Some of the best educational toys for kids bring with them a sense of joy and curiosity in learning. Kids love experimenting with toys of all types and learn new things through tactile and kinesthetic learning experiences. The hands-on approach driven by the best children’s toys give kids new ways of learning experiences.
You need to also be mindful of what educational toys for 5 year olds have to offer when compared to educational toys for 4 year olds. Each category or age group of toys is also designed to appeal to different skill areas. Younger kids prefer more colorful and softer toys, while older ones want to experiment with new features.
The best kids learning toys also teach kids how to learn by themselves. By introducing new types of toys, you can expand their experiences and help them become more confident in exploring new ideas.
Here’s a quick guide on the best children’s toys for kids of all ages.
Let’s Check Out the 25 Best Educational Toys for Kids
There are so many amazing educational toys out there for you to explore with your kids, making selecting the right one a critical decision. You don’t want to simply pick up the flashiest or the most complex-looking toy out there. You’d rather focus on the value driven by these toys so that your kids can learn as they play.
There is also a sense of intuitiveness that all educational toys should bring. They shouldn’t be overly complicated to use, contain small parts, or become choking hazards for younger kids. You need the right balance of entertainment and learning to make it a more engaging experience for kids of all ages.
SplashLearn: Most Comprehensive Learning Program for PreK-5
SplashLearn inspires lifelong curiosity with its game-based PreK-5 learning program loved by over 40 million children. With over 4,000 fun games and activities, it’s the perfect balance of learning and play for your little one.
Try for free1. Mega Bloks
The Mega Blocks stackable blocks allow for free play within the toddler category. It’s one of the best educational toys for kids, and it encourages your children to create magical worlds. There are several types of shapes, with a convenient bag to store everything in after playtime is over.
Ideal Age Range – 1 – 3 years
Toy Category – Sorting & stacking
Cost – $16
Purchase – Check them out here
2. GeoSafari Jr.
Want to teach your kids about the joys of science? This microscope toy is the perfect option for kids that love exploring new ideas. The talking microscope is one of the best learning toys for 3 year olds out there.
Ideal Age Range –3+ years
Toy Category – Science
Cost – $33
Purchase – Start here
3. Botley the Coding Robot
The 46-piece coding toy is perfect for older kids that want to learn more about coding. You can help them establish a STEM and coding foundation through this early-learning educational toy.
Ideal Age Range – 8+ years
Toy Category – Coding
Cost – $50
Purchase – Get them started here
4. The Primary science kit
The primary science kit is a great educational toy that helps in learning about the wonders of science experiments for kids. Every piece of equipment that a great scientist would need is included here. It’s one of the best kids learning toys for children to explore.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Science
Cost – $30
Purchase – Ready to buy? Visit here
5. Deep dive into shapes
Your kids can learn more about how different shapes are designed and developed with the help of this educational toy. They can also explore how different geometries impact different orientations and styles of learning.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Spatial learning
Cost – $19
Purchase – Shape their learning here
6. Magna Tiles
Magna Tiles are magnetic tiles that allow endless fun and adventure hours. Your kids can make castles, cars, bridges, and other innovative engineering projects using the power of magnets and colorful tiles. They’re perfect for kids that are curious about the world.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Building
Cost – $50
Purchase – Pick them up here
7. Gears! Gears! Gears!
The 83-piece gears toy is a perfect solution for kids that love engineering, cars, and machines. Your young ones can learn about the wonders of energy transfer, gears, and momentum through this magical toy set.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Engineering
Cost – $23
Purchase – Get geared up here
8. PlayShifu Educational Globe
This incredible educational toy connects AR and the physical world through your iPad. With over 1000 geography facts within the system, your kids can experience a whole new world through their technology devices.
Ideal Age Range – 4+ years
Toy Category – Geography
Cost – $54
Purchase – Introduce a whole new world here
Related Reading: Best Educational Games for Kids by Subjects & Grades
9. LIKEE Jigsaw puzzle
With 36 shape pieces and 60 design cards, the LIKEE jigsaw puzzle is a great way to educate kids through visual learning. Your little ones can solve complex puzzles at a young age through visually engaging designs. Spatial reasoning and visual thinking are developed through these puzzles.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Puzzles
Cost – $17
Purchase – Start by clicking here
10. The multi-desk art center
This is a great art educational desk set that allows your kids to explore their creative side without worrying about the cleanup. You can get this desk set and forget about spills, stains, wall painting, and other common challenges.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Art
Cost – $129
Purchase – Get coloring here
11. Coding Critters
Skills such as critical reasoning, coding, problem-solving, and creative thinking are fully explored in this educational toy. Your kids will enjoy hours of endless fun as they help forest critters solve problems through math and code.
Ideal Age Range – 4+ years
Toy Category – Coding
Cost – $129
Purchase – Code here
12. Light-Up Terrarium
Your kids can learn about biomes and ecosystems with the light-up terrarium. It’s an easy to set up solution, and your little ones can spend hours taking care of their new biome and learning more about its constituents.
Ideal Age Range – 4+ years
Toy Category – Biology
Cost – $35
Purchase – Pick up the kit here
13. LEGO Boost
The complete LEGO boost kit focuses on building robots from the point of view of attachable pieces. With simple-to-follow instructions, your kids can play with robots from a design and scientific activities standpoint.
Ideal Age Range – 8+ years
Toy Category – Engineering
Cost – $300
Purchase – Start building here
14. Learn With Me – Count & Learn Cookie Jar
This is one of the best educational toys for kids who need to learn counting. Who doesn’t love cookies? Everyone does! Your kids can learn about counting and sorting by playing with cookies. For added fun, they can also try online sorting games for kids.
Ideal Age Range – 2+ years
Toy Category – Counting
Cost – $30
Purchase – Cookies and more here
15. KID K’NEX
This educational toy is what every parent wished they had when they were younger. It’s a cool way for your kids to experiment with different shapes, forms, and designs using simple, adjustable and detachable objects.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Building
Cost – $37
Purchase – Pick up here
16. Design & Drill See-Through Creative
This unique educational toy helps kids explore new ways of building and designing. You can help them bolt cute pegs into a design board and encourage them to create new designs. They can proudly display them wherever they choose.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Engineering
Cost – $40
Purchase – Kickstart their designs here
Related Reading: Adorable and Affordable End of Year Gifts For Students
17. Solar system puzzle
The 21-piece STEM educational toy set is perfect for exploring the solar system and the galaxies. You can allow your child to learn about the major planets and get them arranged in the right order. This is a great gateway into science-based learning.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Science
Cost – $21
Purchase – Get it here
18. LIWIN LET’S GO!
This is one of the best educational toys for kids designed to improve spelling. Your kids can improve their handwriting, grammar, and spelling skills with fun exercises and visual references. It makes spelling more fun and exciting for young ones. You can also try online word games for kids for added fun.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Spelling
Cost – $13
Purchase – You can get this toy here
19. Under The Sea Sorting
The educational toy set is perfect for kids that love undersea creatures. You can help your child explore their inner curiosity through the educational toy. These fun toddler activities are designed to keep them engaged and learning about sorting, placing, visual reasoning, etc.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Essential skills
Cost – $20
Purchase – Start here
20. Carlos the pop & count cactus
Carlos is a fun counting cactus that makes learning fun for younger kids. Areas such as color recognition, number finding, hand strength, and fine motor skills are developed with this toy.
Ideal Age Range – 1+ years
Toy Category – Early learning
Cost – $12
Purchase – Introduce your kids to Carlos here
21. Who’s Feeling What?
This is the perfect toy to develop social skills in children, especially for developing communication skills among younger kids. Children can sense what emotions others are feeling through animations and cards.
Ideal Age Range – 3+ years
Toy Category – Social learning
Cost – $12
Purchase – Start learning here
22. Children’s Science kit
The science kit is perfect for young explorers that want to learn more about the world around them. You can introduce a new world of chemistry, biology, and physics through practical experiments that can blow their minds.
Ideal Age Range – 8+ years
Toy Category – Science
Cost – $35
Purchase – Get started here
23. Sort n’ seek polar animals
If your kids are interested in animals, then this educational toy set is perfect. It’s an early introduction to STEM learning and is one of the best options out there for team activities with young children.
Ideal Age Range – 1+ years
Toy Category – Motor skills
Cost – $12
Purchase – Pick up the set here
24. Peek a bird learning
With Peek a bird, your kids can play with cute bird toys and help them get home in the right colored nests. This is one of the best educational toys for kids to help them improve their cognitive abilities.
Ideal Age Range – 1+ years
Toy Category – Motor skills
Cost – $14
Purchase – Start peeking here
25. Spike Fine motor toy
This is one of the best educational toys for kids to start using their fine motor skills. They can start getting an intuitive sense of placing, counting, holding, and inserting with the help of a friendly hedgehog.
Ideal Age Range – 1+ years
Toy Category – Fine motor
Cost – $13
Purchase – You can buy for your child here
Related Reading: Creative Indoor Activities for Kids to Have Some No-Screen Fun
How To Select the Best Educational Toys for Kids?
There are several parameters that you need to focus on when understanding what the best educational toys for kids are. You need to understand that the toy’s utility is one of the most important factors in the decision-making process.
You also need to look at your child’s interest in that toy’s category and aesthetic style. If you find an engineering or creative arts toy that has planets on it instead of fishes, you need to check if your child is attracted to it naturally.
The best educational toys are also adaptive to the child’s ability. This gives them new challenges over time, which makes the entire process more rewarding for kids. You can give them the right set of tools and watch them perform magic with the right toys.
How You Should Use the Best Educational Toys for Toddlers
While selecting the right toys is important, using them the right way is vital to explore too. It’s not as simple as handing these toys to your kids and letting them play around with them. You need to provide the right sense of direction when using these toys so that they can participate actively.
1. Playing together
You should focus on playing with the best educational toys for kids together. You need to stack cups, solve puzzles, and design castles together. You can give them the right directions to make their dream world come alive.
2. Exploring new experiences
With different types of toys, you can explore new experiences. Educational toys for 6 year olds and the best learning toys for toddlers have one thing in common – they’re focused on new ways of learning. You can use toys in new ways to create new memories.
3. Increasing difficulty
You can ask your child to create more complex engineering, artistic, and creative designs through multiple toys. In fact, toddler learning toys emphasize on new shapes, new forms, and slow complexity introduced over time.
4. Focus on multifaceted learning
The best educational baby toys provide new forms of sensory and problem-solving experiences. Toys can be used to help develop language, learning, and expression. You can focus on how best to use toys to drive multifaceted learning.
5. Establishing collaborative play
The best educational toys for a preschooler will have some form of collaborative play involved in them. You can solve challenges together, create new structures, design new clothes, and perform a range of new tasks together.
6. Empowering kids for self-driven play
Once you’ve established a basic sense of comfort with using these toys, you can empower them to try new ways of playing. The best educational toys are designed to be as simple to use while being colorful enough to maintain attention.
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Conclusion
You know the best part about getting the best educational toys for kids? You can have fun with them as a parent as well! Parents are big kids after all, and educational toys help them bond with their kids over something intellectually stimulating.
You can get the right mix of different educational toys and help your kids excel across different areas. There’s only so much that a book or a song can deliver, which is why you need the right types of toys to help them learn through different methods of stimuli.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can we use educational toys to develop specific skills?
Yes, from problem-solving to fine motor skills, there are educational toys for skills across categories.
Are educational toys expensive?
Many educational toys are within budget and can provide multiple types of cognitive development experiences.
Do I need different educational toys for 3 year olds and 5 year olds?
Yes, kids can get bored of playing with the same types of toys if they have already mastered it.
What types of toys can help with social skills?
Role-playing toys, conversational toys, and toys that have verbal cues can help your kids with social skills development.
