C-FAX 1070 Radio, Victoria, BC
interview with Stephen Andrews, November 8, 2007 10:30am
Mr. Andrews shares his story with listeners on searching for a
present for his nephew. The founder of INQUISITIVEkid provides
insight and guidance on the value of a toy versus the cost, how
parents can find safe toys, what to look for in a quality toy,
and the developmental importance of toys.
Minimalist toys offer safer
alternative: experts
CTV.ca News, by Ashleigh Patterson, Saturday November 10, 2007
9:03 AM ET
This year's growing list of toy recalls is prompting independent
toy companies to step in with safer alternatives that promise to
improve children's minds with minimal risk to their health.
Peter Emmenegger, owner of online toy store INQUISITIVEkid says
parents today are inadvertently undermining a child's creative
thinking and development when purchasing popular "licensed" toys
and high-tech smart games.
"Video games and passive plastic toys restrict children's
progress by stifling their creativity and imagination, and
hindering their social skills," Emmenegger said.
He argues that "licensed" toys -- toys based solely on popular
television or movie characters -- tell children how to play by
directing them to known themes associated with the character,
effectively crushing the child's creative thinking in favour of
imitation.
"They just want the child to play with one thing and then hope
to sell them another product that they can play with in a
different way," Emmenegger told CTV.ca from Toronto.
"It's very one-dimensional."
Diane Bergeron, professor of early childhood education at the
George Brown School of Early Childhood, agrees that minimalist
toys, such as wooden blocks, and unstructured play function as a
catalyst for creative thinking.
"When a child is playing with blocks, they are essentially
constructing their own vision and building a castle of their own
imagination," Bergeron told CTV.ca.
"Then the child is able to construct their own vision of the
larger world made small."
When children grow out of their pre-school years, toys move from
imitation to high-tech, teaching the child that "technology can
do the thinking for you," Bergeron said.
"That is a dangerous place to go because if you want to
socialize children to be thinkers, than you need to teach
children how to think, not what to think," she said.
"That technology was invented by a creative mind and in order to
produce creative minds you need to have people who can think."
Toys that socialize
Bergeron says minimalist toys also serve to socialize children,
teaching them important life skills - such as sharing and
teamwork -- that become imperative as adults enter into the
workforce.
"If they are simply mimicking what they see on television, if
the toy has a singular purpose, or you're only responding to
what the computer tells you, than that's fine to a point," she
said.
"But when you're working in the real world, human beings don't
respond like a computer and children need to be taught things
like being flexible -- things like being resilient, courtesy and
controlling impulses."
Parents are also making the switch to all-natural minimalist
toys for safety reasons due to the millions of toys recalled
since June of this year.
Simple fun with simple toys
Uncomplicated toys free the imagination and give children a
chance to get lost in the world of play
The Toronto Star, by Andrea Gordon, Saturday November 24, 2007
4:30 AM
Guitar Hero blasts a Lynyrd Skynyrd riff on the Xbox. Infant
gyms in psychedelic plastic flash and beep and play "Yankee
Doodle." Diego has a talking rescue centre.
Santa's elves must be getting more than their share of headaches
at the workshop these days, judging from the sensory overload
induced by this season's hot toys. But amid the din of Bratz
handbag-boomboxes, crashing
Transformers and the chirping of the High School Musical crowd,
there's a peaceful oasis forming in toyland. A small but growing
group of toymakers and parents is harkening back to a time when
toys were more about the wonder of kids than the wonders of
technology.
Then there's InquisitiveKid.ca, a new online store
offering more than 300 minimalist playthings.
"A good toy is 10 per cent toy and 90 per cent child," says
Peter Emmenegger of Toronto, a software engineer and father of
two who launched the venture last month. "The child's
imagination is the engine of healthy play."
His "good toys" include basic wood building blocks (starter set
$54), wooden marble runs (starting at $50), simple wooden animal
figures ($3 to $20) and all-natural handmade soft dolls
(starting at $55).
InquisitiveKid.ca does not disclose any of its manufacturers, in
keeping with the philosophy that toys shouldn't be about
commercialism and brands.
Several developments are behind many parents' choice to
simplify:
Concerns about toy safety following massive recalls over the
past few months by major manufacturers like Mattel because of
dangerous lead levels in paint. "I can't count how many parents
have said, `I've thrown out all the toys and started over,'"
says Lee.
Environmental awareness that has sparked demand for green toys
made of natural and sustainable materials and with less
packaging.
But to Emmenegger, the only thing a creative kid can do with a
fully finished toy that comes with a predetermined method of
play is "take it apart."
He and his wife started researching the role of play four years
ago, shortly after their daughter was born three months
premature. They did everything they could to create a
stimulating yet uncluttered play environment that would
encourage her development. But finding high quality natural toys
that weren't "educationally insistent" wasn't easy. So
Emmenegger, now the father of two daughters ages 4 and 2,
decided to launch a business aimed at other parents hoping to
pare down.
"You're seeing kids getting burnt out," Emmenegger says. "I
think people are looking to simplify again, and we have realized
electronics doesn't do that. We get calls and emails every day
from parents thirsting for a different way of life and a better
way for their child."
It's a point of view long espoused by such researchers as David
Elkind, renowned professor of child development at Tufts
University in Boston and author of the groundbreaking 1981 book
The Hurried Child.
"Children's play – their inborn disposition for curiosity,
imagination and fantasy – is being silenced in the high-tech,
commercialized world we have created," he writes in his most
recent book, The Power of Play.
Elkind says simple toys prompt kids to spin elaborate storylines
and disappear into the world of play, while many modern ones
that come with a prescribed narrative or batteries or take place
on screens "engender little more than habits of passive
consumerism."
Molding Future Executives
Will They Show Problem Solving Deficit Disorders?
Info/Suisse Magazine, by Peter Emmenegger, November/December
2007
Our society, including the corporate world, is facing an
enormous challenge: ensuring a future supply of creative
thinkers.
There is an increasing concern over the fact that children are
given little time or encouragement to engage in imaginative
play. Undirected play is essential for healthy development – it
allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to
negotiate, to resolve conflicts, to practice decision-making
skills, and to learn self-advocacy skills. When play is
controlled by adults, children comply with adult rules and
concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them,
particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group
skills.
Too many children are overscheduled with school and other
activities. Even organized sports leave little room for the
development of creative thinking in children. Indeed, many
parents have become program directors for their children’s
intellectual development - as a direct response to a new
phenomenon referred to as the “professionalization” of
parenthood - using the standards of efficiency and productivity
they have mastered at work to judge their own effectiveness as
parents.
When children do have time to play, they too often play with a
passive pre-programmed electronic toy or sit in front of a
screen - television, computer or hand-held game - responding to
a scenario created by someone else. As a result, today’s
children are developing a “problem-solving deficit disorder.”
As Albert Einstein once said: “You can't solve a problem with
the same thinking that created the problem.”
In fact, many of our greatest thinkers locate their capacity for
original and profound thought in their imaginative abilities,
first developed through creative play in early childhood.
As a society, we need to become advocates of free play - if
children’s ability to think creatively is not developed,
children will mature into adults who lack the capacity to
innovate -- in business, government or their own lives.
Currently we are producing robots - assembly-line citizens.
Democracy really needs citizens who have imagination and
creativity. Otherwise, the tendency is to let the government
make decisions for us. Then you've got totalitarianism, not
democracy.
Nurturing the Playful Mind
Natural Child Magazine, by Peter Emmenegger, May/June, 2008
(pdf link)
The A-Channel Morning Show
The A-Channel Morning Show for London, Windsor, Wingham (CTV, Inc.)
with Jeremy John and guest Peter Emmenegger, April 23, 2008
Windows Media file download
iPod.mp4 file download
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