great deal of the progress in toy-making has been along mechanical
lines, until we are confronted with the most intricate mechanical
contrivances. They are interesting at an exhibition, and most likely
the child will be attracted by them and will want them, but only to
look at and own. He will tire of them much more quickly than he
would of the simple, usable toy. In this respect the children of the
rich are to be pitied. They are overloaded with these expensive,
mechanical toys which overstimulate them at first and later bore
them. The educative value of simple games with sticks and stones, or
anything the child may happen to pick up, is far greater and calls
for more exercise of imagination and ingenuity and the other
qualities we desire to foster than is that of the elaborate
mechanical toys.

It would be very desirable if all the skill and enterprise that is
devoted to the development of the toy industry were applied to
making toys simpler, more durable, and cheaper, instead of making
them more elaborate, more realistic, and more flimsy. However, the
desirable kinds of toys will not be manufactured in larger
quantities until an enlightened parenthood both demands them and
refuses to buy the glittering heart-breakers that look so charming
in the shop, but go to pieces in the child's hands.

It is far better to have fewer and better toys than more of an
inferior quality. The thing to keep in mind is that a toy is neither
an artistic model, an aesthetic ornament, nor a mechanical
spectacle, but should be a stimulus to call forth self-activity,
invention, ingenuity, imagination, and skill.