I dunno about their take on older kids, but for the young ones I think the Montessori method has exactly the right idea: focus on leveling them up on basic stuff like taking things out and putting them away, and on building intuition for how their bodies and how objects in the world move. Pouring water, building with blocks, that kind of thing. Cleaning stuff (they're terrible at, naturally, and can't be trusted with anything serious it so it's not like it's helpful, but they love wiping things down with soapy water then drying them off at young ages) and assembling simple food platters, especially if it's to share and not just for themselves. That sort of thing. Watering plants. They don't need robots and shit at age 3. Stuff that rolls, stuff that stacks, stuff that pours, stuff that sticks together.
The problem is how fast they learn. We have an 18 months old and she solves the challenges so fast. I should be happy but we struggle coming up with new challenges.
Toy for her age are way too basic. Those are very focused on safety, but due to that there is a giant lack of gameplay value. Duplo so far and a "car track" kind of toy have been the best, with lot of books.
Problem with books is that she requires us to read them. Lego animals have been useful,she take them out of a big lego house we built and call them by names. She learned quite a few words this way!
She likes boxes, plastic bottles, zip bags and such, but she understands the tricks fast and gets bored. Hard!
Obviously playing with mom and dad it's still the best thing
