Transcripts

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, author of the book, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards…

It's through this discovery (and play is the best way to discover) that our children really learn.

But in an attempt to make our kids smarter, sooner, we buy toys for them that supposedly teach.

Many of those "teaching" toys are toys that give an answer to the child. And then they either: ding, ding, ding, ding if the child gets it right or they do something if the child doesn't get it right. But let's think of the toys that we really remember. Do you remember the boxes that used to make into taxicabs? Do you remember the forts you used to build out of the couch? These are the wonderful memories that build childhood and they involve a lot of learning. But we tend to forget that and we think oh my gosh if my child's going to make it into school then I better start now.

There is no evidence, says Kathy, that teaching toys make kids any smarter.

I think quite often what we're teaching our children with those toys is to be perfectionists. And I think that the real learning that happens in childhood is not from being perfect in every answer but exploring the many different answers or ways you can get to a right answer.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.