Special things can happen with children and their toys. As a child, I can't remember a girl who didn't have a Barbie or a boy who didn't run all over the yard bringing to battle action figures to take over the world. Toy building sets were scattered all over the floors of every playroom I entered as a child, including my own. We would build astounding things with those scale model sets; tall buildings for our Barbie doll or stuffed toys to live in, a store for them to shop in; the possibilities were only limited by our imaginations. While these types of toys don't usually fit into the category of educational toys, they can teach valuable lessons.

Toys of all shapes and sizes and genres are important to children, even those that parents may not at first believe to be educational toys. This is as true today as it was 30 years ago when I sat playing playing card games with my sister. It is through play that children learn best, and they expand their imaginations and their critical thinking skills. While parents may think that only learning toys would actually be able to teach a child anything, that would be a misconception. Actually, most toys are educational toys when you recognize that a child learns from playing freely.

Playing card games, while supplying hours of entertainment, also work on developing a child's reasoning proficiency as well as coping skills. Everyone doesn't win when we play strategy games, and at times losing at something is an important lesson for a child to learn as emerging victorious is. When there is a winner and a loser in a board game, one player is humbled while the other, hopefully, learns to be a polite winner. With the aid of an attentive parent, children will expand these skills. So popular are certain board games that they are now being made in ways that they can be played in the car. Travel games may not be as stimulating as the original board games, but it sure keeps a child occupied in the car!

Over several decades, parents and children have spent hours of bonding time over building sets. The vibrantly colorful blocks in a Lego set bring forward the very best in a child's imagination, and keep them occupied for days. A wonderful thing about building sets is that just one set could create many of different items, from a animal to a fire station. Over the years, Lego sets have grown to where there are now sets just for girls, such as the Belville line. Naturally, boys love Lego sets like Star Wars or Bionicles. But youngsters can learn deftness and originality through Lego sets, and that's what is really important.

Need more proof of the value of Lego sets as an educational toy? Studies show that children grow new neural connections when working with building sets. By only playing with their Lego set, kids also learn spatial concepts, cause-and-effect, and fine motor skills. What a way to learn!