Daydream Toys Focus Wandering Minds

By Kelly Lee

Quick: picture a daydreamer hard at work. Can’t do it? Daydreamers aren’t usually associated with go-getters. Typically thought of as laid-back and passive, daydreamers are actually anything but lazy. Research scientists Kalina Christoff of UBC and Jonathan Schooler of UCSB monitored subjects with wandering attention, and have drawn the same conclusion that other studies have shown: daydreaming is not for slackers.

The study noted that “…mind wandering may evoke a unique mental state that may allow otherwise opposing networks to work in cooperation,” indicating that daydreaming is good for the brain because it allows different parts to work together in concert. This may be one reason why children have a creative advantage over their adult counterparts: long class periods or tedious drill activities lend themselves to the wandering mind, while adults suffer from being on-task all the time through email, texts, meetings, and targeted media.

The real question has nothing to do with whether daydreaming is beneficial, but rather how this brain power can be tapped and turned into the concrete. The answer? Daydream Toys.

Great creations tumble out of the mind of Daydream’s Gordon Haas. He’s the innovator who developed SquashBlox Construction Cushions, children’s soft toys that can be used to build forts, castles, and any other structure that can be dreamed up. The friend of family couches, the SquashBlox Builder set (which includes eight colorful cushions) became a national toy sensation, leading to the SquashBlox Mini, Sets, and Accessories.

Haas has built his family-focused company around quality, imaginative products. A sure-fire winner with parents of picky-eaters is the Play With Your Food Game. Tots will be thrilled with the idea of a fun mealtime and parents will rest easy knowing that kids are eating right.

Innovative toys like the Doodle Track Car Set, which came home with the 2009 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award and the 2009 Creative Child Seal of Excellence, set a new standard in cutting-edge ingenuity. Utilizing patented technology to unleash a child’s creativity, the Doodle Track Car Set is no ordinary toy: it allows children to draw a track for the car to follow. As a creative extension for the more computer-literate set, Daydreams has a special area on their site that allows children to custom-develop tracks. Targeted at children 4 to 15 years old, the Doodle Track Car Set is designed for years of fun.

Turn brainpower into purchasing power at www.daydreamtoy.com