Parents spending hundreds of rupees on high-tech educational toys for toddlers would be better off giving them an old mobile phone to play with.
Parents should stop feeling pressurised into buying computerised toys for young children because they are no better than traditional methods of teaching children the basics. Families eager to introduce their children to new technology should use laptops, mobile phones and other gadgets already in the home rather than splashing out on custom-built computers. These toys are not particularly beneficial, although they are not particularly harmful either. There is no problem having them in the home. But in terms of literacy and numeracy, they are certainly not more effective than more traditional methods of helping children to learn.
Researchers spent the past two years studying the impact of new technology on young children and announced the preliminary results of their study at a conference. The best feature about these often pricey toys is that they can be used in role play, with children pretending to be in an office or ordering their shopping online.