Parents believe digital toys are beneficial for children

New research has revealed that British parents are actually seeing the benefits of digital play-time for their children – in helping build their kid’s digital literacy, as well as other skills key for future workplaces – including creative problem-solving (46%) and working and collaborating with others (23%). One in three parents (34%) also believed digital toys can be the biggest help in preparing kids for their future careers.

The Phygital Play Report from LEGO Hidden Side investigates the fusion of physical and digital play, or ‘Phygital’ and surveyed 500 UK adults and 500 UK children aged between 7-10 about their experiences playing with both physi-cal toys and digital toys. The research also showed that British parents believe other the benefits of digital toys for kids are building their creativity (40%), enhancing their digital literacy (50%) and helping their educational development (27%)

British parents were also found to be receptive to both physical and digital toys. A third (34%) feel digital toys help prepare children for the future and 40% feel it helps build their child’ creativity. Moreover, a quarter of (25%) UK parents would like to see more toys merge play with digital or app elements, allowing children to get the best of both worlds.

Aston spoke to Anita Cleare, parenting expert, speaker and writer and David Pallash, LEGO play agent to discuss the research in further detail.