Educational Toys for Preschoolers

Children learn everything about themselves and their external environment through interaction. If they interact with the proper objects, their physical and mental development accelerates.

Since toys are objects that entertain children, they increase their attention span. Therefore, toys created for educational purposes are one of the fastest ways to develop children's social and cognitive abilities.

When you want to choose toys for your child, you will find various options at the market, so it can be confusing to be sure which toy is the most educational for your child's age group. In this blog, we've compiled 15 of the top educational toys for preschoolers that support their physical and mental growth.

If you want your children to start their school life as ready as possible, let's discover top rated educational toys for preschoolers together!

What Makes a Toy Educational?

Educational toys are objects that stimulate learning while keeping children engaged through play time. Learning toys encourage children to interact, cooperate, problem solve, and explore, and many of them are designed to be used in various ways to support creativity.

They actively develop children's physical, cognitive, and social emotional skills and educate them on particular subjects. To decide whether a toy to be bought for a child is educational or not, it is necessary to decide whether the toy serves these purposes.

What Are the Best Educational Toys for Preschoolers?

Although the characteristics that make toys educational are common, children's age groups determine which toys will play the most effective role in their development. Therefore, not every educational toy can entertain children of all ages or provide an efficient education.

Here are 15 educational preschool toys that will make a difference in developing mental, physical, and social skills for your children!

1. MentalUP

Mobile devices attract the attention of children. However, not all mobile content contributes positively to your child's development. But did you know that using these devices as an educational game tool is also an option?

MentalUP is an application that acts as a holistic toy and contains 150+ educational games categorized according to your child's age group.

MentalUP's entertaining and scientific games, created in collaboration with pedagogues, academicians, and game designers, help your child develop many abilities effectively, such as hand-eye coordination, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and fine and gross motor skills, while having fun.

2. LEGO Building Blocks

Building blocks allow children to create open-ended games while stimulating their creativity, which is why they have been one of the most popular building toys for many years.

Creating complex structures with blocks improves children’s counting and measuring skills and teaches them the part-whole relationship. These kinds of educational toys make it easier for them to understand the physical nature of objects. So, you can use them as one of the most effective toys for autistic kids.

Seeing that they can build the objects they dream of will open the way for bigger dreams and more important achievements.

3. Puzzles

Completing a puzzle after struggling with patience for a long time gives children great pleasure, but puzzles also support children's development in various aspects. Because they are among the most effective creative activities for kids.

These toys offer hand-eye coordination games, so they improve creativity, strategic thinking ability, and fine motor skills. In addition to all these, these toys can help children learn certain elements visually.

Puzzles are graded by level of complexity and categorized by age groups of children. So make sure you choose classic puzzles and brain puzzle games designed for preschoolers.

4. Sand & Water Fine Motor Set

Liquids and small-grained solids such as sand are children's favorites. Kids love to play with water or in a sandbox for hours, even without toys!

This 4-piece play set from Learning Resources allows children to play with sensory bins in a way that contributes to their development. This toy helps your child improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination by performing activities such as dripping, cutting, twisting and squeezing. And of course, they are constantly having fun during this educational process.

5. Puppets

Puppets can be used by families, teachers, or children themselves to support the development of children.

Thanks to their human-like physical features, they are effective tools for delivering emotions and thoughts to children in an entertaining way. They also support the development of children's empathy, understanding, storytelling, and creativity skills.

6. Play Dough

Play dough allows children to embody whatever is in their imagination.

They radically develop children's motor skills as they need to use their fine motor skills effectively to create meaningful structures from elastic objects.

Especially when different colored ones are used together, play dough also helps the development of children's hand-eye coordination and visual skills.

7. Magna-Tiles

Magna-Tiles are one of the most enjoyable STEM education toys that offer unlimited 3D shaping. They stimulate children's creativity and three-dimensional thinking abilities.

Of course, like all shaping activity toys, they also improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. This toy can be used in the long run as it allows for the creation of highly complex structures, and are therefore, worth the investment.

8. Tracing Boards

Children need to recognize letters before they learn to write. Tracing boards teach letters in the form of cavities that children can follow with sticks or fill fluid objects in.

It develops fine motor skills as well as language, vocabulary, and pre-reading skills of children, and you can even make one at home with a little effort.

9. i-Poster My World Interactive Map

World maps attract children with their colorful structures and unique shapes. Things get so much more fun when kids can interact with these maps.

This map, which enables children to learn about the cultures, languages, landmarks and populations of different countries and gain geographical knowledge, also improves children's visual memory and fine motor skills.

With this unique interactive toy, you can expand your child's worldview while allowing them to gain a global vision.

10. Kinetic Sand

Kinetic sand grains are composed of special components that can hold tightly to each other but do not stick to the hand.

As with all sensory toys, playing with it boosts children's creativity and control over their senses, while also supporting their physical manipulation skills and fine motor skills. Let your child create their own world with castles, tunnels, and caves, while not leaving a mess to be cleaned up!

11. GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars Binoculars

Here is one of the most fun ways to satisfy kids' curiosity and encourage them to explore! The toy zooms objects for children with the help of optical lenses and allows them to notice even the smallest details.

These binoculars increase children's social and physical interaction with their environment and allow them to understand how physical laws work. As a result of this, they contribute to the development of the hand-eye coordination and thinking skills of children.

12. CozyBomB Homeschool Kindergarten Balance Board Game

This toy, which supports child development in many ways, also promises great fun.

It primarily aims to teach children the concept of weight and balance, also supports the development of their visual memory and counting and addition skills.The skills gained by this toy will enable them to make a difference during the school period, when the ability to think abstractly and the skills of making simple calculations are essential.

13. Learnabee Little Genius Kit

This all-around educational set includes three different game concepts and aims to blend science and fun in one pot.

The set fuels your child's passion for science through scientific experiments, increases their linguistic abilities with spelling exercises, and boosts their memory capacity with mini-games.

14. Magnatab Magnetic Tablet

This magnetic tablet offers a very flexible drawing structure thanks to its compact design.

While it allows children to learn letters, numbers, and shapes that they will need throughout their educational life, it also allows them to use their imagination as they wish.

15. Tricycles

Who doesn't love to ride a bike? Tricycles are traditional toys that have been used for the development and entertainment of children for many years.

They play a huge role in the development of children's gross motor abilities, and they are very effective in teaching children the concepts of speed, time, and distance.

Which Skills of Kids Are Improved With Preschool Educational Toys?

In early childhood, children's skill development continues naturally. However, skill development can be accelerated with educational kindergarten learning games, training, and toys, and they can be brought to a point much closer to their potential.

The answer to the question, "Why are educational toys good for preschoolers?" is hidden in the impact of these skills on the development of children.

With the educational toys we have listed, a significant improvement can be observed in the following skills:

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Children can improve their motor skills according to the muscle groups they use while interacting with toys. A set of building blocks develops a child's fine motor skills, while a tricycle develops gross motor skills. These skills will play a critical role in any future physical activity your child will engage in, from the most complex to the simplest.

Hand-Eye Coordination

Hand-eye coordination is a basic skill that directly affects the success rate of almost every activity for children and adults. When this ability is not developed enough, even doing daily activities, such as eating, can become quite difficult. Educational toys accelerate the development of this ability by enabling the simultaneous use of senses and motor skills.

Concentration and Thinking

Concentration and thinking abilities shape children's educational and social life. For this reason, its development is of great importance for the mental health of children. Educational toys contribute significantly to developing these skills with their think-and-do approach.

Early Mathematical Skills

Mathematical ability not only makes it easier for children to make calculations but also creates a holistic abstract thinking infrastructure. Number games, counting, and calculation-based educational toys make a significant contribution to the development of mathematical intelligence.

Language and Vocabulary

Language and vocabulary enable children to express themselves and understand others. Since humans are organization-based creatures, the development of these abilities is very important for children to work in teams and to develop themselves in the long run. Toys that offer hearing, writing, and expression activities significantly improve these skills and great choices as alphabet games for preschoolers.

Pre-Reading Skills

The ability to read and write is an indispensable requirement for the academic and intellectual development of children. And it’s never too early to start! Preliminary skills that will make it easier for children to learn to read can be acquired with educational toys.

Frequently Asked Questions About Preschool Educational Toys

Here are the most common questions about educational toys for preschoolers: