Introduction
In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy and society, the detection rate of mental health problems in children and adolescents and the incidence of mental illness and emotional disorders have continued to rise. More and more children are troubled by psychological problems, and the children toy industry has also noticed this matter. “MESH toys” are becoming a new keyword in the industry.
The so-called MESH is the abbreviation of mental, emotional and social health. This type of children toys focusing on children’s mental health has attracted more and more attention from the industry and may become the focus of manufacturers’ research and development.
Recently, the famous American toy media “Toy Insider” released a special topic on Mental Health Promotion Month, recommending toys and games that promote children’s mental health to consumers. These MESH toys can help children cope with emotions and learn skills such as problem solving, self-regulation, and communication strategies.
1. Children toys that help relieve anxiety
When facing stress, children and adults can benefit from sensory games. Fight negative emotions and relieve anxiety through sensory games or toys that are soft and comfortable to touch and can relax the mind.
Representative children toy products:
SPIN MASTER: Kinetic Sand
This sensory toy set allows children to spin and stack with 6 colors of sand, as well as an artist’s palette, 4 dynamic sand molds and tools. The play method is diverse and creative. This product can develop children’s creativity and sensory skills. The unique formula makes the kinetic sand extremely plastic, reusable and easy to clean up.
Age: 3+
Educational Insights: Playfoam Shape and Learning Sensory Set
This set comes with Playfoam and 13 double-sided activity cards, combining sensory games with social and emotional skills for children over 3 years old. Playfoam is a squeezable foam toy that children can use to imitate expressions, learn to recognize and deal with emotions, and develop fine motor skills.
The activity cards focus on basic social and emotional skills, such as identifying feelings, breathing and mindfulness exercises, and expressing emotions. This product makes children feel confident and independent, ready for school.
Age: 3+
BUMPAS: Plush Toy
The arms of this toy give a realistic hug, and the doll’s hands form a heart shape to express unconditional love. Children can find their favorite friend from the 4 characters. Each doll has its own personality and character, for example, Oz is gentle and honest, and his motto is “Always tell the truth with a loving heart.” The product material is soft, bringing peace and comfort.
Age: 3+
Learning Resources: Cool Down Cubes Sensory Fidget Set
This product helps children deal with emotions through four sensory cubes. Each cube has a different “fidget” action, squeezing the foam, rotating the cube, and solving the maze. A guide is included so that children can learn ways to regulate emotions and reduce anxiety. The product comes with a tray for easy cleanup or play on the go, and is also great for home or school use.
Age: 4+
2. Emotional Cognitive Toys
This generation of children understands their emotions better than any previous generation, and children toys can help parents complete emotional cognitive education and teach children to identify their own and others’ feelings.
Representative children toy products:
SOLOBO TOYS: Emotional Coin Drop
This is a wooden children toy inspired by Montessori education philosophy. Children can put 30 wooden coins into the corresponding coin slots to match different emotions. Designed by child education experts, this product cultivates emotional intelligence, fine motor skills, and language expression through play, opens up positive dialogue between adults and children, and makes talking about emotions fun and natural.
Age: 1+
BATTAT: EGGXPRESS YOURSELF
Children can practice matching, fine motor skills, and social skills with these 12 eggs, which have different shapes and colors inside and facial expressions outside. They also come with mirror cards and storybooks. This set of tools comes with a variety of social emotional learning tools.
In addition to the facial expressions of the eggs, there are expression cards that can be used to learn emotions and feelings. Each card comes with questions designed to promote children’s expression, which is an excellent tool for learning emotions and feelings.
Age: 18 months+
Sunny Days Entertainment: Moodles Plush Doll
This 12-inch soft plush children toy is both comfortable and educational, and is the perfect companion for teaching children emotions and self-expression. Children can interact with Purr the Cat, Hug the Bear and Pastor the Puppy and learn about emotions while playing. Each plush children toy has six cute faces representing happy, sad, surprised, silly, sleepy and angry, and children can practice identifying and communicating feelings, developing communication skills and emotional intelligence.
Age: 2+
Slumberkins: Sensory Adventure Board Game
In this game, all emotions have disappeared in the Slumberkins sensory forest, and Bigfoot, Unicorn, Yak and Fox must embark on an adventure to find and collect emotions on the emotion tree in the center of Slumberkins. Players will work together to learn self-expression, emotion regulation and social skills through 36 challenge cards and 6 reward cards.
Age: 3+
HAND2MIND:
“Express Your Feelings” Sensory Bottle
The four bottles of this product have different colors, expressions and interactive elements, which are associated with happy, angry, scared and sad emotions, respectively, to help children identify and connect with their own emotions. The sensory bottle is easy to grasp and seals firmly. The set comes with an activity guide to encourage children to deal with emotions in a positive and effective way.
Age: 3+
Learning Resources: WHO’S FEELING WHAT?
This is a fun social emotional learning game with 12 double-sided caller cards and 12 double-sided emotion prompt cards. Children decode the facial expressions of video callers, mark the caller’s emotions with emoji tokens, use this emotion toy to find fun ways to interact, and talk about feelings with parents or teachers. The product contains an activity guide to teach children to identify, understand and feel emotions, and master the skills needed to make friends and work in teams.
Age: 3+
Conclusion:
Globally, mental and emotional health issues have received widespread attention. An optimistic mental state and a healthy and positive psychological quality are the key to children’s happy growth. The innovative ideas and user insights of the above products can be used as reference for domestic manufacturers. There will definitely be more and more interesting and meaningful children toys on the market in the future.
