LS
Leah Slawinowski
  • Pre-Early Childhood Education and Psychology
  • Class of 2017
  • Durham, CT

Eastern Student Leah Slawinowski Participates in Renowned TIMPANI Toy Study

2016 Dec 13

The Center for Early Childhood Education (CECE) at Eastern Connecticut State University announced on Dec. 12 that "Plus-Plus," a toy made by the Danish company Plus-Plus, has been named the 2016 TIMPANI (Toys that Inspire Mindful Play and Nurture Imagination) Toy. The annual study, which is now in its eighth year, investigates how young children play with a variety of toys in natural settings.

Leah Slawinowski '17 of Durham, who majors in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, was among the student participants in the study.

This year, 10 toys were selected for the study by teachers, faculty and student researchers. The toys were placed in preschool classrooms in Eastern's Child and Family Development Resource Center, and student researchers used hidden cameras to videotape children playing with the toys. Researchers then coded the footage according to the study's evaluation rubric, which includes four subscales: thinking and learning, cooperation and social interaction, creativity and imagination, and verbalization.

"I think that Plus-Plus did really well overall because you can do so many different things with it," said Slawinowski. "Children could build simple structures and develop their fine motor skills, or build something to be used in an elaborate pretend-play scenario."

Plus-Plus (Midi size) received the highest overall score in this year's study. It also scored the highest in the "thinking and learning" and "creativity and imagination" subscales. In addition, the toy scored very highly with both boys and girls and with children from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

"My favorite part of the study was recording," said Slawinowski. "You get to see the kids play with the toys in real time; that's how we get all those funny clips you see in the video." The researchers were able to capture such authentic footage via cameras situated around the classrooms. "We don't want to interfere with their play," she said, explaining that they would observe the children from a separate control room.

Professor Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, principal investigator of the study and Phyllis Waite Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education, noted, "Plus-Plus is a construction toy, and we've found from previous research that construction toys do very well on our evaluation rubric. As children are building with these toys, they're creating designs; they're testing out their designs; they're re-building their structures. So if you think about it, construction toys like Plus-Plus are really simple engineering tools for very young children." Plus-Plus is the fourth construction toy to be named the TIMPANI toy of the year since the study began in 2010.

Slawinowski is an aspiring teacher, and added, "This study has made me consider the toys that are most beneficial for children in the long run. It really is important for kids to play with high-quality toys that promote critical skills such as verbalization and problem solving."

"The TIMPANI study is ground-breaking, empirical and thought-provoking, and has garnered international attention since we started it eight years ago," said Eastern President Elsa Nunez. "Eastern faculty and students are providing research-based guidance to preschool teachers, parents and others on toys that promote children's intellectual growth, social interaction and creativity. In the process, our early childhood education students are learning to conduct empirical research of the highest quality."

To view the video of the 2016 study, visit www.easternct.edu/cece/timpani/. For more information, contact the CECE at (860) 465-0687 or visit the website.