Adventures of the Templin Family: ROYGBIV

You find out some interesting things about yourself when you have kids, like the rules about which toys they can and can't have. I thought I had a few years before something like this would happen. I thought this type of oppressive supervision only started when kids started getting into violent video games. I thought wrong; it starts when they are born.

If you have children, you have likely noticed that many baby toys having multiple repeating parts will color these parts in many different colors, the idea being, I believe, that exposing the child to more colors will not only make the toy more interesting, but help them learn the colors as the parents point to each one and say "red, blue," ect. As I became more aware of how common this phenomenon in baby toys really was, I made what I felt was a critical parenting decision. I decided that if we bought any toys for Grace which included a string of multiple colors, that said sting of colors must conform to the arrangement of the color spectrum - ROYGBIV. If a toy is going to be two things at once (fun and colorful), why not, even if it's at an unconscious level, add a third layer; SCIENCE!

It may have been a few years since some of you had a physics class which used a prism to convert white light into the color spectrum. (Think Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon album cover) Even so, I do believe most everyone is familiar with the acronym ROYGBIV enumerating the colors from the longest wavelength to the shortest. It's a rainbow people!

In the short time since I have made this "crazy" limitation on our daughter's toys, I have learned two things. 1 - There are very few toys which adhere to this simple guideline. 2 - The toys that we have found that do conform to this guideline are friggin' cool. After playing with Grace and her toys which conform to ROYGBIV, I've concluded that the toys that do not comply are most likely designed by artists who are concerned with form and matching and often produce toys which I feel are one dimensional. ROYGBIV toys on the other hand, are designed by engineers who are passionate about their creations and insistent about adding hidden layers of enjoyment and learning in what seem to be simple toys.

Kids toys really don't come with directions. They are suppose to be simple, self-explanatory, and ultimately mind expanding. Directions would ruin that last part, putting limitation on how a child who is learning about the world around them, should and should not interact with this new thing. Besides, babies don't listen to instructions anyway. Translationally, adults, like myself, who play with these toys while playing with their children must also "discover" the toys. The lack of instructions isn't just for the kids, it's for the parents as well. I will admit, and Sarah will testify, to how excited I've gotten while playing with these ROYGBIV toys and I "discover" a new and awesome aspect about their design. It is a testament to the engineers that they can design such toys that excite two individuals playing with the toy even though there is a 30+ age difference between the two kids. (Yes, I am still a kid and I love having a new playmate. Sarah will also testify to this)

I won't explain in length more specifically why I like the two ROYGBIV toys we have purchased for Grace so far, but I will tell you which ones we have. In the photo above, Grace is playing with linking alphabet letters. There are a lot of these out there on lots of different online stores. Thank me later when you take the extra minute to find the ones that take ROYGBIV into account.

The photo below is the other toy I've come to really love due to ROYGBIV. The Fisher Price Stack and Roll Cups will have you finding new facets to what you thought were simple, changing radius sphere halves. Find it online or at your local baby superstore.