Toys are often associated with entertainment, imagination, and keeping little hands busy. Yet the right toy can offer much more than a few enjoyable hours. Through play, children learn how to communicate, cooperate, express feelings, solve disagreements, and understand the perspectives of others.
For parents, caregivers, educators, and retailers, choosing toys with these benefits in mind can make playtime more meaningful.
Social development toys, in particular, can create opportunities for children to practise essential interpersonal skills naturally, without making learning feel like a lesson.
The key is not necessarily finding the most sophisticated toy on the shelf. Often, a simple game that encourages two children to take turns can teach more about cooperation than a complicated electronic product. What matters is how the toy invites children to interact, communicate, and respond to one another.
It is a timely question for Canadian families. ParticipACTION's first-ever Early Years Report Card, covered by the University of Alberta, found that only 48% of children aged 0 to 4 meet screen time recommendations, which makes hands-on, shared play more valuable than ever.
Why Social and Emotional Development Matters
Social and emotional development influences how children understand themselves and interact with the people around them. As they grow, children gradually learn to recognise emotions, manage frustration, communicate needs, build relationships, and respond appropriately to different situations.
Play provides a comfortable environment for practising these skills.
During a pretend game, for example, children might negotiate roles, solve disagreements, or comfort a character. During a board game, they may learn to wait for their turn and handle disappointment. These experiences may appear ordinary, but repeated opportunities to practise them can support broader child development.
Canadian paediatricians make a similar point: the Canadian Paediatric Society notes that early language and social learning happens best when it is live and interactive, with real people.
Toys that encourage interaction can therefore become useful tools for learning while allowing children to remain curious and engaged.
What Are Social Development Toys?
Social development toys are products designed or naturally suited to encourage communication, cooperation, sharing, turn-taking, empathy, and interaction.
They can include a wide range of products rather than one specific category.
Examples include:
- Board and card games
- Pretend-play sets
- Role-play toys
- Puzzles designed for multiple players
- Building and construction sets
- Dolls and figures
- Cooperative activity games
- Interactive storytelling products
The best choice depends on the child's age, interests, developmental stage, and preferred style of play. Games are a good place to start, and Canadian families are buying them: Circana data reported by Retail Insider shows that tracked games and puzzles sales in Canada rose 56% in 2025.
Look for Toys That Encourage Cooperation
Children do not automatically become excellent teammates simply because they own a game. They need opportunities to practise cooperation, and toys can provide exactly that.
Cooperative games are particularly useful because the objective may require children to work towards a shared outcome rather than compete against one another. A cooperative puzzle or one of the family board games making a comeback can be a good starting point.
A cooperative game might encourage children to:
- Plan together
- Share materials
- Listen to another player's ideas
- Make decisions as a group
- Solve problems collectively
- Celebrate a shared achievement
These experiences can help children understand that different people may have different ideas while still working towards the same goal.
Consider Emotional Learning Toys
Emotions can be surprisingly difficult for young children to understand. A child may know that they feel upset without being able to explain why. Toys that introduce emotions through stories, characters, pictures, or role play can provide a gentle way to explore these experiences.
Emotional learning toys may help children recognise and discuss feelings such as happiness, frustration, sadness, excitement, nervousness, or disappointment.
For example, a parent might use a character in a pretend-play scenario and ask, “How do you think the character feels?” This simple question encourages children to identify emotions and consider what might have caused them.
The purpose is not to turn every play session into a psychology class. Children learn best when conversations emerge naturally from play.
Choose Toys That Encourage Pretend Play
Pretend play gives children an opportunity to experiment with different roles and situations. A toy kitchen, doctor's set, shop counter, dollhouse, or collection of figures can become the setting for countless social scenarios.
During imaginative play, children may practise:
- Expressing themselves
- Negotiating roles
- Understanding different perspectives
- Responding to imagined problems
- Creating stories together
- Developing empathy
A child pretending to be a doctor may comfort a toy patient. Another child may act as the parent. In a few minutes, they are practising communication, responsibility, and emotional expression without being consciously aware that they are learning.
Interactive Toys Can Create Shared Experiences
Interactive toys can encourage children to respond to prompts, characters, sounds, or actions. However, the most valuable interactive experience does not necessarily come from technology.
A simple toy can be highly interactive when it encourages two or more children to respond to one another.
When selecting interactive toys, consider whether the product encourages active participation or simply keeps the child watching.
A useful question is:
Does the toy create an opportunity for the child to communicate, decide, imagine, or collaborate?
If the answer is yes, it may offer greater developmental value than a product that does most of the thinking for the child.
This is especially relevant for the youngest children. According to Global News, Canada's guidelines say toddlers and preschoolers should not exceed one hour of screen time, with "less is better," and screen time is not recommended for children under two.
Educational Play Should Still Feel Like Play
Educational play works best when children remain interested in what they are doing. A toy does not need to announce that it is educational in order to support learning.
A cooperative puzzle can develop communication. A building set can encourage negotiation. A pretend restaurant can introduce social roles. A storytelling game can encourage children to consider different emotions and perspectives.
Research shared by Western University points the same way: manipulative play such as building blocks, along with arts and crafts, is enriching for other aspects of development beyond fine motor skills.
This is why educational play should not be judged only by how many facts a product teaches. The process of interacting, experimenting, and solving problems together can be equally valuable. Our guide to puzzles and problem-solving explores this further.
Match Toys to the Child's Age and Stage
A toy that works beautifully for one child may frustrate another. Age recommendations provide a useful starting point, but parents should also consider individual development and interests.
Younger children may benefit from simple toys that encourage parallel or guided play (browse toys for ages 5 and under). As children grow, games involving rules, negotiation, teamwork, and more complex storytelling can become increasingly appropriate, from 6 to 9 and 10 to 12.
When choosing a toy, consider:
- Is the activity understandable for the child's age?
- Can the child participate without becoming overwhelmed?
- Does it provide an appropriate level of challenge?
- Can another child or adult join the activity?
- Does it encourage creativity or communication?
The goal is to find a balance between accessibility and challenge.
Do Not Forget About Turn-Taking
Turn-taking is a small skill with surprisingly broad importance. Children learn that other people have needs, ideas, and opportunities to participate too.
Games that require players to wait, respond, and continue the activity can naturally introduce this concept.
A child who loses patience while waiting for a turn is not necessarily doing something wrong. They are practising a skill that takes time to develop. Adults can support the process by modelling patience and explaining simple expectations.
Repeated play provides repeated opportunities to improve.
Let Children Experience Small Conflicts
It can be tempting for adults to intervene immediately whenever children disagree during play. However, not every disagreement requires an adult solution.
When appropriate, children can be encouraged to explain what happened, listen to each other, and find a compromise.
This is one reason open-ended toys can be valuable. They create situations where children must make decisions rather than simply follow predetermined instructions.
Adults can support these moments with questions such as:
- “What could you both agree on?”
- “How do you think the other person feels?”
- “What could you try differently?”
These prompts encourage children to think about solutions rather than simply waiting for an adult to provide one.
Quality Matters More Than Quantity
A child's room does not need to resemble a toy shop to support healthy development. A smaller selection of thoughtfully chosen toys can provide plenty of meaningful opportunities for play.
Look for toys that can be used in different ways, particularly those that encourage imagination, conversation, cooperation, or storytelling.
A versatile building set, for example, can become a house, a vehicle, a shop, or an imaginary city. Its value comes partly from what the child brings to the experience.
Making Better Toy Choices
Choosing toys for social and emotional development does not require complicated rules. Start with the child's interests and look for products that create opportunities to interact, communicate, imagine, and cooperate.
Social development toys are most effective when children have the freedom to explore them rather than being pressured to use them in one particular way.
The right toy may not produce an obvious lesson. Instead, it may create dozens of small moments: a child waiting for a turn, comforting a pretend character, negotiating with a friend, celebrating a shared achievement, or learning that losing a game is not the end of the world.
These ordinary moments are where meaningful development often takes place.
Retailers and educators building a range around these ideas can browse 1Di's wholesale product catalogue or see which best-selling toys families are choosing, and keep an eye on emerging toy industry trends.
Stock toys that help children grow with 1Di
1Di supplies retailers across Canada with toys, games, puzzles, and gifts from Prime 3D, Kess, Binho, RMS, and more. Register for a wholesale account to unlock wholesale pricing.
Register for wholesale Browse the product catalogue