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“I want this toy, mummy! And that one too. And this too! Please mommy, please!”
That is a common rant that every parent gets to hear when they visit the mall or toy store. Kids love toys. They are fascinated by them and can never have enough of them. The good news here is that the toys aren’t just for entertainment. They can be educational too, and teach the kid a thing or two.
MomJunction’s list of best educational toys for kids has just what you need to keep your child engaged in a productive way. From science, math, to electronics and engineering, we have a cool toy for different categories.
Things To Consider While Buying An Educational Toy
Before buying an educational toy, it is necessary to understand the important features of the toy. Here are a few points one must consider while buying one:
- Age-specific: The child must be able to play with the toy but at the same time it must not be too simple to play. For toddlers, you may buy something that will help enhance their motor skills. For the older kids, you can buy something more complex.
- Subject-related: For older kids, educational toys that focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) can be of help. They develop their thinking and logical skills.
- Interesting and replayable: Toddlers can play repeatedly with the same game, but older kids might get bored with the same activity. So, make sure to buy an educational toy that is fun every time the child plays with it.
Benefits Of Educational Toys
Here is how educational toys can benefit the child:
- Develop cognitive skills: Toys like number games and puzzles help develop the cognitive skills of a child. They help them to process their thoughts.
- Improve gross motor skills: Some toys, such as building blocks and stacking rings, help improve hand-eye coordination.
- Enhance creativity: Playing with educational toys help in improving the reasoning and thinking skills of the child. It also helps develop their perception of a thing or a subject.
- Develop soft skills: Board games and puzzles help a child learn to face the challenges. They also mentally strengthen them to accept failures and improve communication skills as they play such games in groups.
Science And Math Toys For Kids
Want your kid to like the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) subjects? Try getting these math and science toys for kids!
1. The Original Stomp Rocket Ultra
Stomp rocket?
Yes, you got that right. The award-winning kids’ science toy by Stomp Rocket is a cool toy that works under pressure! A fun toy that you can use outdoors, it comes with four rockets and a launcher that allows you to send the rockets into the air using the law of pressure. All that the kid needs to do is place the rocket on the launcher and stomp on the launch pad to push the rocket up into the sky!
Features: Easy to carry even on vacations, outdoor toy
Brand: Stomp Rockets
Why kids love it: Stomp Rockets are battery-free and easy to play with! What’s more, you get to jump and press the launch pad as hard as you can to send the rocket as high as they can.
Recommended age: 6+
[ Read: How To Use An Abacus To Teach Maths ]
2. Super Magnet Lab by Learning Resources
Kids are fascinated by magnets – things that are not sticky but stick to some metals! If your child loves playing with magnets as well, then get him the Super Magnet Lab. It is a STEM classroom toy that encourages problem-solving and critical thinking in kids. The kit contains magnets of different sizes that can be used to understand basic concepts such as the magnetic field, magnetic force, and poles.
Features: 124-piece magnet set with colorful marbles, bars, wands, and horseshoes
Brand: Learning Resources
Why kids love it: Magnets are fun to play with, so imagine how much fun kids can have when you give them a complete set! They’ll just love it.
Recommended age: 5+
3. Kitki Three Sticks Maths Game
One of the best learning toys for kids aged eight or more, Kitki Three Sticks introduces the concepts of geometry to children. The game helps improve a child’s critical thinking, numeracy, creativity and spatial awareness. Three Sticks is a math game but can be played by the entire family. It is challenging and forces your child to use his or her gray cells to solve the puzzle and score points.
Features: Four boards, 75 sticks in three colors, game cards and a manual
Brand: Kitki
Why kids love it: The game is challenging and makes concepts of math exciting and fun.
Recommended age: 8+
[ Read: Learning Tablets For Kids ]
4. Prime Climb by Math for Love
One of the best kids’ educational toys, Prime Climb is an award-winning STEM game that helps improve a child’s arithmetic skills. The players have to roll the dice and find their way to the board’s center by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing numbers. The game is so entertaining and engaging that your children won’t realize that they’re learning or practicing math.
Features: Requires players to use their math concepts to win the game, a dice game
Brand: Math for Love
Why kids love it: The game allows them to show off their math skills – if they aren’t that great at math, it makes them better through practice!
Recommended age: 10+
[ Read: Educational Activities For Kids ]
5. Deep Space Planetarium and Projector
Have you caught your child gazing at the night sky more often than not? Does your little girl or boy enjoy watching space-themed shows on TV? If yes, this toy is a great choice for them. One of the best astronomy toys for kids, the Deep Space Planetarium and Projector lets your child experience the wonders of space in his room! Using this toy, you can see awe-inspiring images of the galaxy, stare into the star-filled night sky or find constellations – all on the ceiling of your room!
Features: Picture projector, Planetarium simulator
Brand: Brainstorm
Why kids love it: The Deep Space planetarium is a cool toy to own – whether or not your child is a geek, he’ll love having stars right in his room!
Recommended age: 6+
Engineering Toys For Kids
Does your little kid like building things out of tins, boxes, or other materials? If you have an engineer in the making, then getting him one or more of these building toys can be a great idea.
6. Marble Runaround
Marble Runaround is a fun building toy that boosts creativity and logical thinking. The Marble Runaround by HearthSong can engage the kid for hours together. The game is about building a structure that allows the marble to roll from top to bottom without any stops in between!
Features: Wooden building blocks, marbles
Brand: HearthSong
Why kids love it: Playing with marbles can be fun, which makes this building toy interesting
Recommended age: 4+
7. Railway Station Model Making Kit by The CityBuilder
One of the finest building toys for kids, this railway station model kit contains cardboard material that will make the resultant model look as realistic as it can get. Kids can make a 3D model of the railway station with a station master’s room, a waiting room, car parking space, and a beautiful, antique exterior. You can use this station with other train sets or toys as well.
Features: The model kit uses cardboard materials to give the structure a realistic appearance.
Brand: The CityBuilder
Why kids love it: If your child loves playing with LEGOs or other building toys, she will love this one. The railway station model also goes well with any train set that your little girl or boy has.
Recommended age: 10+
[ Read: Laptop Toys For Kids ]
8. Engino Discovering Stem: Levers, Linkages & Structures Building Kit
Does your child enjoy construction or creating things such as cars, planes, buses, or machines using whatever he or she finds? Then this construction toy is sure to kindle his interest. The Engino Levers, Linkages and Structures building kit encourages his interest in the field of engineering. The building toy is complicated and suitable for older kids who have a keen interest in engineering and mechanics.
Features: Contains realistic levers, hinges and other tools that your child can use to build a structure of his imagination.
Brand: Engino
Why kids love it: This one is purely for kids who love building things and have an interest in the field of engineering.
Recommended age: 8-16+
9. Mechanix Metal – 4
The Mechanix Metal – 4 is a toy you can buy for any wannabe engineer. The Metal-4 kit is a complete DIY set that can be used to make a metal model airplane right from scratch. The Mechanix collection of DIY construction sets let the child explore the world of engineering in a small, yet meaningful way.
Features: Reusable plastic and metal components, step-by-step instruction manual
Brand: Mechanix
Why kids love it: This one is for kids who have the patience for completing challenging projects. If your child is one, they’ll simply love the kit.
Recommended age: 7+
Electronic Toys For Kids
Engineering is not just about building and construction. If your child is interested in other branches of engineering, such as robotics or electronics, then you might want to check out these educational toys for children!
10. Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 Electronics Discovery Kit
Snap Circuits Junior is a safe electronic toy that introduces the world of electronics to kids. The toy kit contains several electronic snap circuits that are easy to join and detach. Kids can build over 100 electronic projects using these circuits and experience the joy of creating a functioning gadget. The projects are easy to make and aim at making electronics an exciting field.
Features: Snap wires, grid, speakers, fuses and electric switches, no tools or soldering required to create something
Brand: Elenco
Why kids love it: Imagine how cool a kid would feel about making his own speaker, a battery light, or a fan!
[ Read: Tips To Choose Safe Toys For Kids ]
11. MudWatt STEM Kit
What would you say if we told you that your child could make or create energy from something as basic as mud?
Curious to know how? Just get the award-winning MudWatt STEM kit, and you will learn how to generate energy by feeding mud to a living power cell! As nerdy or complicated as it may sound, MudWatt STEM kit is a fun way to produce energy using the power of bacteria.
A must-have for all kids who love their science projects! With this one project, the fun toy exposes your children to a variety of scientific fields including microbiology, physics, chemistry, and engineering.
Features: MudWatt clean energy container, graphite discs, digital clock, nitrite gloves – comes with an instruction manual and MudWatt app access
Brand: MudWatt
Why kids love it: It is muddy. It is cool. It is unique. What’s there not to like here?
Recommended age: 8+
12. Cubelets Twelve
Robots are cool. What is cooler is your kid creating his own robots with this fun and easy-to-use robot blocks! The Cubelets Twelve is a set of 12 robot cubes that can be used to create robots with different functions. The cubelets encourage children to put on their thinking caps and join the blocks in any way they want to build a bigger robot. The functionality or usefulness of these robots will entirely depend on the child’s imagination.
Features: 12 cubelets or blocks, two blocks each of six different types of robotic cubes
Brand: Modular Robotics
Why kids love it: Kids are fascinated by robots. If your child has a lot of RC robots, then get him this kit, and he’ll love you all the more for it!
Recommended age: 4-15 years
Brian Development Toys For Kids
Looking for child development toys through which your kids can engage those gray cells more often? Then, get them these toys to play, and they will have no choice but to apply their brains actively!
13. Qwirkle Board Game
Qwirkle is a board game for kids and adults. It is a color or symbol matching game that helps improve a child’s ability to recognize and match symbols and colors, and planning and problem-solving skills. The game is easy to play but encourages the players to come up with tactical strategies to make complex combinations that help them win. Just have the Qwirkle tiles and the rule book handy, and you can start the game on any flat or even surface!
Features: 108 wooden tiles, drawstring bag, and rule book
Brand: MindWare
Why kids love it: The game is easy to play, and enables kids to think as well as adults.
Recommended age: 6+
[ Read: Board Games For Kids ]
14. Funskool Mastermind
One of the oldest and the best brain games for children, Mastermind by Funskool is a fun code-cracking game that can be played by both kids and adults. The game encourages reasoning and logical thinking in children as they have to keep trying to find the secret code through the process of elimination. I loved this game as a kid, and I’m sure your kid will too!
Features: Game tray, color pegs, shield to keep the code secret
Brand: Funskool
Why kids love it: It is a fun way to solve a puzzle and guess what the opponent’s code is. After all, who doesn’t want to know a secret?
Recommended age: 8+
15. Fat Brain Toys Squigz
Squiqz? What are those?
Squiqz are the coolest building toys made of silicone. Squigz come in different sizes, shapes, and color, and are safe to use too! Create anything you want, from a mobile attached to the ceiling, an animal, structure, machine, or more. The choices you have are only restricted by your imagination!
Features: 50 Squigz
Brand: Fat Brain Toys
Why kids love it: Squigz are more fun to build something with when compared to LEGOs or other building cubes! Also, the Squigz make a funny “pop” sound when detached.
Recommended age: 3+
[ Read: School Activities For Kids ]
Besides these, you can also check out other options such as Sid the Science Kid toys, John Deere toys, or other intellectual toys for kids. There are many games and toys that are both entertaining and educative, helping the child develop or learn important concepts and even skills that he or she can use at school or elsewhere. Make sure you pick the right one based on the child’s interest and educational needs as well.
What is your favorite educational toy for the kids? Have any suggestions for us?
Disclaimer: MomJunction may earn a commission when products are purchased through affiliate links given in the article. However, this partnership does not influence the editorial content featuring in our list.
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