Kids Learn Through Play

…here’s how to give them a great start

Children love to learn, and toddlers are at just the right age to be absorbing all the information around them. Providing them with stimulating, educational toys is a great way of grabbing their attention and helping them to develop the skills they will need as they are growing up. Here are 5 of the best educational toys you can get for your toddler.

1. Multi-Activity Play Cube

A play cube has numerous activities in one that all usually have an educational value. The most typical activities include alphabets and counting, object recognition, movement games, matching games and tracking mazes. The activities have a range of educational benefits from learning colours, shapes, letters and numbers, to memory, co-ordination and motor skills. These cubes are generally suitable from 6 months and will keep your little one entertained for hours with so much to do.

2. Building Block

There are a  variety of building blocks available for toddlers to play with. Building towers helps to increase their concentration and motor skills, and once they get more adept at building, their creative side is enhanced by allowing them the freedom to build anything. Not to mention that letting them take apart their creations is sure to incite a giggle. They have been a staple of kids toy(s) for decades now. Most are suitable from about 1 year and can be bought on almost any budget.

3. Dressing up costumes

Allowing children to use their imagination is one of the best ways of expanding their understanding of the world. Having different dressing up costumes allows them to role-play real-life and imaginary situations, meaning that they learn social skills as well as how to pretend. Costumes also help children to learn about the various people they dress up as.

4. Easel

An easel is a very simple kids toy that has been a popular choice for decades and it’s easy to see why. Children can use it to be creative with paints, chalks and crayons, or as they get older they can use it for more learning based activities such as reading, writing and counting. They can even use it with dressing up costumes to role play lessons in a school.

5. Electronic toys

Technology often gets criticized for taking over from traditional kids toys but there are some fantastic electronic toys on the market that are educational and help children to develop. Tablets designed for kids can contain a wide variety of Apps that toddlers love to engage with. Skills such as co-ordination and fine motor skills can be enhanced, colour, shape, letter, number and object recognition can be developed and children also get familiar with technology that they will soon be using in everyday life.

The range of kids toys available makes it difficult to choose what to buy. The majority of toys aimed at toddlers will have some educational benefit but if you are looking for something that will really help your little one to develop their skills, one of these 5 should be your next purchase.

Images by  Paul Hernandez Gonzalez and  Marcus Kwan used under the Creative Commons License. 

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Author Bio:

Louise Stirling is a primary school teacher who specializes in early years education, when she’s not thinking up new ways to get everyone to remember their times tables she loves writing blogs, baking (albeit badly) and planning her next holiday.