Humans, in general, are a creative lot. It is part of our nature to make things or to change and modify things. We might do this to improve the function of something or enhance its aesthetics, or sometimes for no particular reason at all. In other words, just for fun. This innate tendency to create and modify things starts at a very early age. Little children naturally play and interact with objects within their reach. A child on a beach will naturally start playing with wet sand, making piles and patterns, playing and pretending while using the available materials to create something new, like a sandcastle. Give a child some simple wooden blocks and within minutes they will likewise have them arranged or stacked in a column or a pyramid. Little ones will instinctively pick flowers and tie the stems together to make a chain which magically becomes a necklace or a crown. Voilá…kids jewelry made from nature.

Assembling and creating and customizing things is not just a way we entertain ourselves. It is a natural survival instinct that has improved our quality of life since the dawn of humanity. This human desire to create, organize, and improvise is what has given us the technological and engineering marvels we all enjoy today. This inherent adaptability starts in early childhood.

Little humans assemble things to express themselves and exercise their creativity and ingenuity. This is why creativity-inducing toys such as custom jewelry for kids offered by Maya Toys are so popular. There is only so much you can do with a toy car. You can drive it around, crash it and make it fly, but it is still just a car. The possibilities are limited in terms of play value. Compare that to a box of parts and pieces that you can connect and assemble to make a necklace, crown, car, spaceship, robot, dinosaur or anything else you can imagine. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. This customizability significantly raises the play value.

Toys and accessories that are customizable require a child to invest more thought and more time to assemble them into something new, different or original. But this is precisely what makes these toys more engaging to the child who plays with them. The child sees potential and possibility in a box of LEGO blocks or an Erector set or assorted Lincoln Logs or a custom jewelry making kit. Unlike a puzzle that also has many pieces but only one solution, a toy that has interchangeable parts to assemble in many different ways will always offer greater value in terms of playability.

Another aspect of the customizable toy that makes it unique is the intrinsic challenge it presents. If a boy wants to create something using an assortment of parts or materials, he first must visualize what it is he wants to create, then plan how to achieve that desired goal and figure out what steps to take in what order to do so. And then when things don’t come together as planned, figure out how to solve problems, overcome obstacles and often improvise a solution. Customizable toys are excellent learning tools to help children in this way.

As children are challenged to create and improvise using their imagination and the unlimited possibilities offered by customizable toy kits, they will grow into more confident

and capable adults. Toys that challenge children to think and solve problems are toys that contribute to the betterment of human civilization and society.