Fun Educational Toys for Kids That Let Them Learn as They Play (2024)

FAQs

What toys are good for intellectual development? ›

Pegboard puzzles, nesting cups or blocks, and buckets with holes for different shaped blocks challenge hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills. Mechanical toys. Pop-up toys and "busy" boxes with knobs, buttons, and levers encourage fine motor skills and problem solving, and teach cause-and-effect.

Educational toys are serious. They are often designed with specific learning objectives in mind, such as teaching children about numbers, letters, or colours, or promoting specific skills such as hand-eye coordination or spatial reasoning. Think Montessori knobbed cylinders or object permanence boxes.

When your child is playing with toys, they're developing new ideas, modeling what they've seen by adults, and being challenged and stimulating their cognitive and language development.

Good toys for young infants:

Things they can reach for, hold, suck on, shake, make noise with—rattles, large rings, squeeze toys, teething toys, soft dolls, textured balls, and vinyl and board books.

Open-ended toys let children (and their imaginations) be in charge of the fun. Think clay, blocks, or doll houses: Each time a child plays with toys like these, they may create an entirely new sculpture, solve a new problem, or imagine their own scenario.

Puzzles and other fine motor toys help children explore many cognitive concepts. Children have to observe each puzzle piece and then fit it into the correct spot. They have to maintain their attention to the task as they turn the pieces to fit.

The best educational toys are ones that capture your child's attention and keep it, continuously challenging them to explore and discover. Just remember to get involved with them, as nothing is greater for their development than interacting and bonding with their family while they play!

What is a Montessori Toy? A Montessori toy is one that stimulates learning by encouraging kids to experiment. It should be a toy that they can hold and touch, as learning to manipulate objects is key in helping children develop their fine motor skills.

Playing games like dress-up, make-believe, hide and seek or I Spy engages your child's imagination and creativity. Playing with sensory materials like playdough can develop your child's fine motor skills.

Toys provide children with opportunities to explore and learn, which can foster creativity and imagination, problem-solving skills, and gross and fine motor skills. They also help children practice skills such as counting, sorting, and matching, which help develop cognitive and language skills.

What is an example of a smart toy? ›

Common examples include smart dolls and companions that speak with children or use facial recognition to recognize them, robotic toys that can be built and programmed by children, and smart speakers that children interact with.

Educational toys (sometimes also called "instructive toys") are objects of play, generally designed for children, which are expected to stimulate learning. They are often intended to meet an educational purpose such as helping a child develop a particular skill or teaching a child about a particular subject.

A traditional toy is typically thought of as non-electronic, made from materials such as wood or other types of natural fibres, and often handmade. Examples of popular types of traditional style toys include dolls houses, play kitchens or work-stations shops, garages, cars, trains, shopping carts and more.

Toys stimulate cognitive development by promoting critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities. They encourage children to explore cause and effect relationships, develop spatial awareness, and engage in logical reasoning.