Electronic Toys in Infant Playtime May Affect Language Skills [VIDEO]

The type of electronic toys for infants that produce songs, words and lights were associated with decreased quantity and quality of language, according to a new study. The traditional infant toys such as set of rubber blocks, wooden puzzles and books have better influence on developing language skills in toddlers

The article was published online by JAMA Pediatrics and advise parents of young children to provide more traditional toys for their infants' playtime rather than electronic toys. Nowadays, many families of toddlers do not have as many opportunities to interact with their children in direct playtime because of work, limited time, and financial factors. However, it is important to keep optimizing the quality of our limited parent-infant playtime.

Ph.D., of Northern Arizona University, Anna V. Sosa and her colleagues have conducted a controlled experiment that involved 26 parent-infant pairs. The children were aged between 10 and 16 months. The study has been conducted in participants' homes and researchers did not directly observe parent-infant play time. For the purpose of the research, audio recording equipment was used instead, in order to pick up sound.

Participants have received three sets of toys: traditional toys, electronic toys and five board books. Among the traditional toys were included a shape-sorter, a chunky wooden puzzle and rubber blocks with pictures. The category of electronic toys included a baby laptop, a baby cell phone and a talking farm.

The research team observed that playing with electronic toys involved fewer conversational turns, fewer adult words used and fewer parental responses than when playing with books or traditional toys. According to the results reported by Science Daily, children also vocalized less while playing with electronic toys.

The authors of the study concluded that in terms of language development utility, there are consistent and large differences between books and electronic toys, followed by traditional toys and electronic toys.