As much as the obvious reflex is to think that "oh we should move BACK to a more austere, toy-less environment." It is important to remember, that children that grow up in nature are surrounded by thousands of "toys". I remember camping by creaks as a child, and finding there far more "toys" than in my play box. Rocks, sticks, bushes, leaves, mud, bugs, animals. Somehow, I still managed to focus for hours trying to damn the creak. So I don't really believe that more toys = shorter attention span. It must be something about the nature of these artificially created toys that makes them less engaging.
If your childhood was anything like mine, you were probably trying to dam the creek - no 'n'. Not that I'm judging you or there's anything wrong with a young and free imagination that seeks to condemn the naiads to eternal suffering.
If you leave a stick alone for 30s it doesn't flash and play a tune to try [desperately?] to get you to play with it.
I'd guess the issue is that the toys are designed to so that they will get picked up in a toy store. They have to get off the shelf and to the checkout, they don't have to entertain one jot beyond that ...
Maybe at least partly because you had to engage your imagination a bit to make that stick into a gun, or whatever? Toy guns are obviously guns; point 'em and say "Pew! Pew!" — if they don't already make the noise for you, too...
Sticks, there's a visualization step or two somewhere in there, too. I'm not specifically aware of any research directly investigating the relationship between the degree or intensity of imaginative play and focus, but I wouldn't be at all surprised — read: fully expect — to find them strongly positively correlated.
Hahaha when I was a kid, we went a few times on holiday to Richmond in Yorkshire. We'd spend hours by the river which was my Mum's favourite place. I'd consequently spend hours trying to dam the entire river with rocks. An. Entire. River. It never occurred to me that I couldn't do this... My Mum would just let me get on with it, she thought that was the best game ever. She'd spend the entire time pointing out rocks she thought would be suitable and me carting rocks back and forth. HOURS!
It's only now that I'm a parent that I realize what a genius parenting strategy this is. I wear myself out trying to complete a fruitless labour in the hope of achieving impossible success. No 8 year old on the face of the planet is ever going to damn a river of that size with a pile of rocks. FOR HOURS I WOULD DO THIS!
What all kids need are an endless pile of rocks and a river. Best. Toy. Ever.
Then any child growing up in a home is also surrounded by 1000s of "toys then. The pillow, blanket, shoes, dog, chair, tv remote, keys, mouse, tissues, tissue box, etc....
Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Things at home are the same every day. They may be fun for first 5 minutes but then, well, they are not. Outside - city streets, playground, park, forest, you name it - there are unlimited amount of "toys". Everyday new, everyday exciting. You may go to the same place but people are different, animals are different, rocks are different, sticks thrown into stream are flowing differently every time. My kid is bored at home, even though we have way more toys than we planned to, and she's craving for full day walks. She's bringing me her shoes in the morning and points at the door. She's explorer and there are plenty of opportunities out there.
The fact that you have to quote “toys” is very telling. Sticks and stones aren’t designed by teams of people whose very goal is to draw a children’s attention.
