It’s best to get small plastic animals only when children have outgrown the stage of putting toys in their mouths.
Despite all the money I’ve spent on expensive presents for my children I’ve seen them most excited by small plastic animals on special gift days. For one celebration I spread small plastic animals all over the sitting-room, including butterflies on the chairs. When they got up and came into the room to see the small plastic animals they were thrilled, and yet it was such an inexpensive idea.
They never forgot the day they got their small plastic animals. How many of us remember playing with small plastic animals in farms, or on a Noah’s Ark, or in a zoo? Those games with small plastic animals are among our happiest memories. Small plastic animals carry on a tradition for this kind of game, although the material has changed over the centuries.
When children don’t enjoy having a bath it can really help to get small plastic animals. Our bathroom was always full of small plastic animals to make washing tempting and it worked. It doesn’t only have to be for bathtime, as small plastic animals can help in other ways. If children are reluctant to wash their hands they’ll probably be happy cleaning their small plastic animals in the sink. Their hands get extra-clean as they soap down the small plastic animals!
Children have a natural love of creatures, so small plastic animals are used in a variety of ways for play. The most obvious use of small plastic animals is for the type of farm or zoo games we immediately think of. But small plastic animals are also used as moulds in the sandpit to form shapes, and you can also find small plastic animals that open up so that children can put in playdough and model their own creations.
Small plastic animals can also be used as decorations and ornaments in a young child’s bedroom to make it a place they want to go. Having small plastic animals around like the pets they most love will make children feel happier and safer at bedtime. Small plastic animals are also attached to children’s items to make them more fun. Small plastic animals on umbrellas, or attached to pens, for example, all make them more enjoyable for children.
