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Prev Next d tasks. Mental representations are a critical part of the sensorimotor phase and are later the foundation for all other mental representations. Children holding mental representations of ideas and objects within their heads and can serve as the basis of later complex mental representations.
With such an idea, it is an important idea that children and infants develop a schema related to games, and play. For example, as children develop more sophisticated schemes, or cognitive structures, they become increasingly able to adapt to their environments(Pg. 211). This basketball-oriented toy, does allow children to develop their definition of play, before Piaget thought it was possible. Furthermore, the basketball hoop can serve as a golden ring in which giants used to wear, while enacting make believe play. In fact, the one definite positive of this toy is that it inspires play, and for children to act on their environment an see how gravity works and furthermore for parents to play alongside of children.
Semantic development takes place across a lifetime, though it is active very early on in development. Children develop the meanings of words from before they are even able to pronounce them, in fact there is often a lag in ability to pronounce the words that the child understands. In fact with in the toy’s age range, a child begins to speak, and progressively becomes better at speaking and properly labeling items. Children begin to acquire language at a rapid pace, through a process of “Recall”, where actively retrieving information of labeling the object are needed to commit it to memory(Pg. 249). Essentially there is a burst of communication and understand that occurs before and after thirty-six months.
The toy aims at developing multiple levels of language, through displaying numbers and colors and by using those concepts in music, the toy is intended to generate and encourage the use of language. The toy serves as an example for speech patterns, as well as providing children with exposure to important concepts like the alphabet and numbers as well as colors. The toy does not require children to read; in fact the numbers may not be understood as something that corresponds to the music. In which case the toy is another source of language, for the child to connect and create definitions based upon the way the stand lights up, and tin that way the music provides another opportunity for children to develop their receptive language.
The Laugh and Learn Learning Basketball toy, is inappropriate for children of six months, with the primary buttons and functions being higher than what they are capable of reaching without being able to sit alone. It is entirely likely that with the range of development that many children may not be able to sit up and crawl towards the toy anywhere between five and eleven months for which the toy is designed. Also, as the child grows, like between ten and nineteen months a child’s grasp develops, making handing a ball easier, making the larger ball an inappropriate choice for children under seven months(Pg 214). Moreover the level of noise on the toy is questionable, and it could have damaging affects. Another issue with the toy is that it asserts reading, with numbers decorating the backboard as well as counting both of which are principles that are not mastered until after the sensorimotor stage. Linguistically, the toy could prove to be a breeding ground for over stimulation with such a wide variety of songs, and insufficient adult child interaction. However, the basketball game could be helpful in developing the idea of games an sports and help children develop their mental representations through play.
A few ways to manipulate the toy so that children within the entire age range could interact with it would be to allow the backboard to function as purely a push toy before mounting on the base. As a more flat toy the younger age range could push or kick the buttons of until they are able to sit and play with the toy at eye level. Furthermore, due to the importance of hearing and it’s relation to language development, I would recommend placing a volume adjustment knob so that one can choose a lower sound level for younger children, and a way to elevate the sound for children over two years. Also, I would change the numbers to maybe light up as the child scored so that they could begin to understand a causality between the numbers and