Batteries Not Included: Why High-Quality Classrooms Should Not Include Battery-Operated Toys

We all know that shoulder-dropping annoyance when opening a new item, toy or otherwise, that requires batteries you don’t have. Or that ‘grrrr’ frustration when grabbing your label maker to make a quick label only to find the batteries are dead. Minor problem for sure, and we accept battery usage as a fact of life in our modern-day world. However, when it comes to toys, batteries are more than a slight annoyance…they have a negative impact on young children’s learning. High-quality programs should aim for no battery-operated toys in the classrooms.

NO Battery-operated Toys??

That’s right! Battery-operated toys do not enhance the play experience for young learners. Instead, they limit language, imagination, and critical thinking. Take, for example, a battery-operated fire truck. These trucks come complete with sirens, lights, and even recorded voices. Children who play with this toy have no need to draw on previous experience and make pretend siren noises. They have no need to pretend they are the driver talking to dispatch. They push a button, and the toy does all the thinking for them. In this moment, the child has become a bystander to their own play.

Studies show that battery-operated toys limit a child’s language acquisition. How so? A child’s language environment consists of the adults and other children in the room who have an opportunity to interact with each other during play. The adult might ask probing questions or make comments about what they notice. In the case of the firetruck, it might sound like this:

• “I see you’re driving fast to help put out the fire.”
• “What sound does a firetruck’s siren make?”
• “Are you going to raise the ladder?”
• “I wonder if all firetrucks are red.”
• “Where do you think you will get the water from?”

These interactions provide opportunities for shared conversation, a skill in itself, and learning new vocabulary and concepts. They also provide an opportunity for the child to draw on previous experiences and apply them to their play. Comments and questions encourage a child to think further and develop critical thinking skills. All of this language input plays a vital role in future academic success. So what does this have to do with batteries? It has been found that while a child is playing with a battery-operated toy, all of these potential interactions are less likely to happen at all. Children talk less to the people around them and vice versa – the people (adults particularly) do not initiate conversations while the child is playing with that toy.

“Play with electronic toys is associated with decreased quantity and quality of language input compared with play with books or traditional toys. To promote early language development, play with electronic toys should be discouraged.” JAMA Network. (2016). Association of the Type of Toy Used During Play With the Quantity and Quality of Parent-Infant Communication. JAMA Pediatrics.

Similarly, battery-operated toys can stifle a child’s imagination, creativity, and social development.

Besides the educational value of battery-operated toys, it is also important to consider the less obvious ways they affect the overall quality of your program.

• Sensory stimuli: Battery-operated toys often add artificial noise and light to the classroom. Whether it’s music, voices, sounds, or lights, the additional stimuli affect children’s and teachers’ ability to regulate their behavior. Children with too much stimulation react with less desirable behaviors such as shouting, hitting, kicking, crying, etc. Teachers with too much stimulation are less likely to be patient with children, especially those exhibiting undesirable behaviors.
• Battery consumption: Have you ever been all alone in your classroom when a baby doll suddenly cries out? Or a toy suddenly says, “Please choose a song to continue!”? A little unnerving, isn’t it?! Young children are not the greatest at remembering to turn off their electronic toys. Batteries are expensive, even when purchased in bulk, and this affects your supply budget.
• Regulation compliance: Most state regulations require battery-operated toys to be fully functioning as long as they are accessible to children. That means a teacher needs to be swift in noticing when the batteries are dead and change them promptly. This can happen quite often depending on the popularity of the toy and how quickly it drains batteries. The fewer battery-operated toys you have, the more time your teachers will have to tend to other classroom needs, and the more money you will have to support him or her.

  Remember…the more the toy does for the child, the less educational quality it has. Does this mean that any toy with batteries is a bad idea? Absolutely not. Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D., better known as Dr. Toy, has devoted her career to recommending toys that encourage children to imagine, create, inquire, and interact socially. Some of them require batteries, but most of them do not. The toys you choose for your classrooms impact the excellence you provide to your clients. For lasting play value, and to remove one more stressor from your staff, seek out toys with no battery requirement.

Some of the best toys have no need for batteries. See my post about 5 power toys for every preschool classroom.