Best Educational Toys for Toddlers

You shouldn’t miss classic wooden blocks because playing with blocks helps your toddler find out and explore essential math concepts. These concepts will be the foundation that their future math knowledge is built upon.

When your toddler works out that they need four square blocks to make the same length as two rectangular blocks they are finding out about measurement and adding. When they collect all the green blocks to make a turtle they are learning about classification.

This will be essential knowledge for your child when they start to learn math at school. Finding out about these concepts through block play is the best way your toddler can work out and understand these concepts.

When you buy your block set make sure there are different sized pieces. Also make sure those pieces are mathematically correct so two square blocks make a rectangle.  

Art is one of the best ways for “whole child” learning. When your toddler is playing with crayons or paint they are learning to think in different ways and problem solve. They get to make decisions about things like which color to use when they can't make decisions about many other things. This is excellent for their first tries at decision making.

Art looks different to pretend play. But it has many similarities. Both art and pretend play are about imagining new possibilities. Your toddler can create purple grass through art even though this does not exist in real life. Imagining what “could be” is wonderful for developing creativity as well as the "what if" type of thinking that is the foundation of scientific thinking.

Thick crayons like the Jumbo Crayons or finger paints are the best because your toddler doesn’t have good co-ordination yet in their hands and fingers. Finger paint and thick crayons are the easiest for your toddler to use. Thicker crayons are also harder to break so they will last longer too.

Art provides possibilities just like pretend play. But it is important for your toddler to have toys for pretending too. This is because being able to pretend with things like toy trucks and dolls gives your toddler more ways to explore "what if" thinking.

Pretend play toys gives your toddler tools of imagination that are different to when they are playing with crayons or paint. This provides wonderful support for your toddler's learning. This encourages better development.

Good pretend toys for your toddler includes toys that help them imagine "if" they were a grown up, or a doctor, or a mom or a carpenter. This is because imagining "if" is one of the most important parts of pretend play learning.

Good pretend toys for toddlers include toys that help them imagine "if" they were a grown up, or a doctor, or a mom or a carpenter. This is because imagining "if" is one of the most important parts of pretend play learning.

Puzzles are a wonderful way to teach problem solving and logical thinking to your toddler.

Will this piece fit in this space? What happens if I turn it around?

Logical thinking is important skill because most school skills your toddler will come across later in life are based on logical thinking.

When choosing puzzles for your toddler it’s important not to pick ones that are too hard. If it is too hard it may discourage and frustrate your child. Instead start with something easy like a puzzle with 3 or 4 pieces. When your toddler can do easy puzzles easily try some harder ones with 5 or 6 big pieces. This way you will be encouraging learning while keeping play fun.