Days of wishes, smiles, and surprises are coming, and for parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles, days of nerves and often, not knowing what to choose from so many options. We've put together a carefully curated selection ofevolutionary toys which guarantee many hours of play and a wide selection of toys to choose from, depending on their interests. There are also options designed for children with special needs. Four key points to understand this guide:

Just a few months ago, Gerard Ribas managed to break into one of the most prestigious lists for board games, the German Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), which annually recognizes the best board games in the world. In this case, the award recognized him in the children's category. Thanks to his game Island in sight, it reached a ranking in which two more games from our home team had already debuted, Sherlock –co-created by Martí Lucas and Josep Izquierdo– and Baobab, by Josep Maria Allué.

As a child, there was no more effective way to detach myself from the TV than when they were broadcasting Formula 1 races. The combination of hyper-speed vehicles—which my limited vision could barely detect—the crazy commentary of the commentators, and the imagined stench of gasoline kept me away from the screen for weeks. Formula 1 and my life have moved forward like two parallel rivers, with no feasible or latent possibility of getting closer. The change came thanks to a birthday present for Marcel's sixth birthday, a spare until then. As soon as the controls were properly charged with batteries that had to be fished out of remote drawers, the cars made a few reconnaissance laps around the living room before entering the darkness of the hallway.

The essence of the game is free playThat is, being able to decide who you want to play with, what you want to play, and when you want to play. And for this to be possible, it is necessary for adults to value play—which is not only a vital activity for children, but also a right recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child—and to provide the necessary conditions: time, adequate space, playmates, and autonomy to do so. Play is a source of physical and mental well-being, of learning, and has a positive impact on children's development. But the point is to play for play's sake. Play is a pleasurable activity in which the process is more important than the results. Productive lives, consumer activities, and other tasks and responsibilities that we adults have seem to extend into childhood, and we are gradually forgetting that children up to the age of 17 are still children and have the right to play. In fact, for 10- and 11-year-olds in Barcelona, ​​​​one of the areas of their lives that has been rated the lowest since 2017 is the amount of free time: half of them think they don't have enough.

We want free girls, adults with a clear idea, who can move through the world safely and without fear. We defend equality, we sign manifestos, we are shocked by the data on the gender gap and gender-based violence. And yet, play, the first space in which children and society meet, is still full of stereotypes.

Every child inhabits an internal landscape made of images, memories, fears, and desires. It can't always be expressed in words; it is hinted at and manifested in play, in the way pieces are arranged, in the way a ball is kicked, or in the way a doll is cared for. Pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott, whom you may know for his concept of the "transitional object," described it as "the potential space."