Playing with traditional toys makes babies more talkative than electronic games play

Electronic toys for infants that produce lights, words and songs were associated with decreased quantity and quality of language compared to playing with books or traditional toys such as a wooden puzzle, a shape sorter and a set of rubber blocks, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, in the United States conducted a controlled experiment involving 26 parent-infant pairs with children who were 10 to 16 months old. Participants were given three sets of toys: electronic toys (a baby laptop, a talking farm and a baby cell phone); traditional toys (chunky wooden puzzle, shape sorter and rubber blocks with pictures); and five board books with farm animal, shape or colour themes. While playing with electronic toys there were fewer adult words used, fewer conversational turns with verbal back-and-forth, fewer parental responses and less production of content-specific words than when playing with traditional toys or books. Children also vocalised less while playing with electronic toys than with books. “If the emphasis is on activities that promote a rich communicative interaction between parents and infants, both play with traditional toys and book reading can be promoted as language-facilitating activities while play with electronic toys should be discouraged,” the study concludes.