Are Toys Killing Kids’ Creativity?

Most kids grew up loving and playing with toys: dolls, action figures, stuffed animals, cars. In 2015, the amount of toys grew each day, and with new toy creations like Nerf and classics like Lego -- the choices are endless.

But can toys kill a child’s creativity? Lego can be considered one of the most creative toys there is; but is it really? Lego has evolved from a few simple building blocks that allows the builder to create anything up to his/her imagination to small and intricate pieces that needs to be built by following instructions.Yes, these kids are building and figuring out how to follow instructions but what are they really learning? Modern Lego sell their toys as characters and items of popular movies, T.V. shows, and videos games, then kids just reenact similar or the same scenes they saw their favourite character do just like with the toys in McDonalds, Barbie, etc.

Also, you can’t buy just a box of Lego bricks anymore. A student in my English class, Eryk, told our class that when he was younger his father use to buy him Legos and take out the instructions and let him build whatever he wanted, not limiting his creativity in the long run. Instructions can’t show you how to be creative and it’s holding back the kids’ freedom to be creative.

The reason why toys team up with entertainment companies is that it helps both companies. For example, when a movie comes out, they call Lego and Mcdonalds to make the characters, because kids want to play and have the same people in the movie they like. Still popular, is Frozen. Kids buy the those toys to reenact those stories, limiting their creative potential.

Is it a coincidence that they stop making just the Lego blocks anymore? If you go on Legos website, you’ll find the slogan: “You’re gonna need a bigger imagination.” In my English class, the whole class had to come up with one way to play with a pencil (keep in mind: a pencil is not a toy). In total the class came up with over 20 ways to play with a pencil but all you can do with a Barbie doll is just reenact story lines.

If we limit creativity, we limit innovation, and our world can’t move forward. We’ll just be stuck where we are, following instructions and following orders. How can this be changed? All we need is a little creativity.