Entertaining Educational Toys
For some, educational toys often come across as boring or nerdy, but there are hundreds of fun educational learning toys on the market for all ages and skill levels. Educational toys for your baby, toddler or older child can be a great addition to your playroom because they will keep your kids occupied for hours while they learn valuable new skills. It can be hard to choose which educational toys your kids will play with, and which will gather dust in the toybox, so here are some recommendations on toys that are sure to educate and entertain.
Educational Building Toys
Building toys are one of the most popular types of educational learning toys for toddlers and young children, who are learning hand-eye coordination, creative thinking, and shape and colour recognition. Educational building toys may be colourful wooden blocks, plastic construction sets or soft cloth cubes that aren’t just for stacking. Select toys that are easy enough for your child to understand, but challenging enough to provide stimulation.
Recommended: MEGA Bloks Zoo Crew – a full zoo of colourful animal blocks, bells and rattles.
Activity Centres
Activity centres are favourites among kids’ and parents; they foster imagination and creativity while combining a number of sights, sounds and objects children can touch and squeeze. Younger kids will benefit from basic activity blankets where they can lie and keep busy, while activity centres for older kids are usually more elaborate: play kitchens, or fairy castles complete with costumes.
Recommended: Vtech Sit to Stand Learning Walker, which features five piano keys so toddlers can play music, three colorful spinning rollers, three shape sorters and light-up shape buttons.
Electronic Educational Toys
As technology grows in leaps and bounds, so do children’s educational learning toys. Electronic educational toys combine a wide variety of learning tools. Many of today’s electronic educational toys are also very practical: they’re designed to grow with your child, featuring a number of skill levels so that they can convert as your kid grows and stay relevant for years.
Recommended: LeapFrog Leapster 2 Learning Game System. This system connects to the LeapFrog Learning Path, an online experience that lets you see what your child is learning. It features a library of over 30 learning games to teach skills in different subjects, like arts, reading, mathematics and science. Kids can also connect online for extra activities and rewards.
Educational Videos
Don’t like the idea of plunking your kid down in front of the TV to watch daytime programming? Choose an educational video that keeps your child’s age and interests in mind, and you’ll be surprised how quietly they’ll sit to take in everything from learning a foreign language to playing along to modern music.
Recommended: Richard Scarry’s Best ABC Video Ever, a video featuring 26 short stories that introduces kids to the alphabet. Children will learn how to identify different letters and words.
Erin Stringer has been a freelance writer for over 10 years, and her work has appeared in various online and offline publications. She enjoys writing about all that Vancouver has to offer. Erin is a VancouverMom.ca contributor. Have some great article ideas? Find out how you can become a contributor.
Educational games are really interesting.Thanks for giving this.