It’s tempting to fill your little one’s gift list with all their proposed wants, but sometimes the best gifts for young children don’t come from following what they beg for in stores (which can really just be the toy marketers of the world influencing your little one); the best gifts will come from your knowledgeable assessment of their current developmental needs.

Your child’s current interests or wants will be closely connected to their inner needs. In other words, toddlers and young children will want to play most and play for longer with the things that satisfy their needs.

Play should entice active engagement, creative thinking, movement, hands-on discovery, problem-solving, language, and concentration (and so much more - see where we’re going?) Play is the work of childhood, and therefore toys can be regarded as their “tools.” So, shop for “tools” that build those kinds of skills. Those skills are their needs. This is opposed to treating toys as frivolous objects to merely entertain your child.

You can certainly start with guesses on what they want. It’s not that you should disregard your child’s interest in that monster truck in passing – you’re just going to take some time to learn their interests free of consumerism influence, too! Go deeper. What is it about the truck they like right now? How are they trying to play with vehicles in general, these days? When you ask yourself how they seem to be trying to play, not just hyper-focusing on what they reach for, you can better uncover a list of current interests connected to developmental needs.

For example, don’t just write down “Wants monster truck.”

Instead, observe your child at home with their current toys. Write down how they play.

There is so much more you can shop for, intentionally, when you keep skills-based observations top of mind. Maybe the monster truck can meet some of those current needs, but now you also have broader categories that can inspire a variety of gifts more likely to satisfy your child’s wants and needs!