One gift, two maybe ... nothing wrong with that. Image: Getty.

Sorry kids - can't argue with science

We're parents. End of story. So we know what's best for our kids.

We don't need research to tell us. We JUST KNOW.

That said, when a study that tickles us quite this much lands in our laps (well, in box if you want to get specific) we're not going to turn our backs. We are all about this study. And given that it's just 15 days till Christmas, we reckon you might enjoy it too. So, without further ado ... let us discuss the results of our favourite study of the season (maybe ever).

First, a detail or two ... the study was published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development and the super cool part - it suggests that toddlers play better when they have fewer toys.

Enjoy that one gift little one ... could be it's all you get. Image: Getty.

“It’s kind of a story of less is more,” says the study's co-author, Alexia E. Metz, Ph.D., an associate professor of occupational therapy at the University of Toledo.

A little more detail ... Researchers at the University of Toledo gave toddlers ages 18 to 30 months either four or 16 toys. Then they sat back and chuckled while all hell broke loose - no wait, we mean, they observed what occurred. They're researchers after all.

“They did play better, if we qualify it as longer incidences of play and with more creativity, when there were only four toys in the room,” Dr. Metz describes.

“When there were 16, they’d just bounce from toy to toy, and they were sort of superficial in the way they explored it and then move on to the next.”

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To assess creativity, the researchers used verbs to describe the type of play they witnessed, revealed Working Mother.

They noticed that the toddlers often began playing with what Dr. Metz calls “exploratory actions,” such as dumping, pulling, pushing, stacking, putting in and taking out. As they became more familiar with the toys, they moved to what she describes as sophisticated play: pretending, calling and hammering.

When there were only four toys available, however, the children engaged in broader types of play in general.

Kids with only four toys also engaged in more sophisticated play, Dr. Metz adds.

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Of course, like all studie, this one is limited in that the children were not observed in their natural habitat - ie: the play room at home. All the same, we're going with it. Anything to help our argument for less toys frankly.

“We decided to do the study because we have some reservations about little kids being referred to as attention deficit, when it may be that they’re just immature in their development,” she says.

“They’re just at a natural stage in their development, and then we plunk them down into this overwhelming environment. Our study doesn’t say that’s what’s happening, but it suggests that one of your first passes when you’re concerned about attention deficit (with your kids) is to simplify their environment.

Sounds good to us.