Top 20 Educational Toys for 8-9-Year-Olds
At the ages of 8 and 9, kids can reach the expected developmental milestones like improved attention span, enhanced physical coordination, and better categorization and problem solving skills. Still, not every kid experiences the same development journey. Thus, it is essential to support 8-9-year-olds' mental and physical development with appropriate educational toys for 8-9 year olds.
In this blog, we’ve aimed to help you find the best toys for 8-9 year olds and compiled the most beneficial educational toys for 8-9 years old. Throughout this blog, you will see separate lists for both 8 and 9 year olds and find answers to all your questions about educational toys. Sounds exciting, right? Let’s get started!
The 10 Best Educational Toys for 8-Year-Olds
Now that your little learner is a bigger learner with more confidence and independence than ever, they need more challenging learning toys to strengthen their physical, emotional, and mental skills. The list you are about the discover includes a variety of fun and educational learning toys supporting key developmental milestones of 8 year olds. Here are the top 10 learning toys for 8 year olds!
1. MentalUP
MentalUP is a fun and educational learning games app for kids from 7 to 12 years old. The award-winning app can be used on any smartphone, tablet, or PC and it does not include ads or any kind of inappropriate content for kids.
MentalUP offers a safe and beneficial learning environment for kids by including 150+ educational games and 240+ physical exercises. The gamified exercises within the app help kids practice their cognitive skills like attention, concentration, memory, logic, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills and help them get more active.
Download MentalUP to discover the most entertaining, scientifically-designed learning games for your 8-9 year olds! 🤩
To support your kid's mental and physical development with age-appropriate games and exercises, the only thing you need to do is provide your kids with 20 minutes of daily MentalUP time. 🥳✨
All these games are developed by academicians, pedagogues, and game designers. That’s why MentalUP is one of the best educational toys for 8-9 year olds, ever! 😊👏
2. Brain Quest - 3rd Grade Card Deck
Brain Quest is a teacher-approved card deck that is designed to strengthen kids’ classroom learning with a fast-paced card game.
The card decks include hundreds of curriculum-based exercises and questions to challenge kids in a fun way. Playing the brain quest card game improves kids' knowledge of school subjects like math, science, and language. It also affects their cognitive skills like fast thinking and linguistic intelligence positively.
3. Crayola - Paper Butterfly Science Kit
This paper butterfly science kit is a great STEM toy for 8-year-old kids. The kit includes everything needed to make 12 wicking paper butterflies along with step-by-step instructions.
By crafting the paper butterflies, kids can practice their, color recognition and fine motor skills and enhance their naturalistic skills. Kids will love creating these one-of-a-kind butterflies and displaying them wherever they want!
4. Thinkfun - Laser Maze
This laser maze board game is one of the best educational toys for 8 years old kids. Thinkfun’s beam-bending logic game comes with a laser maze board and some action cards and accessories.
The laser maze requires kids to find creative ways to solve the challenges within the maze by directing lasers to targets. Therefore, the game enhances kids' critical thinking, reasoning, and planning skills.
5. Klutz - DIY Rainbow Catcher
This STEM toy is one of the best learning toys for 8 year olds. The kit includes pieces and parts that enable kids to build a motorized rainbow catcher machine that creates rainbows.
The kit offers 8 different experiments and activities that can be made by using easily findable materials. Experimenting with this learning toy helps kids learn the science of light, optics, and rainbows. Also, the kit includes a 32-page book to reinforce the skills practiced during the experiments.
6. Smartlab - Anatomy Set
This educational anatomy set includes a squishy human body toy, 29 pieces of accessories, and a biology book to help kids learn about the human body.
Playing with this educational toy can help kids find answers to their common body function questions. It also allows kids to enhance their problem-solving skills, divergent thinking, and perseverance.
7. Vatos - Dino Egg Dig Kit
Most kids this age learn subjects like science, geology, and engineering by experimenting. Therefore, this dinosaur eggs excavation set is one of the most hands-on learning toys for 8 year olds.
The egg-digging kit includes 12 dino eggs, 12 chisels, and 12 colored dinosaur learning cards to spark kids' interest in archaeology and paleontology. The dinosaur excavation process enhances gross and fine motor skills, expands kids’ vision, and improves their categorization skills.
8. National Geographic - Hobby Rock Tumbler
This is one of the most experimental and educational toys for 8 year old kids as it enables them to turn rough rocks into beautifully polished gemstones. The kit includes the tumbler, four polishing grits, a sifter, nine types of real rough gemstones, and a detailed full-color learning guide.
Playing with this learning toy ignites kids’ interest in experimenting and improves their categorization and science skills. Also, it enables them to create their unique gem collection.
9. Doodlematic - Game Building Ki
This educational toy enables kids to transform their creative drawings into animated, playable games on mobile devices. In other words, the toy enables kids to create video games.
This toy is great for supporting kids' creativity, imaginative play, and artistic skills. The only thing kids should do is draw the game on paper, snap a picture of it, and play the animated version on a phone or a tablet via the app.
10. Fat Brain Toys - Fanciful Fairy Garden
This DIY terrarium kit is one of the best toys for 6-8 year old girls. The kit makes it easy to plant, germinate, and grow an enchanting variety of vibrant plants and flowers.
The toy is great for sparking 8-year-olds' naturalistic skills, helping them learn more about plants, flowers, and botanicals, and providing them with hours of endless educational activity.
The 10 Best Educational Toys for 9-Year-Olds
Until now, we have learned detailed information about the top educational toys for 8 year olds. Now, it is time to explore the more challenging educational toys for 9 year olds. From board games to puzzle games, through this list, you will learn what toys are good for 9 year olds. Let’s get started!
1. MentalUP
MentalUP provides the most educational games for 9 year olds. The app includes a variety of games and activities to support 9 year olds’ mental and physical development. Memory, concentration, visual, and logic games within the app strengthen kids' overall learning ability and learning development!
MentalUP is a great resource, which is also among the best apps for 9 year olds, to give kids both mental and physical fitness in their everyday life. This award-winning app is loved by 10 million users around the world and named among the best in family-friendly products by teachers and parents.
150+ learning games are developed by pedagogues and academicians… This makes MentalUP one of the most beneficial educational toys for 8-9 year olds! 🎓🙌
MentalUP is not just about entertaining. Kids improve their cognitive skills with fun games, and parents can track their kid’s performance with detailed analysis tools. 📊🎯
These tools compare your kid’s performance with his/her peers, so you can easily detect his/her strengths and sides needing improvement! 🐣
Discover MentalUP right away to discover your kid's potential and expand their skills! 🏆🌟
2. Gamewright - Forbidden Island Board Game
This board game is one of the most liked educational toys for 6-8 year olds. The forbidden island board game requires kids to work as a team to collect treasures and escape from the island before it is swallowed into the watery abyss.
Therefore, the game improves kids' teamwork skills and challenges them to use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Through playing this game, kids can learn how to think strategically and cooperate with their teammates.
3. GameMonster - Spirograph Activity Set
If you are looking for educational toys for 9 year olds or great gifts to buy, this STEM activity set might be the one you need. The spirograph kit enables kids to create 3D designs that appear to jump off the page.
From special papers to graph pads, the kit includes everything kids need to get started with their creative 3D designs. As it requires the use of both mathematical and artistic skills, it is a great option for supporting kids' spatial intelligence.
4. LEGO - Super Mario Building Set
This 354-piece LEGO set is great for kids interested in the Super Mario universe. The LEGO set can be rebuilt and combined with other LEGO sets. So it is a great option to provide kids with hours of educational activities.
This LEGO set improves kids' gross and fine motor skills, allows imaginative play, and enhances their attention, engineering, and storytelling skills.
5. Fat Brain Toys - Door Pong
This door-pong toy is a great option for getting kids more active. The toy is simple yet beneficial. You only need to attach the clamp to the top of any doorway and turn the dial to adjust the length of the string.
The door pong can be both played with multiple players or solo. It provides an engaging exercise for kids of all ages and improves their coordination, concentration, and gross and fine motor skills.
6. Winning Moves Games - Rubik’s Cube
This Rubik's cube toy is great for 9 year olds who might struggle to solve 2x2 or 3x3 Rubik’s cubes. Along with its educational benefits, it comes with many advantages. It is small and can be carried anywhere. Thus, it is a great toy to keep kids' minds active constantly.
Solving Rubik's cubes help kids develop better-thinking abilities and builds patience. It also increases the speed and memory power of their brain.
7. Learning Resources - 3D Kanoodle Puzzle Game
Kanoodle is one of the best brain games with its 3D feature. The toy comes with a book including information for a variety of different puzzle challenges. It is also a great alternative for parents who are looking for cheap toys for 9 year olds.
Playing Kanoodle can enhance kids' cognitive skills like memory, perception, attention, and processing and improve visual-spatial reasoning.
8. Ravensburger - Gravitrax Marble Run Set
This construction set is one of the most popular educational toys for 8-9 year olds. The toy requires kids to construct their tracks and power the marbles by using gravity-based elements to finish the race.
The toy has numerous cognitive benefits for 9-year-olds. It enhances logical thinking, hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, spatial awareness, and creativity.
9. Smart Kids Planet - Bubble Making Kit
This is a great STEM education toy for 9-year-olds. The magic bubble-making kit simply allows kids to make bubbles in different geometric shapes. It comes with a variety of bubble-blowing kits in different shapes and a bubble mixture.
The toy provides a fun way to teach kids about shapes and chemical reactions. So it is a great alternative to fostering kids' interest in both science and geometry.
10. Playz - Rainbow Volcano Kit
This volcano science kit is one of the most exciting and educational toys for 8-9 year olds. The kit includes a variety of components that enable kids to recreate Pompeii and learn about historical volcanoes.
The rainbow volcano kit is great for kids who like to experiment. The kit requires kids to mix colors and use chemical reactions. Therefore, it is significantly beneficial to kids' science, engineering, and chemistry skills and cause-and-effect perception.
What Makes a Toy Educational?
Clearly, there are numerous educational toys out there on the market. So to provide your kids with the most educational ones, it is better to understand what makes a toy educational for 8-9 year olds.
Educational toys aim both to entertain kids and stimulate their mental skills simultaneously. High-quality educational toys can nurture kids’ imagination, increase dexterity, build body confidence and balance, strengthen cognitive skills, and encourage self-regulation. These kinds of toys are specifically designed to challenge kids' skills and support their mental and physical development.
How to Choose the Right Educational Toys for 8-9-Year-Olds?
Now, it is time to share some tips on how to choose suitable educational toys for 8-9 year olds. By utilizing these tips, you can make sure that you provide your 8-9 year olds with the greatest educational toys.
- Pay attention to picking toys that fit your kid's abilities and interests.
- Try to choose toys that include non-toxic materials and safe pieces.
- Prioritize toys that can be played with in a variety of ways, or that are open-ended.
- Opt for toys that spark kids' creativity and enable imaginative play.
- Try to find age-appropriate toys for your kids that support their knowledge of school subjects like math, literature, science and chemistry.
- Choose toys regarding both the entertainment and educational benefits.
In addition to all of that, if you are planning to purchase an electronic toy, try to choose from ones that have a screen time limit such as MentalUP which is among the best apps for 8 year olds. Spending too much time in front of the screen can raise the risk of attention problems, anxiety, and depression. It also affects kids’ sleeping routines negatively.
If you are looking for an electronic toy alternative that provides a safe learning environment for kids by limiting screen time, you can get started with MentalUP! 😍
MentalUP offers a daily 20-minute screen limit feature. So it prevents kids from suffering from too much screen time. 💯
Also, its variety of physical exercises helps kids stay active throughout the day and supports their sleeping routines! 👟🤸
Frequently Asked Questions About Learning Toys for 8-9 Year Olds
So far, we have learned about all the hows and whys of educational toys for 8-9 year olds and discovered detailed lists including the most educational toys for both ages. Now it is time to answer the questions that can come to your mind. Here are the most common questions about educational toys for 8-9 year olds:
What is the best kind of toy for an 8-year-old?
Educational toys or learning toys that support kids' mental and physical development can be put into the “best toys” category for kids. These toys should be appropriate for 8-year-olds’ abilities and challenging enough to improve their cognitive skills.
What are the things to consider when buying toys for 8-year-olds?
It is best to consider the educational, cognitive, and developmental benefits of a toy before making a purchase. You should check if the toys are appropriate for your kid's interests and skills and read the labels carefully before buying toys.
Which skills are developed with educational toys for 8-9-year-olds?
Educational toys enhance 8-9-year-olds' cognitive skills like attention, memory, logic, recognition, and information processing. They also support kids' social and emotional development, teach them about teamwork, and boost their confidence.
What to look for when shopping for toys for 8 year olds?
You should check if the toys are beneficial enough for 8 year olds. You can look for STEM toys, puzzle toys, and card or board games that provide a stimulating experience for your kids. Also, you can search by skills and kind of intelligence that it benefits.
