Close-Ended Toys

Close-ended toys are some of the earliest structured learning toys a learner will encounter. They have a small set of repetitive responses, like putting pieces in or on, requiring some early hand-eye coordination or visual-spatial skills.

I often find that close-ended toys have fallen out of favour/fashion compared to open-ended toys, but I'm here to sing their praises, especially for early learners! Some of the benefits of close-ended toys are that:

• The materials are usually errorless or self-prompting - they can only be completed the right way. This gives the learner a sense of achievement or self-belief, and starts to teach perseverance and task completion

• They do not require language, creativity or imagination, which can be difficult for learners with different needs or abilities (although of course they can promote these skills!)

• They usually need only one person, so there are no demands or expectations of social interactions which again we know can be challenging for learners with different needs

• In  therapeutic terms close-ended toys provide great practice for hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Again the movements are usually the same, but extra pieces can be added to build strength or endurance

So what are close-ended toys? This is some of my personal collection - piggy banks, ring stackers, insert puzzles, shape sorters and some Montessori knobbed cylinders.

Again, I find it harder to get close-ended toys in mainstream shops as there's a preference for open-ended creative toys, but "Montessori" can be a great key word when searching - so much of what I described above is the Montessori approach!

Although not commercially available, if you feel like getting creative yourself TEACHH activity boxes are another example of close-ended activities.

No matter what the product calls itself - Montessori or TEACHH, close-ended toys are an amazing, essential, foundational toy that should be part of every learning environment.