The Toys Dreamers

1 The Toys Dreamers

Noni & Iko Avital

C a s e S t u d y

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The child as a toy consumer

This article is discussing the creative ability of the child to fantasize and imagine a toy or a game through his mental world. Here we review three key elements of playing and learning, theoretical and practical. One refers to the psychological aspects play against the child need to play along his mental skills: fantasy, dreaming, day-dreaming, thoughts and illusions; Second, the child‟s socio-economic environment that affects his: lifestyle, family life, teachers, friends and celebrity figures. Third, the affect of consumer culture lifestyle on a child‟s toy choice, for instance Media, computers, cell-phones, internet, brands and shopping. The practical aspect is experiments by trial fantasies of children to imagine toys and games in a changeable socio-economic environment like in Israel and India; let‟s assume we were given an assignment to design and create a new toy. How could we tell what the children fantasies to receive as a toy? Although there is a practice of focus groups, their main goal is to find out from children through conversation and discussion meetings what they dream their “next cool toy” will be. Unfortunately, the information gathered is not reflecting the child‟s spiritual, individual and intimate world as well as the child‟s visual expression through imagination, fantasy and illusion since they are conducted by group discussion and verbal expression only. For this study, a creative practice with three groups of school children in the ages of 9-11 was selected: The first group had children from middle to higher socio-economic class (Israel, Ranana) the lower socio-economic two other groups were from Ethiopian immigrants class, one, children of Tikva); Second, a group that reside in Israel (Petah-Bangladesh that reside of immigrants children from (Assam, India). The in the rim of Guwahati assignment: To “send" children were given the same painted request for a a postcard to someone with a of receiving. The child game or a toy they fantasized will paint his “mind” got a postcard and on it he The postcard format with no external interference. consciousness which reflects the child‟s images of the sub-stimulates mental and spiritual know, has a greater conscious. The child, as we through drawing then in ability to express himself enter a world of fiction writing and it allows him to open time and space and fantasy-dreaming, where helps him concentrate and express himself completely. It is safe to say that the child is messaging us through images the dream of toy he wished to receive as a present. After completing the drawing he “sends” the postcard and addresses it to someone. This act of addressing the postcard to someone 2

specific allows a pause of the imaginary process and helps in disconnecting the child from local interruptions.

In this creative study we asked to examine the child‟s level of authenticity in his toy choice: will he sail onto different worlds toward toys that has never dreamt or created by others before? The question that interests us here is the nature of the impact his family status and lifestyle has on his fantasy for a toy and the creative choices he makes. As we know, children have a “lifestyle” of their own, a collective form and virtual communities in the local and global level. The distribution of cellular phones among children and youth not only increased socialization using approachable instant messaging, furthermore it opened many consumer doors for commercial companies to cone in children‟s minds their logo‟s and labels. In addition to that, the exposure to labels through media and the street fashion turned the average child to an active consumer and he became an important focus for many companies that deals with product marketing, designing and distribution strategies. Another aspect relates to the new concept of value of this global lifestyle that is assembled through a web of media, communication and shopping centers. This lifestyle is what rules the cultural agenda of children and youth all over the world under a manipulative superficial guise of “entertainment”, “enjoinment”, “fun”. Edith Kramer, an American therapist and an art teacher, expressed her firm opinion regarding this phenomenon in her book “Art as Therapy with Children” (1971, p. 28). “The experience of getting bribed by material products is no longer exclusive to the rich. Bribery of the mass is now directed toward all children including the poorest ones. A child while eating breakfast is given an abundance of toys and other gadgets not as a sign of affection but as bate, the child can identify he has no sense of satisfaction using them and Instead, owning these toys provoke his sense of ownership and covetousness that serves in favor of the manufacturers. We can identify that at any point the child feels the lack of a true satisfaction and an immediate substance can be found. These offers, like any form of flattery, are based on the devious realization of children‟s needs and weaknesses. Often enough, it becomes impossible to distinguish the substance from actual things and an unexplainable mixture in fulfilling of the child‟s basic needs that ends in a lack of trust and finally disappointment. Today‟s deprived and disturbed children (1971!) growing up in the big cities not only suffer from love deprivation, understanding, a place to play and an exposure to street violence but they are constantly subjected to bribery, temptation and they are left empty. In some aspect, they are all becoming addicted and depend on synthetic contentment that destroys their ability to acquire real contentment for their own emotional needs”. We were to ask here How this lifestyle confront the designing of toys and games and still containing values of learning playing and children‟s education?

Game and Play

We were all created with a built-in need to play and our tools for playing are the toys. Yet, we are also born with impressive capabilities of dreaming, fantasizing and hallucinating as a primary part of our soulful life and as a base to the human culture creativity: Mythology, religion, science, existing technologies and accessible materials. Puppets made by soft materials taking from the Roman and Ancient Egypt period. During the Middle-Ages kites, balls, toy soldiers swing horses and other animals tied to a rope were manufactured. Miniature animals were created starting the 17th century wishing to demonstrate the Noah‟s ark story. During the 18th century we could see designs of hollow whistle in a shape of birds that could be filled with water so once they were used a curled whistle was 3

heard. In the beginning of the 19th century a mechanic toys and musical boxes were created and in the beginning of the 20th century different metal toys with mechanic ignition. Later, the plastic industries enter the picture creating endless choices of toys and games of many kinds.

In our time, virtual games became fascinating where in that industry there was no use of engineering or manufacturing, however only design. The child download “A board game” onto his computer for an insignificant amount of money that will not be worn out or perished in time and can never be lost. The child can also play with different children from many different cities and states. Games, of children or adults, constitute the practical expression of the person‟s self- conscious, which connects through the use of imagination different concepts and images as a human expression of his spirituality. It is impossible to think about civilization and humanity without games and playfulness. Everyone plays, anywhere, in any culture and in any given time – Babies, infants, children, teenagers adults and old. The remainders of children‟s games from the prehistoric period are a fascinating testimony that shows how central were the game in a human‟s life as an adult and as a child. The perception that during the period of childhood the future adult is being formed was developed during the romantic period and became a well known concept with the western world along the development of the modern psychology and the popularity of Freud‟s theories.

Children and the Childhood period became a familiar concept during the 20th century and became the main foundation to all. The first half of the 20th century was defined more then once as the century of the child and the second half was defined as the century of the youth. That century was characterized through a continuing awareness of childhood concepts and was profuse with events, people, accessories websites and different elements designed just for children: kinder garden, elementary, preschool, toy stores, children‟s clothing stores, children games, amusement parks, children‟s radio and television programs, chocolates and beverages that children prefers, children‟s physician, counselor, IQ tests for children, group activities, “The year of the child” festivals, Child‟s rights organizations and more. The creation of the child‟s world was an assembly of two main layers: First, the enjoyable and amusing and second was the early childhood educator. At the same time, it is interesting to go back to the 16th century in Europe and examine the games that were captured by the Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel (1525-1569). He created an oil painting on top of a wood board that he named ”Children‟s Games” and was created in 1560 and is presented today at the Museum of Art history in Vienna. This painting had a display of 250 children playing 80 different games. This painting was the first creation in the genealogy of the western painting that was presented without any adult‟s presence, and the image of playing children was the main event. Surly, prior to Bruegel‟s painting we could find artwork that had presented children as main concepts, such as bullets of classical Greece, Pompeii wall paintings or paintings of the Italian Renaissance, yet these examples demonstrates children in a religious context or through portraits of children of wealthy families. In Bruegel‟s paintings we find the children were dressed in a simple middle class style; they had dresses on, pants, Coats, hats and wooden shoes. The age ranges started with early childhood (3-6) through youth (14-15). Pieter Bruegel‟s used his unique perspective to create a full detailed description, with no hidden meanings of the children and their games while his purpose was to document the game and it essence. It would be appropriate to notice the social perspective of the painting: The documentation of the playing children around the city hall main plaza was meant to draw the attention and focus on the children‟s place in society, which at that time children were mostly oppressed and were deprived their basic rights and spirituality that comes from childhood games, growing up and youthful existence. As is well known, children were being exploited in the work force since they were available and inexpensive and were intended to financially support their families. 4

Learning and playing

What is the meaning of the „game‟ for a child? Is it the basic preparation for his adulthood? Or maybe it is a trail that connects him to the other reality through his own imagination. Is it leading him to his own privet imagination or the collective one? The human imagination is a talent; this talent connects the verbal expression to the visual presentation between the practical thoughts and the abstract ones. The connection between visual and verbal expressions is affecting the memory and comprehending process and always act in continuing dialogue and never oppose one another. Therefore, even an actual perception of the reality is not possible without some imaginary components and without distancing from the practical outlook of reality that according to it the immediate reality is being grasped in the conscious mind (Steiner, 2003). Animals also ‘play‟ as an instructional stage in their development to become adults that will be able to function and survive in their environment. Animals has closed genetic qualities that includes a system of instincts, a reflex mechanism, motion capability, environmental stimulus encoding, learning ability that is based on memory, elementary sensations such as fear and hunger, reaction ability through an arousal and an emotional system; The organism responds to the „Here‟ and „Now‟ events using those characteristics. On the other hand, humans has many open genetic qualities that obligates the child to learn more through interpersonal touch: thousands of hours with his parents care, socializing with his age group, interaction with adults in an adults surroundings, adaptation of different changeable surroundings, learning and playful games, completion of different assignments and more. Human beings have unique mental and human qualities that allow an intellectual growth. The ability to think in an abstract way is an integral part of the brain and it comes naturally with birth, yet the conceivable thought process is being developed through “learning and playing tools”: The symbolic terminology, the visual intelligence, self awareness, esthetic sense and the ability to make a choice. Once the child‟s playful ability is being developed it empowers and embellish the concentration and perception abilities, the memory and data processing on the other hand develops the child‟s creativity that combines the vision, imagination and a tangible thought process. The source to an artistic creation is in the game since the human is a playful creature. The urge to play source in the structured need to learn, the basic need to acquire life‟s skills through play and learn in order to prepare one-self for adulthood. Observing the children while playing it is obvious they experience a great pleasure by playing , they are completely focused in their actions and it seem as if they had forgotten they are „only playing a game‟.

The game as a liberating learning activity, is supposed to assist the child to self-reinforcement and prepare him to create his reciprocal connections with the environment, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) in theory of eight stages focus on the cognitive stage called “productivity with inferiority” which describes the learning stage (6-12), the elementary school level where the child fined himself inside a social circle and outside his family frame. He comprehend the importance of productive work and the outcome, He also realize the society demands for his productivity. The most significant figures in his life, family excluded, are his school, friends, teachers and his surroundings. The child had to deal with school assignments in the physical, social and intellectual fields. During this stage the child learn how to use different tools in order to develop his skills in various fields. Expertise, self-worthy and ambitiousness describes this stage. The connection of diversifies artistic expression of the child is now taking place 5

through games and toys in relation to his emotional world. Weather or not the child drew his own fantasies or simply describes a real emotional experience. This is an interesting question that is being referenced by a different perspective. Susan K. Langer (1895-1985) describes the relation between the emotions to the different forms of artistic expressions. She connects any artwork to a separated human experience: Music is related to time, Painting and sculpting with space and Dance with what she defined as “Virtual Strength”. Once the symbolization skill is acquired the creation will reach a higher and diverse level then the description of the creator‟s personal life. The interpretation of children‟s paintings should take that additional aspect into consideration, while browsing into the symbolized world of the child where he „writes‟ intuitive themes or messages that he had derived from the formal education he as an important part of the learning process. Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) claimed there is no ending to the learning process. The learning is a part of the person‟s journey in life, a journey that begins with birth and ends in death. A part of our life is dedicated to formal schooling through formal institutions, books assignments and exams. This is one way to learn and comprehend, yet it isn‟t enough in order to fully become familiar with the world. True learning, Claimed Krishnamurti, is being developed through the student‟s inner peace that is released of any unresolved conflicts with himself or his surroundings. This attentiveness allows mental concentration that creates a new perspective to the learning subjects. It suggests learning through soulful experience (1987): “Listen to the birds, observe the sky observe the extreme beauty of the trees and the formal beauty of the hills- feel and touch them and perfuming oneself with its fragrance”. What are the tools for learning? Gary Zukav (b.1955) wrote in his book “The seat of the soul” (1990) pointed out the place of the illusion as the primary tool of the student. It is an inseparable part of the human‟s personality, which ceased to hallucinate with death. The illusion is developing the mysticism in a human‟s life, his authentic spiritual talents. Learning, imagination and primarily the intuition connect the human personality with his soul. The intuition is the source of inspiration, the source of creativity and with that a person can implement his soul‟s qualifications. We see here the connection is strong as these scholars point out, between learning the game by illusion, fantasy, fiction and images that are expressed in the child‟s paintings.

Spiritual aspects

Spirituality is the view that accentuates the mental, internal and subjective part and the essence of the human existence. Most spiritual conceptions consider spiritual lifestyle as fundamental and the material life (physical, external, objective) as relatively secondary in its importance. Many spiritual outlooks based on transcendentalism such as god or life after death. Those different religious views emphasis the spiritual approach, thus in resent years parallel to the development of the post modernism approach the definition of Spiritualism is now broader and describes mostly a combination of different perspectives and channels that use both spiritual and transcendentalism definitions including the ones that are not related to religion. Spirituality, in this sense, describes a process or an individual condition where the main goal is the personal search after the “spiritual course” basing it on personal experience. According to this definition, Spirituality includes countless channels and beliefs such as: The new age, different mystical traditions like the Kabala, Sophism, Modern mystical views like spiritualism, Neo-idolatrous and more. Further more many methods such as alternative medicine and psychotherapy practices („Here and now‟, the view of the human through a holistic prospective, Gestalt) are all sourced the different spiritual conceptions. The spirituality is translating the imagination and fantasy into a creation and erection of the human knowledge fields: culture, art and science. In its much broader definition, spirituality might include artistic details with a mental-6

subjective element that are not linked to age. The comprehensive work (1990) of the children‟s psychiatrist of Harvard Robert Coles (b.1928) with children and his “Spiritual Life” research, that evaluate children through discussions and paintings reawaken interest and curiosity to understand how children perceive and express their experiences of spirituality. Although it is unclear whether children spiritual experiences similar to adults, his research provides evidence that children think and experience different spiritual subjects especially in a form of religious beliefs and ideas of god, heaven, devil, angels and spiritual world of ghosts and on- natural things. During Coles‟s research he interviewed more then 500 children about their spiritual life, he concluded that children ask and brings up thoughts regarding spiritual issues that also occupy adults. In every child there is a potential for a spiritual journey, a journey that comes from the sense of living in his existence to where he feels a whole lifetime he can achieve as an adult; he is capable of inciting a small spark using mental skills and through a creative play. How can it be expressed through painting? Sean McNiff (b.1947) refers to the imaginary internal- perspective where all imagery that appears in paintings expresses spiritual experience therefore they portray a self-portrait of the painter‟s soul‟s life. An autobiographic painting and a self-portrait painting allow us to enter the reality where something greater then we works through us, a place where spirituality aspire perfection. Fiction is ”not a reality”, it is simply a different reality where imagination is in motion. We can refer to it as “an imaginary reality” which exists nears our physical every-day existence.

Psychological aspects

Searching the professional literature we can find many different theoretical approaches, thus Sigmund Freud‟s (1856-1939) interesting description of how the act of playing is used as a form of intuitive therapy for his own grandson and was considered an important corner stone in comprehending the child‟s positioning of the game in his life. After a close observation he realized that the infant was using a thread tube to express his sadness from his missing mother. He used to throw the thread tube to the corner of the room declaring: “Ohhh woo” (The meaning of this sounds was “onward”) and then he welcomed the return of the tube with a joyful “Here it is”. According to Freud, the game that took place while the mother was missing symbolized the fear of abandonment as a part of the disappearing and revelation act of the mother. Through that he concluded that by using the game children are able to keep repeating and processing again and again a significant emotional experience. Freud saw in the „Game‟ a symptomatic act that can be interpreted as expression of the sub-conscious that stops during adolescence through developing of the ability to imagine or to daydream. In his article “The poet and the illusion -The act of creation through the psychoanalysis mirror” (1910) he claimed that due to the fact any adult was once a child it is possible to comprehend the source of the creativity by analyzing the child‟s experiences. The child‟s reality is filled with fiction imagination and illusion. The child‟s main quality is his playfulness. The same way the poet, painter, sculptor, and designer- they all operate in a similar imaginary form by sorting out physical and theoretical objects in order to align them in a new concepts format. The child as well as the artist is well aware of his substantial reality and the fact it exist apart from his real world. Furthermore, it is not only that the game is essential to the child but also it cannot be skipped since it is the most effective if not the only way to significantly learn. The great contribution of the game as a significant foundation stone to the child‟s social, cognitive, lingual, emotional and physical development. Freud also claimed that the adult is ashamed of the content of his imagination and is trying to hide them as if he was emotionally exposed. With the child it is different- the imagination is active starting a very 7

young age and he clearly includes it in every game. The child will hold a stick and will declare he is holding a poppet, an animal or someone he is familiar with; He will tell a story talking about objects that he had never seen or heard of and that they are nothing but the product of his own imagination; He can describe different objects that were never exist in reality and are pure creation of his mind. The imagination, according to the psychological approach is the same character that arouse objects and their characters into the soul and is the main source for Creativity. It is interesting to review studies done by major scholars in the field of psychology of infancy and childhood. Carl Gustav Jung‟s (1875-1961) approach was that every person who study, play and create leads the way to a self-fulfillment. In 1916 he wrote an article about the use of the art as a therapeutic process. He named the process „Active Imagination‟ where game and imagination combined with a full and open approach for the unknown fantasies using artistic practices brings the person to a creative process and to a self-fulfillment of his potential that he named „individualization‟. According to his theory a person has four basic functions, through these functions he learns and comprehends the world: His thought, feeling, sensation and intuition. A) The thought: Has been characterized by the intellectual connection with the world; A person of thoughts aspires to comprehend the meaning of day to day experiences by using logic and common sense. B) Feeling: The opposite function; to evaluate reality through positive and negative experiences. A person who acts according to his emotions gives a great significance to the emotional aspects. C) Sensation: A direct realistic approach of the outside world without judgment; a person who acts according to his sensation are aware of the taste, the smell and the touch of the stimulus in the world. D) Intuition: A subconscious and unknown perception of daily experiences; a person who is guided by his own intuition and relies on hints and guesses in order to comprehend the meaning to different events in life. James Hillman (b.1926) relates to Jung‟s opinion regarding the fantasy, he claimed that the quality of the man‟s conscious self exists in the imagery of the soul‟s fantasy. The existing expressions and the conscious self are all depending on these images. Any other thing such as ideas, body sensations, and the perspective of the world around us, feelings, beliefs and desires should all be presented by those images in order to experience them. Imagery is the soul; the soul in its essence contains imagery. “The soul creates a new reality each day. I consider this activity to be fantasy”. Imagery is the first act: The imagination comes before the perception and the fantasy comes prior to reality. Hillman said that the human being is mainly an “Image-maker”; manufacturer of imageries, since his reality is actually his imagery and they become the substance of his soul. The freedom of the soul is the source to artistic, scientific and cultural individuality of each and every one of us. As apposed to Melanie Klein (1882-1960) which see in infancy as the most important play field with interface reality. She divided the infant‟s first year to two psychological stages which she named “Positions”: In the first stage of his life the infant cannot yet grasp the mother (The object) as a whole character, and as long as the object provides the infant milk and relaxation it considers “Good”, Yet, when the breast no longer has milk it considers “Bad”, The infant cannot grasp that it is the same breast only in different moments, therefore he separates the two parts of the mother. The infant is playing with his food source (The breast) and learn to experience the mother and through her he experiences the world. He see his mother not as a partial but as a whole unit realizing she is the source of both negative and positive experiences. It is an important developmental accomplishment for him. The mother is being conceived not as partial- this is the first game field of the human. Klein was also the first among other psychoanalytical researchers to use the game for analysis with children. Her argument (1975) was that by playing, children represent fantasies, desires and experiences. She considered children‟s game to be central in its importance and claimed that their game parallel to adults dreams and free associations. She showed hoe the game reflects Unconscious fantasies and wishes and used as a platform for introversion figures which being represented in a symbolic way. 8

Another interesting aspect is brought to us by Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) claimed that the creative process is occurred by itself, as a part of the child‟s development when he begins to move away from his mother and create his own environment (1986). Winniecott‟s great contribution was that he saw the act of creation as the same act of the game. When a child plays with a piece of fabric or an object it grants a new meaning to something that exist before him: this is the act of the game, creation and faith. This object is called “Transitional object” because it indicates the movement that bridges the experience of the subjective and the external reality. In the growing process, the object loses the special meaning of the first possession that represents his mother‟s softness and transforms itself. According to Winnicott the game is more then a simple stage in the development of the self: it portrays the general human development with hints toward religion, ideology and the ability to create on his own and the rest of the existence then it develop into a culture which is a variance form of the game. According to this approach, Culture in of itself is a transitional phenomenon, and is not a case of expressing urges as it was conceived in the preliminary stages of Psychoanalysis. The game is the base of the arts, music, philosophy and religion and brings color to the life of the individual along the unique lifestyle of any human society. "The game” is the ability of a person to be connected to a pool of original and natural resources and to use them in a spontaneous manner that emphasis creativity and subjectivity as well as the connection with the reality and the human surroundings simultaneously. To play, through a psychoanalytic context, means to connect spontaneously to the association reserves of the person. The personal experience of the person is completely reliant upon the reality he lives in. Every person has a reality. There is no baby without a mother. The baby experiences his reality is in his mother‟s breast. Psychologically, there isn‟t any reciprocal exchange: The mother breast-feeds her baby, which is a part of her and the baby is breast fed from a breast that is a part of him. There should be an interaction between them for the baby to comprehend “Not-me”. The first transition that the child will do to the subjective world is to bring an object into it; Winnicott called it “A transitional object” (An object that belongs to the outside world) that bridges the internal to the external world of the child. The main idea is that the game is an experience, and always a creative one, the experience in a given time and space, a basic form of life (Pg. 76). It should always be remembered that the game is therapeutic. A child is completely focused when playing; he is gathering different objects and manifestations from his external reality for the sack of playful dreaming while loading the meanings of his dreams and emotions. From the game he develops trust which it a part of the potential space between (What was there in the beginning) the baby and a mother figure where the baby is in a state of almost total dependence and the ability to connect the mother figure seem obvious to him. The game is satisfying in of itself even when at times it leads to a great anxiety. The game is thrilling and sensitive by its nature. An important quality of the game: In the act of playing, and at times only in it, the child or the adult feels free to be creative. The source to that is in the potential space of the mother and baby relation. Winnicott emphasis the special excitement that accurse during the act of playing that comes from the relative vulnerability of the reciprocal relations between an emotional reality and the experience of controlling actual objects. During the game the child is exiting to a place beyond his internal world and fantasy and reveals himself to the possibility of self-fulfillment and executing his fantasy inside the imaginary world of the game. Children are well aware of the fact that the game is a very serious matter, they protest vehemently when someone is trying to spoil or interrupt them. It could be their mother who wishes to organize the toys, or maybe a brother or sister that like move things around or grabs on to a certain object. The game is an existential need for self-expression and development in any age. The game is an important existential dimension that contributes to a person‟s mental health. It is a constitute channel to the expression that Winnicott called the true self. 9

Social - Cultural contexts

Another interesting aspect which relates to the game is the importance of physical and social environment in playing and learning processes of the child and his ways of adapting to the adult world. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) presents a theory that a child is learning through social-cultural contexts. Everything is being learned in two different levels: First, through social interaction with others; His cognitive development stems from the dialectical process in which he learns and develops through shared experiences of solving problems with another person, teacher or parent. Second, by internalizing of contents into his inner mental structure, his Spiritual development stems by observing himself through a personal experience of creative imagination. The child is learning the cultural rules first by observing and imitating, then by taking responsibility for his own actions. Vygotsky, offers to treat the children concretely based on their up-bringing in a certain lifestyle in a particular place and time in a certain environment with specific cultural tools. In contrast, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) saw the child as a unique phenomenon, where each has a unique identity and characteristics that are not considered an “unfinished adult”. He presented a theory that based on the child‟s spiritual development as a cognitive continuum of four stages. The base to Piaget‟s developmental theory is the assumption that the development of the human thinking is a continuation of biological evaluation that allows a person to adapt to new situations by using a “Schema” of cognitive structures and by using them the individual adapts to his environment. The four factors associated with the child‟s spiritual development: Organic up-bringing, an interactive experience with objects, socializing with children and adults and the pace of personal development. All this is based on the emotionalism that provides the energy for the pace of development. He argued that symbolic play is the highlight of a child‟s game. The child is in a constant effort of adapting to the adult world through language and norms; therefore, it is extremely essential in order to reach emotional and intellectual balance at his field of activity to have at his disposal in which the paddle is not due to the need to adapt to reality. The child has a need of creating his own language of symbols as a means of self-expression. The game provides, by using images taken from his imagination and his own talents a way of creating narratives and story-boards taken from his own fantasy world of his own creativity. The loosened boundary between the children‟s consciousness and unconsciousness indicates, according to Piaget, the acceptance between the symbolism of the dream and the symbolism of the game. Jung argued that these symbols inherent in man from birth, collective archetypes. In referring to painting Piaget he describes the gradual method of G.-H. Luquet in his book about Children‟s Drawings („Le Dessin Enfantin‟, 1927) and his impairment of the child‟s perception of realism, starting with „coincidental realism‟ (scribble) and continues to „rational realism‟ (conceptual) he ends with „visual realism‟ (Perspective) – as the basis for the child‟s spiritual understanding. We come to emphasis the child‟s inner world as he expressed his skills of imagination and emotion as a central value of learning and development. This world provides a broad base for learning interfacing curricula, socialization and learning environment. The game itself is a kind of socialization lab of the child, while playing alone with other children or with adults. The game is considered an experiment field and it is essential to the socialization and social interaction process. Through the game the child internalize social norms and improve his social skills (Negotiating, persuading, victory, loss, obeying the rules, compromising, patience, making of social connections, exchanging ideas, decision making and competition) while obeying the rules and respecting the other person. During the game the child has to face social problems (Truth, Lies, justice and morals) and he must take a stand. This learning process is extremely 10

important in a child‟s development in the process of becoming an adult. In the game the child practice and work on his physical skills by repeating a certain act several times and by repetition he is developing a good motorized control in different body parts and their coordination. While the child is playing he imitates movements and actions of the adults using eye-hand coordination, and acquires their physical nimbleness. The child is improving by coordinating and observing in games with gentle motorized requirements (beading, assembling and massaging dough). Eye-foot coordination is becoming possible with social ball games that require rougher motorized skills (Soccer). Also, the game is greatly contributes to the development of the child‟s physical and coordination skills. The child is combining activity, creativity, and pleasure and thinking while using his rich bounder less imagination. The world of imagination in a child‟s life is rich and is enriched and develops even more during a playful activity. The imagination helps the child executing his personal fantasies, ceasing loneliness, emotional release and mainly constitutes as the main tool of the child, which helps him, deal with conflicts and overcome fears. At times, the child had an unpleasant experience, which he had no control over (Darkened room, a painful physician exam, a traumatic meeting with a dog etc.). In the game he controls the situation and the others, allows all the prohibited and restricted that were duress on him around the adults and through that express his feeling of frustration that he held within himself. Through those imaginary games the child moderates his emotions and discovers that his feelings are not always identical to his friend‟s feelings. Through observing his friends reactions he comprehend that there are different emotional reactions.

Research conclusions

In this study we wanted to examine the impact of consumer culture on children‟s requests in two socio-economic groups (Ranana against Petah-Tikva and Guwahati). In these two groups the children painted with precision and left no doubt of the essence of the toys they wished to receive. This study base raises the question concerning the development and design of a new product, a toy for children. Even thought there are focus group practices that try to find out from children through dialogue meetings what they hope their “next cool toy” will be, yet, it provides unsatisfying information that it based on verbal and group communication only and doesn‟t reflect the more intimate true individual world of imagination and fantasy of a child. In this methodology we have created here, a child receives a personal postcard and on it he will paint his „mind‟ without any external intervention. The child, as we know, expresses himself more accurately through painting then in writing. This methodology suggests a process of entering a non-realistic world where day-dreaming combine with space and time allows the child to concentrate and express himself. It can be said that the child is actually writing to us his fantasy through toy images he wished to receive as a present. After completing the picture, he „sends‟ the postcard and addressing it to someone hoping to retrieve his wish from that person. This is done in order to allow the child to think of someone outside his classroom environment. Another aspect relates to the new values of this new global lifestyle that is based on media, communication and shopping malls. This lifestyle that is dictating today‟s cultural agenda of children and youth from all over the world under a superficial and manipulative use of „Entertainment‟. What is the level of influence this lifestyle has against the inner cultural circle of the child: Family, community, people (nation). The question that interests us here is the nature of impact of the child‟s family lifestyle on his fantasy for a toy and his choices. As we know, children themselves have a collective lifestyle in a form of virtual communities in a local and global level. 11

Mobile distribution among children and youth not only increased socialization through fast and accessible communication of instant messages, moreover it opened many doors for commercial companies to plant in children minds their brands. In addition, the exposure to brands via media and street turn the average child into an active consumer and animportant focus for designing, marketing, product development companies and distribution strategies. As noted in the study we tried to check the fantasies of children to imagine toys and games in a changeable socio-economic culture. The was done in children‟s classrooms where every child painted on the postcard he was given what toy/game they wish to receive and on the other hand wrote to whom they are sending the postcard. Their teachers, that were present in the classroom, gave the children specific instructions for this assignment, It should be noted that we disregarded the visual structure of the paintings in their composition level and visual hierarchy- Balance, form, space, dynamic, way of expression: line, volume measurements, dimensions, color, perspective. Also, we haven‟t checked who were the postcards recipients and weather or not they had some family relation to the requesting children, we only checked the influence of the consumer culture on the children‟s request. Here are the tables detailing the children‟s requests for toys in five categories: Toys with advanced technology (communications, remote control, virtual games, and mechanical toys), ordinary toys (plastic toys, Board games), basic items (cloths etc.), fantasies for toys, status objects. In addition, we have attached comparison tables of different groups gathering their preferences. In this study there are three main findings: 1) As long as the incision socio-economic is higher (Raanana) The amount of requests for toys in terms of quantity and price will be higher: Technological toys, communication tools, up-to-date toys and status symbols: Laptops, cellular, credit cards and a lot of money. 2) When the incision socio-economic is low, the requests are directed toward basic items (Guwahati) or toward fantasies (Petah-Tikwa). 3) From this we can say that the consumer culture halts the children‟s fantasy skills since others (Teachers, inventors, designers) do it for them. It can indicates greed among these children, where we can see a substantial part of them, 35.2%, painted more then one request for a toy. We can summarize the findings above through a hierarchic perspective as such: Status and technological toys: Ranana, Guwahati, Petah-Tikva. Basic items: Guwahati, Petah-Tikva, Ranana. Fantasy: Petah-Tikva, Guwahati, Ranana.

In conclusion, we can now say that in the beginning of the 21st century, it seems that the children are drawn to consumer culture, „Reality‟, „cyber space‟, celebrities and money. Educational messages of parents and other educators stand against the technological progress interface them to the hedonist society in which they grow. Such cognitive dissonance could also be the opportunity for rethinking the place of the toy in the learning experience. Parents and educators should start shifting the main focus from „entertainment‟ and „fun‟ onto social content and underlying family and society values. In this space designers and developers can greatly contribute by developing and designing a new paradigm in the toy and game field by simply create: mind games, smart learning games, social games, family games, „green‟ toys, etc. This turning point can bring balance which will develop new horizons and depth in learning for the children and thereby to change something in global society itself.

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Appendix:

GUWAHATI	PETAH-TIKVA	RANANA	TECHNOLOGY
COMMUNICATION
X	Xxxx	Laptop
Xxxxx	Mobile
Xxx	Xxxxx	Computer
REMOTE CONTROL TOYS
X	Ship
X	Robot Dog
X	Flying Cat
Xx	X	Car
Xx	Xx	Helicopter
VIRTUAL PLAYS
Xx	WII Nintendo
Xx	PSP Sony
X	Airplane
Xx	Computer Games
X	Spaceship
X	Helicopter
X	Star Wars" "
X	Bike Simulator
MECHANICAL TOYS
X	Robot
X	X	Car