5-point optional extra credit (see at the end of the assignment): Sat March 6th

Examine toys marketed for infants, toddlers or older children (under 10 years old). If you have access to toys, you can take photos of them, or research them online.  Identify one good toy and one poor toy. Respond to the following 3 parts (you can label parts 1, 2 and 3 in your essay for each toy for clarity):

1. Briefly label/describe the toys and attach a photo/picture/link of the toys. A photo makes it much easier for others to get a sense of the toys. I Also report the recommended age range of the toys if available.
2. Report your ratings for each toy on durability, safety, attractiveness, and stimulation (1= poor, 2= fair, 3= average, 4= good, 5= excellent) and briefly explain why you gave those scores (one sentence for each score is enough, for each toy).
3. Using developmental psychology concepts and theories, describe how each toy is designed to stimulate child development, and how/why each toy succeeds or fails in promoting development. Make it clear why you think the good toy is better than the poor toy. Address different aspects of development; not all of these need to be in your essay, but address at least a couple of these aspects of development: sensory, motor, cognitive, language, gender roles, social, emotional.

In  this assignment, you must refer to some developmental psychology concepts or theories from the class material or from other reliable academic sources. Some example concepts that might apply to your toys: object permanence, sensorimotor stage, depth perception, fine motor development, assimilation, accommodation, short-term memory, conservation, attachment, empathy, gender identity, theory of mind, classification, etc.   

Preferably highlight or use bold font for the academic terminology to clearly show that you are referring to academic concepts/theories represented in your assignment.  

Address the questions above as a single discussion post in the REPLY box below. To increase clarity (as mentioned above), feel free to label each section in your essay for each toy. For this assignment, it’s sufficient to use the class material as your source. If you generally talk about the concepts you learned in the class, you don’t need to have formal citations for this assignment.

However, if you take something directly from the textbook or any other sources, cite it with APA format in-text citations and include an APA format reference list. 

In addition, read other students’ toy reports, and reply to TWO of them. You must address something in the student’s post to show that you read it and have something to contribute. You can ask questions, relate their information to what you learned from your own research, express your opinions about their toys, etc.

EXTRA CREDIT: 

Optional extra credit (5 points) due Sat March 6th: Share your favorite toy, book, photograph, game, drawing, poem, comic book, or any other memento from your childhood (any childhood age is fine, but before adolescence). Describe it, or if possible, attach a photo of it or a website link to a similar item. Explain why it was important to you, and relate it to some aspect of child development occurring in children of the same age you were when that item/memory was important to you. You can add this to your main post (mark it as extra credit), or make it a separate post. No specific length requirement, but write in full sentences in your own words. 

GRADING

I will look for the following things when I grade your assignment:

POINT BREAKDOWN

6 points for a picture of each toy (and/or a description), a recommended age rage and a rating on durability, safety, attractiveness, and stimulation (1= poor, 2= fair, 3= average, 4= good, 5= excellent) with a brief explanation for each score (one sentence for each score is enough)

10 points for explaining how each toy is designed to stimulate child development and why they succeed or fail. Must address at least a couple of different aspects of development (examples: sensory, motor, cognitive, language, gender roles, social, emotional). Must refer to some developmental psychology concepts/theories from the class material or other academic sources in an educated fashion.