These products aim to help kids rebuild social skills amid concerns about pandemic impact
CNN
Meditation toys to help kids manage their feelings. A Lego kit for coding, with a focus on problem-solving skills. And an Amazon video chat portal that uses holograms, games and puzzles to keep little ones engaged on calls.
A recent crop of toys and products that launched during the pandemic aim to help young children reacclimate to everyday life and redevelop their social and emotional skills after spending much of the past 21 months stuck at home. Put simply, these products may be designed to cater to "parents who are worried about whether their children will be OK," said Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development.
A mix of technology and traditional toy companies have launched products with tech bells and whistles that foster social-emotional skills, a term which refers to how kids interact with others and manage their feelings. These skills typically begin to develop early and are often considered the biggest predictor of a child's success later in school and beyond, according to Klein.
