Educational Toys Could Be a Waste of Money

PARENTS are wasting millions of pounds a year on so- called educational toys, it was claimed yesterday.

Experts believe young children can learn as much from everyday objects such as shoeboxes, saucepans and car keys as they can from specialist playthings.

The market in educational toys is booming, with an increasing number of affluent parents willing to spend money on products they believe could help their preschool child's educational development.

However, in a book to be published next month, one expert questions whether there is such a thing as an 'educational toy'.

Krister Svensson, director of the International Toy Research Centre in Stockholm, said: 'Toys don't teach cognitive or motor skills - they just encourage children to practise them.

'You can make a complex toy that forces children to manipulate them in a certain way, but children can learn just as much from repeatedly taking the lid off a shoebox and putting it back on again.' The UK toy market is worth more than [pounds sterling]2.1billion a year. Around [pounds sterling] 360million of that goes on items for babies and pre-school children.

Such is the boom that there are now numerous companies and websites specialising in educational toys which are said to help language, dexterity, shape and colour recognition and other skills.

Products aimed at babies and toddlers include CD software, 'talking' books and electronic gadgets, as well as more traditional wooden or plastic toys.

'The toy industry gives parents the impression that their children will have a head start if they play with their product but there is no scientific proof to these claims,' said Mr Svensson.

'It is the setting of play that is educational, not the toy itself.