Developmental Psychology Toy Assignment Paper

KidzLane Doctor Kit Description of toy The KidzLane Doctor Kit was designed to enhance both the psychosocial and cognitive development of children. The toy is light enough to be easily carried by children ages 3+, with a red cross logo printed on the front. The toy has 11 different doctor tools for your child to use like a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, needle for shots, medication, etc. The toys are semi functional, the blood pressure cuff actually moves when you squeeze it. The KidsLane Doctor Kit is designed for children preschool age three to five years old. The toy is not gender specific and features numerous advertisements of both boys and girls playing with the toy and lists it as great for all children. The manufacture claims about this toy after that it will allow the child to explore their curiosity while also allowing them to explore the human body and develop a comfortable feeling around doctors and medical providers in general. Psychosocial Needs The psychosocial needs of a child are met in a number of different ways throughout their life and are met in different stages which move along with their age. This toy helps children meet their psychosocial needs by helping the child become comfortable around healthcare providers and alleviating anxiety and fear of the healthcare providers and setting. Another way that this toy helps a child meet their psychosocial needs is by allowing a child to play the role of both the patient and the doctor and therefore act out the behavior they think these two roles display. The doctor kit also allows the child to explore on their own or with others while they play as either the doctor or patient. These different interactions with the doctor kit allow the child to learn and adapt different types of social behavior and explore different social roles. The use of this toy also allows for interaction with others which Erikson notes as fostering psychosocial development. Erikson also states that during this stage in a child's life they are going through initiatives vs guilt and learning to be independent without feeling guilty about it. (Lally & Valentine, 2019) The use of this toy allows the child to discover this independence through their curiosity and exploring while playing. Cognitive Needs The KidzLane Doctor Kit also plays a role in meeting a child's cognitive needs. According to the manufacturer, this toy allows for a child to explore their natural curiosity and also explore and learn about the human body. (KidzLane, 2021) This exploration and curiosity put to use is important in a child's cognitive development as it is allowing them to move through the stages of Piaget's cognitive development. Piaget's second stage of cognitive development is the pre-operational stage which begins around age two and lasts until age seven. During this stage the child's thinking is described as being at symbolic level. The symbolic level of thinking in-volves developing a representation of the world, pretending to be someone they are not, and playing pretend acting out different situations. (Mcleod, 2018) The doctor kit fosters all aspects of the symbolic thinking by allowing the child to develop a representation of certain parts of the world, specifically the medical world. The toy also allows children to pretend to be both a patient and a doctor and allows a child to play pretend while acting out different situations that could occur before, during, or after visiting a doctor’s office. Modifications The KidzLane Doctor Kit is well designed and meets many important guidelines for a toy designed for preschool aged children while fostering both their cognitive and psychosocial development but, it could always add different aspects to add toot's appeal and functionality. If I were to make any modifications to the toy, I would add a white doctors coat and maybe small notepad to the case so that while the child playing the role of the doctor, they could look the part and act the part by pretending to take notes. By adding these two things to the doctor kit the child would be more inclined to play with the toy as they are now dressing up while playing but the two additions would further help the cognitive development of the child by putting them even more into the pretend world. This would also aid in the physical development of the child by developing their fine motor skills while they use a writing utensil to pretend to take notes.