Parents often buy their children many toys. What are the advantages and disadvantages of children having a large number of toys? Use examples from your personal knowledge and experience.

 September 2011 General Training essay - Australia ( topic taken from www.ielts-blog.com)

Toys are not just playthings. They are the building blocks of our child’s future. They teach our children about the world and about themselves. That is precisely why parents always want to provide their children with toys. The issue of concern here is regarding the number of toys children are given. While some parents fill their children’s rooms to the ceiling with toys, others limit the number of toys that children have to play with.

On the one hand there are a few advantages of children having a plethora of toys. They have more variety to play with and they can pick out their personal favourites from those toys according to their taste. Moreover, parents can be satisfied that their children have enough to play with when they are themselves busy.

On the other hand, too many toys prevent kids from fully developing their gift of imagination. Kids learn to be more creative with fewer toys. To cite an example, an experiment was conducted in Germany in which all toys of a kindergarten classroom were removed for three months. It was observed that children soon began to use their basic surroundings to invent games and use imagination in their playing.

Furthermore, children with fewer toys establish better social skills. They learn how to share with other children. Also, they develop a greater love for reading, writing, and art. Fewer toys also make children to become resourceful by solving problems with only the materials at hand. And resourcefulness is a gift with unlimited potential.

Children with fewer toys become less selfish. Those who get everything they want believe they can have everything they want. This attitude is definitely detrimental to a child’s psychology. They do not even value the toys they have. Another advantage of not having a basement full of toys is that children are more likely to play outside and have the much needed physical exercise which results in healthier and happier bodies. Finally, fewer toys result in a less-cluttered, cleaner and healthier home.

To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that, toys are very much needed for the development of children, but there should be a limit on the number of toys a child should have. Excess of everything is bad.

Plan followed in the essay

Intro: a balanced approach as it is a discuss essay.

Para 1: Advantages of having too many toys

-          More choices

-          Parents are free

Para 2: Advantages of fewer toys

-          Children become more creative

-          Imagination power develops

-          An example

Para 3: Other advantages of fewer toys

-          Better social skills – learn to share

-          Time for other activities like reading, writing and art

-          Learn to manage with less – resourcefulness in a virtue

Para 4: more advantages of fewer toys

-          Children with more toys develop the attitude that they will always get what they want – this is detrimental to their psyche

-          Lesser toys means more outdoor games which is good for health

Conclusion: fewer toys are better