Watch a toddler playing with a singing, light-up toy for a few minutes and you’ll notice a few things. That they’re engaging with the toy and having a whole lot of fun - but also that the toy is doing most of the work. The toy gives a command: ‘Press the blue button!’ The child presses the blue button and the toy shouts, ‘Good job! Now find the green button.’ The cycle continues, the toy bleeps and flashes, the child is entertained… for a while.
But then the child notices that the toy’s commands are repeating. How many times can they feel satisfied by hitting the blue button? Their attention is drawn to an empty cardboard box, a wooden spoon, an adult’s hat… and suddenly, they're busy creating their own stories and a whole new imaginary world.
Parents can feel pressure to buy toys that do a lot. Surely, the more functions a toy has to offer, the longer it will keep a child entertained? But often, the opposite is true. The less a toy does, the fewer instructions it provides, the more gaps the child has to fill in. Their developing brains need to work hard to create stories and games, leading to longer, deeper and more inventive play.
What Makes a Toy Open-Ended?
An open-ended toy is usually simple, with no speakers, no flashing lights, no electronics at all and minimal moving parts. The toy does nothing to tell the child how they should interact with it, and that’s the whole point of less structured toys: the play is all driven by the child.
Compare this to a typical structured toy: flashing lights, buttons to press, speakers playing music, funny sounds and instructions for what the child should do next. Noisy plastic toys aren’t bad or wrong. Plenty of children love the excitement and immediacy of playing with something that beeps, makes sounds and whizzes around the floor. These toys are stimulating, lively and it’s easy to know how to play with them. Of course - the toy itself often tells the child exactly what to do: ‘Press the blue button’, ‘Can you touch your toes?’, ‘Bottle, please.’
But they have their own limits. What happens once every button has been pressed and every instruction has been followed? The toy has said everything it has to say and the child feels a sense that their play has been ‘completed’ once the toy begins to cycle through the same instructions again. And that’s what leads to toys like this being left to linger at the bottom of the toy basket.
Open-ended toys don’t feel ‘finished’ or ‘completed’ in the same way because they were never trying to tell a full story or provide a complete activity in the first place. There isn’t one single or right way to play with them. Play isn’t directed or narrated by the toy, and it can be used differently on different days.
A simple wooden figure can live in a doll's house one day, drive a tractor the next, then be used as a makeshift baby bottle months later. A wooden animal plays a starring role in a bedtime story, then joins a farm yard, then is stacked on top of some bricks. A wooden vehicle is zoomed down a slide in the park, parked in a shoebox garage and used as a doll’s rollerskate. Nobody programmed the toy, or told the child, to do a certain thing. That’s decided afresh every time an open-ended toy is picked up.
Why Do Open-Ended Toys Encourage Deeper Play?
When a child is handed a simple toy, they don’t ask, ‘What is this toy telling me to do?’ but instead, ‘What can this become?’ That’s a completely different kind of thinking. The child is encouraged to invent stories, to recreate scenarios from their own little lives, to hunt around the room for props to create a world for the toy. When the thinking stops, the game stops too. Perhaps because they need a moment to pause - active play is tiring work! That’s not a flaw. That’s what real engagement looks like.
This matters more than it might seem. Every time a child comes up with a new scenario for what a toy might be or do, they’re using the same muscles they’ll use later on for problem solving. This crucial skill is needed constantly in adult life so practicing it early brings huge benefits. If toys always hand over the solutions, then how do children learn how to discover their own answers to new or difficult situations?
Want to know more about the benefits of open-ended play? Read our full guide: What Is Open-Ended Play? Why It Matters for Child Development
There’s a practical upside, too: open-ended toys last through years of play and developmental stages. Simple figures can be held and chewed by babies, stacked into teetering towers by toddlers and then used in more complex games as a child grows up. Batteries aren’t required for any of it.
Why This Matters More Than Usual In Summer…
There’s a lot of time to fill in the long summer holidays which can lead to parents looking for child-led play ideas that don’t need too much adult involvement. Here’s the slightly counterintuitive bit: sometimes, a little bit of boredom at the start of the day can lead to all sorts of imaginary, highly engaged play. If you can stand the cries of ‘I’m bored!’ for ten minutes, you may find all sorts of imaginative play unfolding.
Open-ended toys can work really well during the holidays as it doesn’t matter where you use them. Wooden figures are just as happy on a beach or a park as they are on a playroom rug. Wooden blocks are easy to pop into a rucksack and can be combined with shells, sticks or precious pebbles later in the day - whatever treasures you come across during a day out. Nature themed tinker trays, like the My Little Rockpool set which is crammed with sealife-themed toys, is a perfect choice for summer play.
Toys that Work Well For Unstructured Play
- Blocks
- Wooden figures, like dolls, animals and dinosaurs - pocket-sized characters who can be cast as anything in a story.
- Play food - an open-ended essential, part of any family games, play picnics, pretend school trips, all sorts of make believe!
- Tinker trays - packed with selections of open-ended play pieces, these gorgeous sets can be mixed with natural materials to create small world play, storytelling, construction, patterns and sorting… there’s really no limit to how a tinker tray can be used.
- Stackers - stack them however you like (there’s no ‘right’ way), use the pieces as characters in stories or pieces in games…
How To Support This Kind of Play at Home
It’s tempting to stock up on new stuff to keep children busy over the holidays, but a few small habits can make a greater difference than any amount of novelty toys:
Stand back
When your children are calling out that they’re stuck for things to do, try and hold back from making suggestions. If they find their own way through, they’re likely to feel satisfied and engaged for far longer.
Keep open-ended toys and materials available
Toys that are visible and accessible are much more likely to be played with. Try lining up some open ended toys on a shelf or table, rather than keeping everything stashed in boxes, and watch what your child reaches for.
Don’t overload the toy shelves
Clear away any broken toys or anything that needs new batteries. Replace this clutter with simple figures, vehicles and bricks and see what they come up with!
Don’t tidy up too fast
What might look like a jumble of doll’s house furniture and farmyard toys to you could be a magical world to your children. Leave it out and they may come back to it over and over again.
FAQ
What are open-ended toys?
Toys with minimal features and no set way to play. The child decides how to play with them.
Are open-ended toys better for creativity?
These toys promote creativity because the child has to generate their own ideas for what to do with them, rather than the toy instructing them. That said, many children benefit from a mixture of types of play.
Do children need lots of toys?
Not really. Mountains of toys can become overwhelming. A smaller amount of flexible, open-ended toys that are visible and accessible usually lead to more fulfilling play.
What are good open-ended toys for summer?
Anything that can be packed in a bag and used anywhere, indoors or outdoors, works well in summer. Blocks, figures and nature-themed sets can move from home to park to beach to the woods, inspiring imaginative play wherever you go.