their logic and reasoning and their problem-solving. For grade-schoolers, you want them to explore and grasp more complex and abstract ideas such as scientific and philosophical concepts, expand their imaginations and be able to express and communicate this verbally or through other media such as art and music. 

Educational toys are gaining a wide market acceptance nowadays. The children of this generation are constantly becoming brighter every time, given the changes and advancement in technology. However, such technological gadgets are relatively expensive than ordinary toys. But why would parents choose them over old ones that are relatively cheaper? Traditional ones also do some good to children. That is a fact that can never be changed.

Even if these are meant for play, they somehow mold certain abilities and personalities in children. They help kids develop certain appreciation for things and are pushing them to socialize and interact with other people around them.

But people should also face the truth that modernization has significantly affected the way people live and perceive things. The current times require that people should become smarter and more efficient. And this also goes for the youth. Children are now faced with greater challenges in terms of intellectual and mental development, and they should be well-equipped to face the changing times.

Recognizing such change, children should be exposed to kids toys that are meant to further develop their mental and intellectual capacity. They should be armed with the proper equipments that will allow them to compete with the changing times. Toys that are made to enhance certain abilities in children are a sure and easy way to meet this demand.

They come in various forms and are made for certain age groups, allowing greater flexibility for parents to take charge of their children’s growth. These generally serve two purposes, namely for play and for learning. Given such, parents should generally prefer them over toys that do not necessarily contribute to the overall development of their children. Even if they are generally more expensive, they provide added value not only to children but to their parents as well. These are more effective than the traditional way of teaching and learning, which children oftentimes find boring and stressful.

There are a lot of toddler educational toys in the retail market. Parents would definitely have a broader selection of items to choose from. It would be easy for parents to find what they are specifically looking for. However, if parents do not have something specific in mind, they might find it difficult to find one that will really be appropriate for their kids. In such cases, parents should consider a number of factors in selecting one.

One major consideration that you should look into is the age group that a specific product is catering to. Getting the right toy appropriate for your kid’s age will ensure that he or she will really derive some knowledge from it. Getting the wrong one will greatly affect his or her interest in playing it and also the amount of learning that he or she will have to obtain. For example, buying ones that are too advanced for him or her will necessarily be too difficult for your child to use. Those that are too young for him or her, on the other hand, will also lessen the amount of learning since he or she will find them boring and less attractive. Parents should also be concerned that the major reason why they are buying these toys is to help their children develop certain skills or knowledge. They should therefore prioritize childrens educational toys that will really contribute to your child’s ability.

Another major consideration should be safety reasons. Even for non-educational ones, parents should be cautious in buying play things for their kids. The younger their children are, the more susceptible they are to harm and health danger. So when shopping for them, make sure to read first before buying them. Make sure that what you are about to purchase does not contain any harmful material such as lead content.

To make it simpler, look for a “non-toxic” mark or any type of certification that will authenticate the claim. If you are not so confident about what you are buying, opt for branded names since they are stricter in implementing safety guidelines. They see to it that they are producing high quality products in order to secure their reputation. And as a result, consumers are made to pay more for it. They are generally expensive, but they are definitely of high quality, and most of all, safe.

Given such wide variety in baby toys, it is almost impossible that you would not find what you need for your kid. You may opt for those that are meant to target specific skills, such as memory and language. You may also influence your child’s interest by exposing him or her to a great deal of subjects that relate to a certain theme.

It’s a fact that the life expectancy of kids toys are short but we have to face the reality; with the high pricing cost of basic commodities nowadays it is really not practical for us to buy toys frequently to replace broken ones. It is therefore important that we teach our kids how to maintain their toys. We know that at one point those toys will be broken but what we could do is to extend the life span of those toys.

We should start by keeping track of how many and what kinds of toys of our kids have. Let us have a record which contains information such as when we bought it and when it was broken. You could also include when a toy is lost or if it would be found. It is like a record of incoming and outgoing toys from our kid

So why do we need to have a record? From our record we could easily find out details. How long one toy does lasts in my kid? How frequent do we buy them toys? The record would tell the toy-playing-and-breaking-pattern of our kids.

The next step is to watch our kids when they play with their toys. We should observe closely if our kids intentionally break their toys. Sometimes, kids do this because they seek attention from us and they see toys as platform to release pent up emotions. Once this is the case, it is better that we spend more quality time with our kids

In some cases, kids’ toys will get damaged because they played it too much, which is not really bad but if this happens frequent, we should talk to our kids and tell them the value of their toys. It is never too early to teach our children responsibility

We could tell them that taking care of their toy is like us taking care of them. But let us be worthy models for our kids. If our kids see us not organized with our own stuff how could they follow us if we do not practice what we preach?

We should remember that maintaining kids’ toys is a process, take it one step at a time. We should start by having a “toy box” where our kids will place their toy once they finish playing with it. Another good way on promoting to our kids how to take care of their toys is taking part of their “toy maintenance” like joining them when they are wiping their toys wit when it gathered dust. We should make them feel that they could have fun when they maintain their toys.

To sum it up, we must remember that we do not just leave toys to our kids for them to play with until they get broken then we would but them new one. Let us play with our kids and be a part of their lives. One best way to inculcate to our kids the value of responsibility is when we established good relationship with them which is could develop when we join them play and maintain their toys.

When I choose a toy to give to my godchildren or niece or nephews, the first thing I look into is the age recommendation. I actually only consider two factors when buying toys for kids - age appropriateness and my budget.

Reading about baby injuries caused by what I consider to be pretty harmless toys made me rethink my selection criteria. It made me aware about the safety aspect of kids’ toys. After a few hours of Internet surfing, I’ve learned that:

1. Toys must not have sharp surfaces or points.

2. Toys for kids under three years of age must not contain small parts or produce small parts when they break, like rattles with small balls in them.

3. Toys must not have pinching parts or wires that could poke through.

4. Stuffed toys or dolls should have no ribbons, strings, cords, or necklaces that can be wrapped around a child’s neck.

5. Any toy that can fit through a toilet paper tube is a choking and ingestion hazard.

6. Projectile toys like darts and slingshots are for older children.

7. I should also consider if there are younger siblings that can be interested to the toy because that toy can be a potential hazard for the younger ones.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission bans toys for sale in the U.S. that do not pass federal safety standards on small parts, low levels of lead in paint, flammability limits, and hazardous chemicals.

In August 2008, new toy safety standards have become a law in the U.S. The law requires, among others, lead levels in painted toys to be reduced to 100 parts per million and phthalate content to be below 0.1 percent. It also requires mandatory testing and safety certifications as well as tracking information for parents to easily find out if the toy they bought has been recalled. For some parents, the new law might not be the solution to some problems on child safety but it is a good start.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a lot of information for parents like safety tips not only on toys but also on baby cribs and play yards, bicycles, pools, playgrounds and playpens. A visit at their Web site, www.cpsc.gov, is enlightening. There’s an updated list of recalled toys and other products in the site that will prove to be helpful for parents.

Parents can even receive direct e-mail notification of product recalls through the agency’s Web site. This is one free e-mail subscription parents should have. They can also subscribe to electronically receive new recalls and safety information at www.recalls.gov.

A blog by independent and nonprofit organization, Consumers Union, is another great site for parents to visit. The site is regularly updated with safety news and tips from the Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as news relating to child safety from publishers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Time magazine.

There is so much to learn about toys and their safety standards. Hopefully, we all can be made aware of these standards to prevent tragedies.