Too many toys are bad for children, according to study

It is possible to have too much of a good thing – especially when it comes to children’s toys – a new study has found.

Children who have too many toys find themselves easily distracted and do not enjoy quality play-time.

Researchers in Ohio, US, invited 36 toddlers in to play with either 16 toys or four toys.

The half that were given only four toys were found to be far more creative. They played with each toy for twice as long and were better at coming up with different variations of their games.

The study, from the University of Toledo, highlights what many parents have already been saying for years now: that it can be worthwhile keeping new toys packed away in order to encourage creativity and lengthened attention span in children.

“This study sought to determine if the number of toys in toddlers’ environments influences the quality of their play,” said lead author Dr Carly Dauch in the journal Infant Behaviour and Development.

“The higher number of incidences of play in the 16 toy condition did seem to interfere with duration and depth of play. Other toys present may have created a source of external distraction.

“During toddlerhood, children develop, but may not have mastered, higher level control over attention. Their attention, and therefore, their play may be disrupted by factors in their environments that present distraction.

“The results of the present study suggest that an abundance of toys may create such a distraction.

“When provided with fewer toys in the environment, toddlers engage in longer periods of play with a single toy, allowing better focus to explore and play more creatively”.

The average British child owns 238 toys but will only play with around 12 “favourites”.

At only five percent, it suggests children do not need the huge variety that’s become the norm – and this study wasn’t the first to suggest so, either.

In the 1990s, a study of a Munich nursery found similar results. Toys were removed for three months, but it only took a few weeks for the children to re-adjust and become more creative with their play-time.

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