Play value is the essential value of a toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

 or game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

 for play

Play (activity)

Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...

.
The term is frequently employed in the field of child development

Child development

Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....

 and playwork for the assessment of toys, games, equipment and spaces. When they are fun and engaging, playthings and spaces are said to have play value. Those that are quickly discarded or are considered disinteresting, do not. In short, objects of play must be compelling and encourage the child's involvement in order to have true play value. Play value has been defined as 'how much play can you get out of something'. Classic toys are examples of toys with true play value as they continue to provide new discoveries
and adventures in each subsequent session of play..

Assessment of play value in the selection of toys and games

The selection of toys and games has long been a concern to parents and educators. Many fail to
sufficiently engage children. Stevanne Auerbach

Stevanne Auerbach

Stevanne Auerbach also known as Dr. Toy, is an American educator, child development expert, writer and toyologist. She is known for being a consummate gadfly of the toy industry. After more than thirty years in the field of toys, she was named a Wonder Woman of Toys by Playthings Magazine...

 emphasizes that products should last as long
as possible and have many different and long lasting uses. Good examples of toys with
high play value are blocks

Toy block

Toy blocks , are wooden, plastic or foam pieces of various shapes and colors that are used as building toys...

, construction toys

Construction set

A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems...

 and yo-yos

Yo-yo

The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...

. The toy should have clear
instructions so the parent and child are guided to its best use by the designer and
manufacturer. In playwork terms it is the child who determines the play value of an object rather than adults or instruction manuals.

Multiple uses

Toys tend to have high play value when they may be used, engaged and employed in manifold ways.
A good example is Lego bricks

Lego

Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...

 which may be assembled and connected in myriad ways to
make cars, trucks, planes, trains, etc.
Another good example is polymer clay

Polymer clay

Polymer clay is a sculptable material based on the polymer polyvinyl chloride . It usually contains no clay minerals, and is only called "clay" because its texture and working properties resemble those of mineral clay...

 which may be used for sculpting hand-shaped items,
such as beads, jewelry, and charms.

Self-directed play

Children need to be in charge of their own play activity. According to PBS' The Whole Child Web site
when adults plan the play activity and structure the outcome of playtime it is far less effective than if children have the freedom to form their own ideas, practice skills and use playthings at their own speed. Cardboard box toys

Cardboard box

Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material....

 are an example of playthings which allow children to
use their own imaginations.

Appeal to more than one age or stage of development

Playability is a word that when applied to games has a similar meaning to play value. Those games with strong playability appeal to more than one age or stage of development. For example, Monopoly

Monopoly

A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

 and Risk

Risk

Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...

are two games that appeal to a wide range of ages, though generally not to very young children. Similarly, toys that appeal to more than one age or stage tend to have higher play value.

Inverse relationship with linkage to TV, movies and video games

Authors Nancy Carlsson-Paige & Diane Levinnote that play value in toys can be seen as inversely related to their degree of linkage with tv, movies and video games.
For example, G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...

, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...

, and Power Rangers

Power Rangers

Power Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes...

are all examples of toys that have cross-feeds with television shows that have violent themes.
Similarly, Godzilla

Godzilla (1998 film)

Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...

, Small Soldiers

Small Soldiers

Small Soldiers is a 1998 American action/science fiction film directed by Joe Dante starring Gregory Smith and Kirsten Dunst. The film revolves around two teenagers , who get caught in the middle of a war between two factions of sentient action figures, the Gorgonites and the Commando...

, Spawn

Spawn (film)

Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film loosely based on the comic book of the same name, by Todd McFarlane and published by Image Comics. Directed and co-written by Mark A.Z. Dippé , the film stars Michael Jai White in the leading role...

, Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park (film)

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...

 and Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers (film)

Starship Troopers is a 1997 American military science fiction film, written by Edward Neumeier , directed by Paul Verhoeven, loosely adapted from Starship Troopers, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the only theatrically released film in the Starship Troopers franchise...

toys are marketed to children 4 and up.

Complement or supplement other play activities

Computer games

Personal computer game

A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...

 or electronic toys are examples of toys that can complement or supplement other play
activities. According to author Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett, while often stimulating, engaging and fun, these toys should never become a substitute for traditional play activities such as drawing, pretending, or block building. Instead, electronic games are best thought of as adding to or reinforcing other kinds of play, and are not a suitable replacement for parental
interaction and attention.

Stay with children as they develop

Classic toys such as Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head! is an American toy consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of plastic parts that can attach to the main body. These parts usually include ears, eyes, shoes, a hat, a nose, and a mouth. The toy was invented and developed by George Lerner in...

, the Radio
Flyer wagon

Radio Flyer (company)

Radio Flyer is an American toy company best known for their popular red toy wagon. Radio Flyer also produces scooters, tricycles, bicycles, horses, and ride-ons. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.-History:...

 and Chutes and Ladders

Snakes and ladders

Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...

 or in a general sense, spanning generations, the teddy bear

Teddy bear

The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...

, stay with a child as he or she develops new interests and matures. They "stand the test of time", and evolved can accompany a child into more and more elaborate play when social surroundings, life and a knowledge for example of history create diversified and extended ideas.

Organized toy kingdoms can grow up in the rooms of European children. Named stuffed animal

Stuffed animal

A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibres, or other similar materials. Stuffed toys are also known as plush toys A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw,...

s or doll

Doll

A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...

s often occupy lifelong positions of honor, as visualized imaginary friend

Imaginary friend

Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...

s, in the lifetimes of sociable people with many real friends.

Promote respectful interaction

Toys have greater play value that promote respectful, non-violent and non-stereotyped interaction
among children. For example, Barbie

Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....

 is an example of a toy that reinforces gender stereotypes

Gender role

Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...

 for girls
despite its status as a classic toy.

Useful for further learning

Play value from a child development perspective is enhanced by toys and games that help children develop skills useful
for further learning and mastery such as Scrabble

Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...

 and The Game of Life

The Game of Life

The Game of Life, also known simply as LIFE, is a board game originally created in 1860 by Milton Bradley, as The Checkered Game of Life . The Game of Life was America's first popular parlor game...

In playwork terms - play value is the individual child's subjective assessment of the space and the equipment available to them, rather than a pre-conceived adult idea about what sorts of play are 'valuable'. 'Play value' and 'the value of play' are two separate judgements in playwork - the former chiefly made by children, and the latter chiefly made by adults.