It is always a good idea to try getting your baby acquainted with numbers, the letters of the alphabet, animal names, and much more right from their infancy.
Toys can play an important role in educating a little one. But which toys can help you achieve it? In this MomJunction post, we have compiled the list of the best educational toys that you can consider buying for your little one.
19 Best Educational Toys For Babies
1. Baby Loovi Foam Bath Toys
Some babies enjoy spending time in the bathtub, but not at their study desk. So, how do you get them to learn something new? Well, get them these foam bath toys that come in the shape of animals and letters of the English alphabet.
Features:
- Made of eco-friendly EVA material and meets the U.S. and European toy safety standards
- Toys help teach colors, letters of the alphabet, names of animals, and so on
- Toy pieces can float on water and can easily be stuck to the wall
- Sticking the toy characters to the wall helps improve the baby’s hand-eye coordination
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2. Baby Gund Animated Flappy The Elephant Stuffed Animal Plush
This soft elephant flaps its ears to play a game of peek-a-boo with your little one. And its plush, huggable body provides the kind of comfort your baby needs.
Features:
- Pressing the hidden button helps the baby learn the concept of cause and effect
- Plays music to keep the baby entertained
- Easily washable in a machine
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3. Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack
Stacking is an oddly satisfying activity not just for adults, but also for babies. It helps develop multiple skills that boost the baby’s all-round growth. This toy set from Fisher-Price includes five colorful rings and a wobbly base.
Features:
- Smallest ring has a transparent surface and features rattling beads
- Arranging the rings size-wise helps the baby understand the concept of relative size
- Improves hand-eye coordination and balance
- Awakens the baby’s curiosity
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4. Fisher-Price Baby’s First Blocks
Shapes and colors are some of the first things that babies learn. And this toy helps babies get acquainted with both.
Features:
- Set includes ten colorful blocks in various shapes
- Blocks come packaged in a lovely storage box with handle
- Sorting and inserting the blocks to their respective spots help boost problem-solving and motor skills in babies
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5. LeapFrog Learning Friends 100 Words Book
This book of words helps teach your baby new words. It is a bilingual book that teaches in English and Spanish.
Features:
- Book designed with sturdy plastic pages for smooth play
- Images when touched play audio, teaching the baby different names and words
- Plays content in three modes, namely fun facts, music, and different types of sounds
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6. Fat Brain Toys Dimpl Baby
This tiny portable toy offers five colorful bubbles that babies love to press and pinch. It is a good way to strengthen hand muscles and keep the baby busy.
Features:
- Bubbles made of BPA-free food-grade silicone
- Frame made of ABS plastic
- Helps the baby understand cause and effect
- Strengthens fine motor skills
7. Melissa & Doug Flip Fish Baby Toy
If you are looking for a tactile toy, this flip fish is a perfect choice. Its plush body features different types of fabrics that can help introduce the baby to different textures.
Features:
- Squeaker tail strengthens grasping skills
- Crinkly texture promotes a tactile sense
- Colorful body is a visual delight
- Soft body is ideal for cuddling
8. Manhattan Toy Skwish Classic Rattle And Teether
If your baby is going through the teething phase, they are bound to put toys into their mouths. This multi-purpose toy relieves your baby from teething pain and ensures that your baby is entertained.
Features:
- Made of sustainable wood and non-toxic water-based paint
- Design allows for easy clutching
- Rattling beads easily attract the baby’s attention
9. Melissa & Doug Take-Along Shape-Sorter Toy
Shape-sorters are toys that encourage kids to put in blocks of different shapes into their designated holes. This shape-sorter can help your baby understand spatial relations and also differentiate between various shapes.
Features:
- Toy bag doubles up as a storage case after play
- Portable case makes the transfer of toy easy and convenient
- Padded case ensures safe play
- Features crinkly flaps that come with pictures of familiar items on top and their corresponding shapes beneath
10. Melissa & Doug Classic Bead Maze
Wish to keep your baby busy for a while? Hand them this colorful bead maze that can have their undivided attention.
Features:
- Helps improve color and shape recognition skills in kids
- Strengthens fine motor skills
- Comes with a strong wooden base
- Includes 18 easy-to-grip wooden beads that the baby has to slide through three roller-coaster wires
11. Toyk Baby Bath Books
Teaching kids to read can be difficult because they seldom sit in one place. And if you hand them a book, they will likely tear it or get it soiled. The perfect solution to this dilemma is this cloth book that can be washed and used over and over again.
Features:
- Made of good quality cotton fabric
- Non-toxic and free of BPA
- Tear-resistant and easy to wash
- Variety in textures helps develop tactile senses
- Contains several interesting activities for babies
12. Baby Einstein Bendy Ball Rattle Toy
Rattling toys always help you get your baby’s attention. This rattle toy looks attractive with its colorful design and is easy to bend and squeeze.
Features:
- Made from flexible BPA-free plastic
- Easy to wipe clean with a damp cloth
- Inner ball makes a rattling sound when shaken
- Designed for easy grip and play
13. Hape Pound & Tap Bench With Slide Out Xylophone
This xylophone toy can help instill a love of music in your baby. And you never know, your kiddo might be a child prodigy.
Features:
- Baby can play with the toy in multiple ways
- Strengthens hand-eye coordination
- Helps the baby understand cause and effect
- Durable build with round edges and water-based paint for safe play
14. Baby Einstein Octopus Orchestra Musical Toy
Musical toys are almost always the most fool-proof way to keep your baby entertained as well as develop their mind and body. This orchestra toy plays different kinds of music with light effects, aiding in developing multiple senses.
Features:
- Helps inculcate a love of music in babies
- Large buttons are designed for the tiny hands of babies
- Offers two modes of play, namely Discovery mode and Composer mode
- Lights encourage the baby to hit the button more often
- Easy to wipe clean with a damp cloth
15. Manhattan Toy Baby Whoozit Stroller And Travel Toy
Need a toy to keep your baby distracted while on the go? This multi-sensory toy by Manhattan would do the job perfectly.
Features:
- Comes with rattles, squeakers, a crinkle paper, and so on
- Grasping the loops helps strengthen hand muscles
- Baby-safe mirror promotes self-discovery
- Plastic loop helps attach the toy to strollers, cribs, and car seats
16. Top Bright Wooden Activity Cube
Activity cubes are popular amongst parents because they offer engaging activities that help develop both the mind and body of little kids. This activity cube is an educational toy that offers five engaging activities, one on each side of the cube.
Features:
- Sturdy body with smooth edges and the non-toxic water-based paint ensure safe play
- Shape sorting the blocks helps the baby understand spatial relations
- Spinning the gears helps develop finger muscles
- Bead maze on the top can be detached and used separately
- Activities help promote problem-solving skills
17. Teach My Baby Learning Kit
This learning kit comes with board books and one-piece puzzles that help teach your baby numbers, words, sounds – you name it.
Features:
- Set includes finger puppets, books, blocks, mirrors, and puzzles
- Promotes self-awareness by teaching parts of the face with respective images
- Comes with a teaching guide
- Helps develop tactile senses and hand-eye coordination
18. Blige SMTF Cute Animal Soft Baby Socks
This is not your regular pair of woolen socks. These pairs of baby socks and wrist bands, each come with a character attached to it for the baby’s entertainment.
Features:
- Helps develop hand, feet, and eye coordination
- One size fits most babies
19. Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Musical Farmyard Cube
Play cubes are quite popular with babies, and this Farmyard Cube, in particular, is a hot favorite. It offers different activities on each side and helps with the baby’s mental and physical development.
Features:
- Cube comes with a teether, plastic mirror, and crinkly flower petals and tabs
- Animal characters make sounds when their noses are pressed
- Flaps and textured fabrics help develop a tactile sense
- Plastic mirror promotes self-exploration
How To Help Your Baby Learn Through Play?
Here are some tips that can come handy while trying to teach something to your baby through a toy.
- When showing a toy to your baby, try to speak aloud about it. Tell your baby what the toy is and what it does. This way, your baby will catch words and understand their meaning through the action that the toy does.
- Repetition is the key to learning. When you show your child the same toy and explain its functions repeatedly, they will start remembering details and will be able to recall words and the corresponding actions.
- It is okay if your baby does not play with a toy the way you want them. Every baby perceives a toy differently, and it is up to them to make sense of the toy their way.
- The educational toys mentioned in this list are designed to sharpen certain skills in kids. You can pick a toy based on the skill that is lacking and thus requires more effort in development.
What Type Of Toys Can Help With Your Baby’s Education?
Toy brands design toys to suit a certain age group of babies and certain developmental qualities. These toys help to develop physical, social-emotional, and language skills in babies.
- Babies love to arrange their toys; hence, stack toys are very popular with kids. Stacking might help develop problem-solving skills in babies.
- Musical toys that play songs help children learn new words and phrases. These toys mostly come with flashing lights to help attract baby’s attention.
- As kids grow, they start to get more imaginative and prefer pretend-play games, where they create their own scenarios and play certain characters. Toy cars, dollhouses, soft toys, and other toys help promote imagination in kids.
- Toys like puzzles, mazes, and shape sorters help babies understand spatial relations. They also help develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Buying Guide For Educational Toys
Here are some tips for buying the best educational toys for babies.
- Start with a small set of toys and then gradually increase the baby’s toy bank. Showcasing too many toys at once to a baby could overwhelm them, and they might not be able to reap all the benefits of each toy.
- As babies grow, their needs and choices also change. Replace toys as your baby grows. Opt for toys that are suitable for your baby’s age and preferences.
- Some toys are meant to grow with the baby, which means the toy’s utility also increases as your baby grows. Buying such toys is like a long-term investment.
- Not all toys that claim to be ‘educational’ are indeed so. Always try to understand how the toy will help your baby grow and then buy it..
Babies are very adaptive and will usually play with anything you give them. But gifting your baby an educational toy can let them have fun while also polishing their developmental skills and milestones.
These are our favorite educational toys for babies. Which toy do you think your baby will enjoy playing with the most? Do share your answer in the comments section below.