Parents want nothing more for their children than to be happy with their life. Whatever that means for them, it certainly would take a village. In this day and age, no person cannot deny that, to some extent, parents want their children to be smart. It is understandable if you think this sounds short-minded but hear this out: smart doesn’t necessarily mean ‘book smart’ or academically gifted. Smart can be socially smart or emotionally smart too. Smart can be ‘knows how to read a room’ or ‘acknowledges the different walks of life as well.
Either way, as parents, it is an innate duty for all caring moms and dads to ensure that they give their children the best they can provide. As you research the best toys for your young minds, you might want to consider aiming for the toys that will allow your children to develop the smarts they need as they grow and find their place in this world.
This list will give parents the many options they have out there for improving their child’s development efforts, featuring toys reviewed by established publications and recommended by experts in healthcare, psychology, and childcare.
This state-of-the-art game creator allows children to turn fantasy into reality with the power of technology! The Pixicade Mobile Game Maker equips children with colored markers and special paper to transform their hand-drawn figures into actual playable video games.
The game package includes five differently-colored washable markers, a sketch pad, and two interactive books that guide children through design concepts using easy-to-follow instructions. The Pixicade Mobile Game Maker also equips children with drawing examples to give them an idea of how boundless creativity with the game maker can be.
With the versatile use case, children and their parents can create over 3600 different games with seven types of gameplay using this innovation within a few easy steps. All you need to do is draw your game on paper, take a picture, and play animated versions of the drawing through phones and even tablets. Kids can bring their own character to life through the colorful markers, take them through an obstacle-filled adventure, and help them achieve their goals by playing each game.
The Pixicade Mobile Game Maker expands a child’s creativity, art skills, engineering capabilities, and storytelling capacities by giving them an interactive learning experience.
An award-winning challenge for kids and their parents, UBTECH JIMU Robot Astrobot Series: Cosmos Kit is a buildable and codable robot that can be constructed and played with by families together.
The UBTECH JIMU Robot Astrobot Series: Cosmos Kit functions as a puzzle or build-it-yourself robot with six servo motors that work as joints and around 200 parts that fit perfectly together. As ‘JIMU’ means ‘building blocks’ in Mandarin, the robot can be built and designed by you and the kids as a bonding activity. After you finish creating your kids’ dream robot, you can use the innovative Blockly Coding to take on any challenge and program your very own robot to work through obstacles, pick up objects, manipulate light and sound effects, develop a personality, and many other features that you and your children can explore.
The robot can be controlled from an iPhone or an iPad, giving it life and the power to walk and even dance. After a deep dive into the code section, kids will be able to make use of a preset series of movements that the robot, Jimu, can act on through an easy-to-use drag-and-drop user interface.
Further, the challenging build path that the Jimu robot has is an intended feature to allow the entire family to work on the building blocks and create a fun learning environment for their learning kids.
A unique and intellectually challenging time with friends and family is at the very heart of the game called Disruptus. The game revolves around a simple yet excitingly ingenious play mechanism that pushes children to create, transform, and refine ideas or objects.
The life of the game is in the concept of disruptive thinking as it asks participants to view objects and ideas in a fun and wacky way dictated by the roll of a die. It also involves the spirit of competition as a player can only win if they collect the most points by the end of the game. The players decide on the game length by choosing a fixed number of rounds or a set length of time.
Disruptus is a versatile game that can be played independently, competitively, or even collaboratively. A game can last up to 20 minutes and is best for kids aged ten years old and up.
Hit two birds with one stone through the VTech Sit-To-Stand Learning Walker, a toy that nourishes both physique and intellect through cutting-edge technology and colorful aesthetics. The VTech Sit-To-Stand Learning Walker is a toy that functions as a standard walker that also makes use of interactive learning technology through a removable play panel that children can use on the floor. This detachable feature can transform the panel into a portable entertainment system when separated from the main walker frame.
This fun-on-the-go innovation features five piano keys that all play different exciting notes that help with child development. Research has conclusively proven the positive impact music has on growing children. Aside from creativity-inspiring musical functions, there are also fun and colorful spinning rollers, shape sorters, a toy telephone for pretend play, and buttons that light up on press that will help kids develop fine motor skills and other critical developmental facets through repetitive physical exercises and sensory explorations through the VTech Sit-To-Stand Learning Walker.
One more feature that stands out is the highly adaptable two-speed control switch on the wheels that will allow the walker to adjust according to the physical needs of your growing kids. The package comes in a plain brown box for frustration-free packaging.
The Coogam Wooden Blocks Puzzle Brain Teasers Toy is a delightful challenge for kids’ developing mental capabilities. The game consists of colorful blocks that kids can arrange in various ways. Children can still form shapes by placing the colored blocks in different ways even after the kids complete the puzzle to make it all fit perfectly together.
The entire package provides children with 40 different colored pieces that come in all sorts of shapes that fit perfectly together. Each piece is made out of natural materials, using high-quality basswood with surfaces smoothed to perfection to ensure safety. The game board is 10.6 tall, seven inches wide, and 0.39 inches thick, making it easy for children to handle the product with their smaller hands.
The game comes with a set of shape examples that children can explain through the block and color combinations available to them. The examples include images of a human, a robot, a tree, an umbrella, a flower, a pyramid, and an airplane. The kids can form these shapes using the wooden blocks and the colors assigned to each piece. This creative activity can certainly exhilarate the imagination and is therapeutic and calming for children who wish to relax.
Imagination is the limit with the STEM Master Building Toys for Kids. Providing children with highly-customizable building materials, manufactured this toy package to push your kids’ imaginations to their boundaries by giving them the chance to create whatever shape or structure they have in mind.
Perfect for the kids’ independent play or collaborative bonding moments between you and your little Einstein, the STEM Master Building Toys for Kids package includes building blocks, balls, wheels, and connectors children may use for all sorts of construction fun.
Using the versatile building blocks and materials that come with the package, you and the kids can create animal shapes, buildings, and even structures like bridges and tunnels for pretend play. Such expressions of creativity improve reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills through entertaining and equally educational play.
The STEM Master Building Toys for Kids comes with 42 different sample designs that you can explore with the kids yourself. This way, you can get started with your building and construction fun early. The sample designs range from beginner, intermediate, and advanced builds that your kids can try too.
More than just a toy, the Wonder Workshop Dot and Dash Robot Wonder Pack – Coding Robot for Kids is an award-winning instrument for learning that educators use in over 20,000 different classrooms.
The wonder pack provides children and classrooms with state-of-the-art Dot and Dash robots, building brick connectors, charging cords, a tow hook, a bulldozer bar, a launcher, some balls, target stickers, a xylophone, a pair of bunny ears, and a tail to complete the set.
Professionals widely recognize Dot and Dash as effective instruments for learning. Dot and Dash are the cutting-edge bots that come with the wonder pack as incredible tools for teaching children about coding. Experts use innovative bots to keep children engaged as they learn about introductory coding concepts all over the world.
The wonder pack robots are perfect for children preparing to take on coding classes for middle school and high school as they help sharpen children’s critical thinking skills and logic – two essential pillars for learning about programming.
To get Dash and Dot to sing, dance, beat obstacles, communicate with each other, collaborate to overcome challenges, and respond to voice commands, you may download five free apps that are available for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire 8 and above. These apps contain free challenges that your kids can explore with Dash and Dot to learn and play with hundreds of hours worth of content. To take the joy of play even further, attachments that come with the toy allow kids to customize their wonder pack bots and transform them into a wide range of stuff like bulldozers and even catapults.
Highlighting the best that Montessori learning can provide, a bona fide Montessori school educator designed the Little Partners Kids Learning Tower to empower the bond between children and parents.
The Little Partners Kids Learning Tower lifts your kids to kitchen counter height so they can interact with their parents as they go about their daily routines. This novelty provides children with the opportunity to explore their moms’ and dads’ tasks and help out safely.
There is nothing to worry about, too, as not only did this unique innovation pass and meet all government safety standards but the folks at Little Partners, going the extra mile, secured the Greenguard Gold Certification that certified the Little Partners Kids Learning Tower as an instrument forwarding and contributing to a cleaner and fresher indoor air for a healthier environment.
This extraordinary step stool can support up to a whopping 250lbs. Parents and children can adjust its height to four different levels that can adapt to your children’s needs as they grow. Safety rails and handholds are available for kids, encouraging safety as they develop independence to provide extra security.
This seemingly physics-defying family game is a fun activity for the whole gang! Developed by industry leaders, Melissa & Doug, Suspend is a game that develops hand-eye coordination through its simple game mechanic that makes use of 24 game rods, a wooden base, four frame rods, a colored die, and a wooden connector.
Its unique mechanics has made it an award-winning addition to the playroom. Designed for one to four players, this must-have novelty from Melissa & Doug is an exciting game that will strengthen the bond of the group and develop their social and emotional capacities along the way.
The game also develops cognitive skills, problem-solving capacities, and interpersonal capabilities as it facilitates a competitive environment that will have children and their playmates – be it their family or friends – engaging and interacting with each other as they attempt to outplay each other. Overall, the Melissa & Doug Suspend Family Game nourishes a well-rounded playtime that boosts physical, mental, social, and emotional abilities.
Designed for younger kids who have a lot of questions about the world, the Wooden Solar System Puzzle is an excellent toy that can give them a glimpse of the vast unknown out there.
Learning about the solar system is an effective way for children to become curious and explore and get them excited about STEM-related fields. It ignites imaginations and helps build a fascination for the sciences.
The wooden puzzle features eight planets in the solar system and the sun. Complete with labels of the planet names, the goal is to teach kids about planets and their locations in reference to Earth and the sun.
Taking the form of one of the most basic toys ever to exist, blocks, the Cubelets Six Robot Blocks innovates the winning formula that has persisted for centuries by adding a technological element to the mix.
Advancing the concept of the basic blocks, each cutting-edge cube serves a unique function. These functions range from motors to sensors. By pairing the cubes together and integrating their assigned functions, you and the kids can venture through the many combinations available to create working mini-robots.
One of the main lessons this toy carries is cause and effect. Positioning cubes with different functions in varied positions for each combination changes the overall mechanics of the toy. Imagine putting a motor block in the middle of a specific variety; since the motor is in the middle, the mini robot you made will likely move forward or straight. In contrast, if you put this motor block somewhere on the side of the mini robot you made, the robot will probably move in circles.
But perhaps the most innovative feature of the Cubelets Six Robot Blocks is the block with the Bluetooth function. This novelty lets kids practice fundamental coding concepts through easy drag-and-drop interfaces that they can access through phones.
One of the Cubelets also adds Bluetooth functionality, meaning kids can get some coding experience via a phone or tablet in a drag-and-drop interface. To get a general idea of how each of the cubes interacts, the toy comes with robot recipe cards to get you and the kids’ exploration for combinations started.
The Learning Journey: Match It! – Spelling is a fantastic way to get your kids started on learning about spelling, writing, and language early on. Through the visually exciting puzzles and resources packaged within this educational ensemble, parents can now keep their little ones engaged through an interactive learning experience.
This novelty provides kids and their parents with a collection of puzzles that can help foster a learning environment that guides children to develop early reading skills such as letter recognition, word formation, and spelling. Putting the puzzles together reveals a word and a picture that the kids can learn. The visual constitution of the puzzle greatly helps as each word that children can complete through several pieces due to being accompanied by an image that reflects the subject of the text. This compelling visual design helps children connect the image and the meaning of the text so they can remember each word early on.
The words, divided and distributed through many pieces, are strategically sectioned to teach children how to read. Piecing together the puzzles is a challenging process as the pieces will only fit together if all the elements of the word are correct. Solving each challenge can boost your kids’ confidence and encourage them to have a positive approach to literacy exercises.
Dexterity and imagination are the two main focuses of the Coogam Wooden Geoboard as it challenges curious children to create shapes and patterns using rubber bands. The process of creating the body is an effective physical exercise that enhances hand-eye coordination and motor skills while efficiently stimulating kids’ imagination, spatial recognition, and problem-solving skills at the same time.
There are a number of ways to play with the Coogam Wooden Geoboard. Your kids can either use the pattern cards available that show 35 varying shapes that children explore through application, or they can also create shapes and patterns of their own.
The different colors that the rubber bands come in also help expand the possibilities for creativity to take over. The colorful rubber bands can serve as a tool to make more color-dynamic designs that are more exciting and stimulating for the children who play.
The Coogam Wooden Geoboard package comes with a geometric board and 35 pattern cards for kids and parents to explore. A single pack of latex bands is more than enough to create hours and hours of fun through this entertaining yet educational toy.
With enough pieces to build a community of colorful blocks, the Best Choice Products 110-Piece Kids Colorful Magnetic Tiles has around 110 colorful pieces that can be used to create a wide range of structures like tunnels and bridges to houses and towers.
This product made structuring and construction easy for kids as well, as each block can be altered quickly through magnets that can be detached effortlessly. With the many shapes and sizes of the blocks available for your children’s construction and building pursuits, kids will be able to craft the structures and buildings they have in mind. The manufacturers round off the edges of each of the blocks to eliminate sharp corners and keep children safe as they play and reduce the possibility of injury.
Playing with this rendition of the classic building blocks is sure to enhance a developing child’s fine motor skills, color and shape recognition, and expand their imagination. The magnetic tiles from the Best Choice Products 110-Piece Kids Colorful Magnetic Tiles are versatile and can be mixed in with other magnet-based building blocks available in the playroom for even more building combinations and creative possibilities.
Sometimes, children just need a way to find a way to express themselves, and on many occasions, art offers the form of expression that they need to make them feel heard and understood. The ORSEN LCD Writing Tablet is a fantastic art innovation that children can use to express their thoughts and feeling about anything at all in a creative and artistic way.
Adopting state-of-the-art LCD pressure-sensitive innovations, the ORSEN LCD Writing Tablet has a 10-inch sizeable colored screen that empowers children to have their art seen as the technology helps in easy viewing. As eye health has become one of the leading concerns for technologically based products, the ORSEN LCD Writing Tablet makes use of an LCD screen and writing board that has no radiation or glare so children can freely and safely express their creativity for long periods of time without having to experience any discomfort.
One of the most intriguing functions available to kids, as they use the ORSEN LCD Writing Tablet, is the dynamic touch sensitivity. Writing on the LCD table is even smoother than writing on actual paper. The thickness of the ink can even be affected by the pressure applied on the stylus as kids push down on the screen during their art activities.
It goes without saying, the writing tablet can be with your children at all times. It can keep them occupied in the airport, the grocery, the car, and wherever you may go because of its long battery life that can last for up to six months. It is exceptionally portable, being lightweight at 150 grams despite being 10 inches long. The people at ORSEN have also made sure that the writing table can withstand the rigors of exciting play, so they designed the writing table to be anti-shock and anti-fall, making it an excellent option for children at least three years of age.
A product from one of the world’s top brain games and puzzles manufacturers, the ThinkFun 44001006 Gravity Maze Marble is an innovative and challenging twist to typical building blocks that develops critical thinking skills, recognition of cause, and effect, and many other physical aspects of growth.
Considered a creative way to enhance logic, this game makes use of exciting marble races. The product is a STEM toy that sharpens spatial reasoning capabilities, and planning capacities, and develops basic engineering and building skills.
The package comes with 60 challenges that have differing levels from beginner to expert that kids can explore for themselves through an available game grid, nine towers, a target piece, and three marbles.
Music is an essential element of child development. According to studies and research on the impacts that music has on learning, children who are exposed to musical activities early on grow to become more imaginative individuals with improved physical, mental, social, and emotional capacities.
It has also been discovered, through the same studies, that the positive impact of music is heightened by participation and interaction with the music playing, be it through singing along, clapping to the beat, and even dancing to the melodies.
The 35-Piece Super Player Rhythm Set is an excellent music package that encourages and provides resources that can help children stay engaged with musical activities and nurture their interest in auditory art.
To take the experience to the next level, the 15-Piece Super Player Rhythm Set has enough instruments to have friends over and create a mini band. Collaborative activities with kids of the same age or even with parents can improve a child’s social and emotional skills.
If you or your kids have seen the Iron Man or Avenger movies, it’s pretty likely that you see a resemblance between Tony Stark’s claw lab assistant and the HEXBUG VEX Motorized Robotic Arm because they virtually work the same way.
The HEXBUG VEX Motorized Robotic Arm is a working helping hand that can move and picks up objects in four degrees of freedom. Controlled with a remote control, the robotic arm can rotate a complete 360 degrees and can execute complex and refined tasks like a natural person’s hand.
The robotic arm, at first, is a build-it-yourself toy that is exciting in itself. Once you finish building the claw, your children can explore the many ways the robotic arm works by taking it through a gauntlet of tests that will challenge and push the machine to its limits. The arm is capable of lifting a small object up to 14 inches high and turning a complete 360 degrees. Its claws are refined and can rotate objects left and right.
Be it for the classic classroom setup or the homeschool setting, Sight Words Bingo – Language Building Skill Game for Home or Classroom is an excellent way to teach kids about words in a way that will keep them engaged and entertained as they learn.
Taking the best elements of the classic bingo, the game makes use of words instead of numbers to teach kids about the most commonly used words in the English language. Through the excitement that comes with the ageless bingo game mechanics, kids are kept on their toes as they scramble to find the words that the leader calls out.
The spirit of competition heightens kids’ learning abilities that help them recognize words. As the leader continues calling the words, they task the kids to find the exact text on their cards and fill them out with red chips to cover the spaces needed to win. Once they complete a pattern and fill up the areas they need, they can shout “Bingo!”
As mentioned at the very start of the article, smartness comes in all sorts of ways. Empathy, or an understanding of the emotional state of another person, is one form of smartness, falling under emotional capacities.
Developers initially designed the game for the development of navigational aid for the blind – but creator Ilana Ben-Ari found so much more. The game involves blindfolding players. The players then need to solve a puzzle game that, in TWENTY ONE TOYS’ words, can only be solved when players learn to understand each other.
Despite its simple premise and game mechanics, the lessons that you can teach your kids through this game are essential and profound. The challenge lies in not being able to see anything. The game will task the players to work together in configuring the pieces in a specific shape and help their partners mimic the process afterward through verbal descriptions only.
The Empathy Toy is an award-winning educational tool that imparts emotional intelligence and is used by thousands of educators, coaches, and teams around the globe.
The best way to teach children about decomposition and the environment is to have them see important concepts for themselves. Through the Educational Insights See-Through Compost Container, parents or teachers can teach children about the environment in a visual way and through lessons grounded on first-hand experience.
The Educational Insights See-Through Compost Container provides parents with the opportunity to teach their children about eco-friendly concepts in the home or classroom setup. Through this experiment, kids can learn about decomposition, composting, life cycles, and environmental science.
Kids can see the entire decomposition process through the transparent containers before their very eyes. The containers are clear, separate, and aerated so they can compare the effects among three different materials.
Aside from the plastic compartments, the package includes three thermometers and a product guide that can help parents execute the experiment for their children, facts they can read to the kids, and other science project ideas.
Creators designed the STEM-based educational toy for curious preschoolers who are ready to learn more about critical thinking, logic, and cause and effect. With dancing lights that match fun music-playing capabilities, the Fisher-Price Think & Learn Code-a-Pillar Toy is a full sensory experience whose educational properties owe its success to technology.
Kids can rearrange the positions of each segment of the Code-a-Pillar to change the moving toy’s course as it moves around the playroom, playing music and putting on a quality lights display for the users. Designers equipped the head of the code-a-pillar with a motor that powers the toy’s movement. The way the segments affect the movement and course prepares toddlers with the fundamental skills that they need to develop a programmer’s mindset. The toy reinforces a child’s sequencing skills, reasoning, persistence for discovery, memory, and willingness to experiment to help them grow as programmer-minded youth.
The entire package includes one motorized head and eight segments that users can connect to the head to form a considerably extensive robot caterpillar. Positioning the segments in different orders can drastically affect the robot caterpillar’s movement, so the kids can explore other ways to manipulate its movement.
Developed by a team of engineers and scientists who have a passion for creating DIY projects and contributing to the efforts of enhancing children’s educational experience, XWorkbox developed the DIY Car STEM Kit to help kids reach their full potential.
This DIY Car STEM Kit is an innovation powered by the light of the sun. Making use of cutting-edge technology, the toy car utilizes a powerful solar panel that’s strong enough to propel a car forward. These solar panels capture the sun’s light and convert it into usable energy for the remote-controlled car.
Kids can play with the RC car from afar as the DIY Car STEM Kit comes with a specialized transmitter in the form of a remote. Before the kids get to play with the toy car, they have to start by building the car itself; a fun activity that the kids can do themselves for excellent independent play or with you and the family to strengthen the familial bond that you share.
Nothing develops an appreciation for the spoken word more than traditional poetry books. In comparison to some of the highly technological recommendations in this list, A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems Paperback takes a more conventional approach to teach kids – using books to familiarize them with the beauty of poetry.
With images accompanying the book’s text, the book serves both the eyes and the minds of its young readers. The book also contains guidelines, tips, and inspiration that can help your children write their own poems.
The book houses a total of 30 poems from the world’s best visual poets in this particular volume. The best of John Hollander, Emmett Williams, Maureen W. Armour, and Douglas Florian is included in the collection for kids to enjoy, learn, and analyze to become better readers and writers.
The Miniland Educational – ABC Monster Game is an incredible innovation that innovators specially designed to teach children about word formation, spelling, and language in general. The game mechanics are simple: you and the kids will feed the monster with letters that, once placed inside the monsters’ mouths, slide through the toy where they are arranged to form actual words.
The game is versatile, and kids can play with it in a variety of ways and game modes, all of which impart lessons on reading and writing. The Miniland Educational – ABC Monster Game comes with one monster, 48 letter discs, 30 game cards, a teaching guide, and a storage bag for easy storage and safekeeping. Designers colored the discs in bright visuals that make for an exciting overall aesthetic and are crafted with high-quality and safe materials to ensure a secure playtime for you and your kids.
Miniland, the manufacturer of this educational and entertaining novelty, adhered to the strict safety guidelines of the European Union to keep parents and educators at ease as they play.
The SHASHIBO – The Shape-Shifting Box is a unique award-winning toy that takes the typical puzzle box and transforms it into an innovative toy that can be molded into over 70 different shapes.
This fantastic flexibility is possible only because of the 36 different rare earth metals used to create the SHASHIBO – The Shape-Shifting Box. Having multiple shape-shifting boxes can take the fun to the next level as it opens the possibilities to even more shapes and structures that children can make. By combining several cubes together, kids can build more extensive, more complex structures through its string internal magnet features and allow players to integrate the toy with other shape-shifting boxes.
An ever-expanding library is available in the free Fun in Motion app that’s available for iOS and Android devices. This library contains information and guides that will help children understand the toy and SHASHIBO better.
This toy has gained widespread renown because of its fun, therapeutic, and STEAM-filled use case. It makes use of artistry, geometric concepts, and magnets to keep children engaged and curious as they explore the many shapes that the SHASHIBO – The Shape-Shifting Box can take.
There are 12 different boxes available in the market, each complementing the other boxes in terms of the shapes, sculptures, and structures that kids can form when put together. When you and your kids finally collect all 12 boxes, there will be limitless patterns and forms to explore and connect.
Kaleidoscopes are visual instruments that use reflections to create unique symmetrical patterns in a small device. The Hygloss Products Kaleidoscope Kit For Kids give you and your kids the opportunity to create a kaleidoscope of your own and manipulate the colors that you see through the device. Perhaps through this innovative DIY toy, you also learn something curious about how a kaleidoscope works.
Watching the colors change as kids move the kaleidoscope is a fun activity for school or at home. The Hygloss Products Kaleidoscope Kit For Kids can create up to 12 kaleidoscopes that your children can use to share a unique visual experience with friends or family. Each kaleidoscope measures up to a quarter-inch short of seven inches long and just over an inch and a half in diameter.
Developers made the entire kit with white tubes, mirrors, eyeholes, chambers with lenses, colorful transparent tiles, and a detailed set of instructions for putting together the kaleidoscope. With everything you and your kids need to make their own kaleidoscope here, the kitt can facilitate learning that improves creativity and imagination. Through the beautiful patterns that the colorful tiles make, they will be able to learn about patterns, color combinations, and the science behind reflections.
The assembly itself is just as fun as the complete unit, too, as they can customize the colors to their liking.
Versatility is at the core of the KNOP KNOP Caterpillar as it introduces two primary ways to play with one innovative product.
The overall design of this multi-award-winning toy revolves around the fact that interests change as kids grow older. Children eventually develop interests and passions. Due to such developments, developers designed this novelty to empower a growing toddler’s individual freedom. The KNOP KNOP Caterpillar has three main functions as a toy: an animal, a gadget, and a toy for transport.
This toy kit functions as a building kit that can be structured to become a variety of shapes. This building kit function is a classic child development learning instrument that provides the same benefits as the standard building blocks and more. As a building kit, users can manipulate the components to become a caterpillar or even other animals. Due to the soft materials that make up the building blocks, the animals formed using the building blocks double as soft toys that children can hold as they sleep at night or comfort them in times of agitation.
What’s terrific about the KNOP KNOP Caterpillar is that the high-quality materials that make the building blocks are soft enough to make the animal shapes comforting and huggable but, at the same time, are able to maintain structural integrity to allow children to explore engineering and design builds through the very same toy.
Helping toddlers learn and develop language, reading, writing, and spelling skills since the 80s is the classic Speak and Spell Electronic Game. An effective educational toy for nearly half a century, the timeless Speak and Spell is still a staple in households as language guides for growing toddlers.
In fact, the Speak and Spell was the first educational toy ever to be produced to help children learn over 200 commonly misspelled words through the use of a speech synthesizer. There’s much history to this toy as it has helped generations of children over the course of its 40-years prevalence.
Best for children around the age of seven, the toy is portable and can be played with at the park, the school, and even at home. The toy is powered by three AA batteries so that it can be activated without the hassle of wires.
Put your deductive skills to the test with your kids by playing Mastermind Game: The Strategy Game of Codemaker vs. Codebreaker, a game that makes use of color and logic for educational fun. Sharpen your kids’ critical thinking, problem-solving skills, deductive reasoning, and mental fortitude through a spirited and strategic game of Mastermind.
Using the colorful buttons, take turns setting a secret code that the opposing forces will attempt to decode. With a Fast, simple, and challenging game mechanic, Mastermind has been one of the best-selling games of all time.
There are 2000 possible combinations to choose from, so codes can be different each time it’s played. Best played by two players, the game is most appropriate for teaching children about eight years of age.
Very few toys can match the natural charm of the KAPLA Owl Case. Elegant and made with natural wood, you and your kids can start building the KAPLA owl using 120-color specific and sturdy KAPLA planks. The KAPLA Owl Case has a sophisticated puzzle design that musters the simple mechanism of wood fitting perfectly with other wood.
The pinewood used to make KAPLA plans are sturdy pine wood from the South of France and are sturdy and robust, ready to be used for building the KAPLA Owl. The build kit comes with detailed step-by-step instructions for making the animal model.
Kids can store the KAPLA planks in a simple wooden storage case equipped with a sliding lid for easy access. Instructions are printed on the back of the lid, and the planks are painted in colors that correspond to the parts of the KAPLA owl. This build kit is sturdy, durable, and made to last as it houses 120 planks. In total, there are 46 natural planks, 26 dark blue planks, 25 light blue planks, 12 white planks, six yellow planks, and three orange planks. Aside from the KAPLA Owl, you and the kids can also build other shapes and structures using these blocks to enhance and boost creativity and imagination.
Each KAPLA plank measures about 4.5 x 1 x .25 inches and does not make use of glue, screw, clips, and other synthetic strengtheners; just pure, unadulterated wood fitting perfectly amongst each other.
This brightly colored educational device is the LeapFrog 2-in-1 LeapTop Touch, a state-of-the-art educational tool that makes learning ABCs and 123s fun and entertaining! This product has a two-pronged function that allows children to convert the laptop into a tablet of their own.
Aside from the fundamentals like the alphabet and numbers, the Leapfrog 2-in-1 LeapTop Touch also has games and music that children will surely enjoy. The laptop model is the total package, boasting a keyboard colored brightly with hues that children find fun and exciting. With a quick fold and a swivel, kids can access the more portable tablet mode.
The Leapfrog 2-in-1 LeapTop Touch can also be an endless source of open-ended play as kids can pretend like they’re going to work with their parents by carrying the unit around. They can also pretend to be hard at work as they email Scout.
The LeapFrog 2-in-1 LeapTop Touch also houses 26 different animal animations that children can enjoy watching and games that teach children about essential building blocks like counting, the alphabet, music, and messaging.
Designer for learning and growing toddlers, this novelty is equipped with a take-along handle that makes carrying easier for kids’ developing bodies.
One of the most important virtues that Montessori learning imparts is realism. Kids, at a young age, need to be grounded on reality before they expand and let their imaginations let loose. An excellent way for them to develop a recognition of the world they live in is by introducing the concept of a globe early on.
A globe introduces your kids to the real world – the planet they live on. The Educational World Globe – Globe of The World with Stand and Magnifying Glass is a perfect instrument to teach kids about important geographical information.
This educational globe has a highly-accurate design that exhibits boundaries between nations, cities, and other elements with laser precision. To fully appreciate the details that come with the excellent work put into its manufacturing, the creators equipped the globe with a magnifying glass that highlights the incredible handiwork exerted into its creation.
Crafted with top-shelf and sturdy materials, the visionaries behind this product made the globe last for generations, designed to teach thousands of minds for years to come. The sphere is durable and was patined with non-toxic, waterproof, and anti-scratch coating to ensure kids’ safety as they study the world.
The globe comes in two different sizes; 10 inches and 12 inches. It is easy to assemble straight off the package as the arc and base come separately. All that users need to do is to attach the components and put the globe together, and you’re ready to go.
One of the most prominent child development toys in the modern era is the Magna Tiles, an innovation that allows children to expand the boundaries of their imagination by providing easy-to-manipulate building blocks that can construct a wide array of structures through the novelty of their magnetic features.
Magna Tiles nurture children’s growth during playtime by using drawing from important lessons on science, math, engineering, and art. The product gives kids the chance to explore all sorts of 3D buildings through magnetic tiles that broaden the construction and engineering options available to them as they play.
This build kit consists of 100 translucent and brightly colored squares and triangles that come in different sizes. In total, there are four large squares and 50 small squares, 20 equilateral, 11 right, and 15 isosceles triangles.
Exploring how these shapes interact with each other sparks hours and hours of fun that enhances children’s boundless creativities and imagination while developing their math, science, spatial, and tactile skills simultaneously.
A STEAM-approved innovation, Magna-Tiles 100-Piece Clear Colors Set is durable and ready to bring joy to children for years on end. The novelty is most beneficial for children around three years old.
Introducing a complex concept, like lessons on electrical circuits, to children certainly is anything but easy. But with the Snap Circuits Junior, not only is it made easy but amazingly fun!
Snap Circuits Junior is an excellent educational instrument for teaching children about electrical circuits through hands-on and practical experience. By playing with a build kit that simulates how circuits work that can bring over 100 working circuit projects to life, kids can use the 30+ electronic parts that snap together without any tools at all!
The build kit includes a total of 32 electrical components that range from snap wires, slide switches, an alarm circuit, a speaker, and a music integrated circuit, all of which are numbered and color-coded, so children know what they’re for and what they do! The package also comes with a plastic grid and a project manual that can teach you and your kids how to build over 100 different and fully functional electronic projects!
Kids can even make working models of photosensors, blinking lights, sirens, and even a radio! The toy is best for children eight years of age and is a STEM-approved innovation. Adult supervision is, of course, required.
CNBC dubbed this toy “the future of dollhouses.” The mechanics of Basic Roominate revolves around basic engineering and design, a STEM toy that encourages children to create the dollhouse of their dreams.
With the materials available through the Basic Roominate kit, kids will be able to create structures and design rooms better than run-off-the-mill and standardized dollhouses available in the market. Experts believe that early exposure to this STEM exercise improves children’s problem-solving skills and develops spatial skills as well.
The kit equips kids with materials for building a variety of designs and structures like playgrounds, dollhouses, and even merry-go-rounds. A capacity for intuitive circuit building is also integrated into the kit to bring realistic and dynamic creations to life. Modular building pieces and multiple kits enhance the play experience even further as they allow more elaborate structures and more possibilities for more comprehensive options to build.
Take your ordinary building and stacking toys to the next level by adding an element of sophistication through the Marble Genius Marble Run Super Set, an innovative and refreshing upgrade from the typical block games children enjoy.
Using 85 see-through marble run pipes, tunnels, funnels, tubes, and pieces, a grand marble race can be executed in complete visibility. Have your kids build the ultimate race track using the many components available through the Marble Genius Marble Run Super Set. All the functional parts are sturdy and easy to connect together, so children can build the pieces into structures that they find challenging for a marble race.
The Marble Genius Marble Run Starter Set contains a total of 60 different pieces that kids can build into the race track. If you’re looking for a bit more thrill and more options to use for the competitive arena, an Extreme Set that has 125 pieces, and a Booster Set is also available and can add 20 details & nine Accessory Sets.
Sometimes, the most effective means to enhance child development is the most prominent way to do so. Chess sets have been around for developing children to play with for a long time. Its classic game mechanic has passed beyond any need for recognition as one of the world’s oldest and best strategy games.
For learning children, who learn through the senses that they have, it’s crucial that when they play with toys, they receive a complete learning experience that stimulates not only one facet of development but many at the same time. The Woodenland Chess and Checkers Board Game is a prime example of a toy that provides mental exercise and sensory experiences through its visually stimulating natural design and texture that was smoothed to perfection.
The 3-in-1 Chess board packages together 30 checkers pieces, 16 white chess pieces, 16 black chess pieces, two dice, a 12-inch by 12-inch chessboard, and a storage bag. The educational kit provides children with options to choose from for the day’s playtime. The boards and pieces included in the Woodenland Chess and Checkers Board Game consist of high-quality wood, which experts smoothed to provide an excellent tactile experience and ensure children’s safety.
The chessboard is foldable, compact, and can be stored in a bag so the kids can bring it everywhere they may want to go. Playing with friends can improve social and emotional skills and make them comfortable interacting with kids their age.
True to the Leapfrog brand, the Leapfrog 80 | The 100 Words Book is an innovative and compelling educational toy for toddlers and kids. By meeting with learning friends Turtle, Tiger, and Monkey, children are taken through a wondrous adventure of exploration and learning through the 100 Words Book.
Specifically designed to keep learners engaged as they build their vocabulary in English and Spanish, the learning friends will take your children through 100 age-appropriate words that experts and professionals recommend for growing kids.
The words taught through the book fall under categories like pets, animals, food, mealtime, colors, activities, opposites, outside, vehicles, clothes, the body, and fruits. What makes the Leapfrog 80 | The 100 Words Book innovative is its ability to convert text to speech. Touching the words on the page activates audio from the device that teaches the listeners how to say the words, exciting sound effects, and fun facts about the word that they pressed.
The light-up star button, when pressed, plays two different learning songs, too. Children can hear every element in the book, ranging from words to songs, and even instructions in both English and Spanish to ensure a complete bilingual experience.
Math is at the very core of this game’s mechanics as CoolToys Monkey Balance Cool Math Game for Girls & Boys teaches its players basic counting and fundamental math concepts that children need for future educational ventures.
CoolToys Monkey Balance Cool Math Game for Girls & Boys encourages information retention by using exhilarating multi-level math games that excite and engage curious children. The toy is perfect for educational activities at school or at home as it is most effective for learners around three years old. As the Monkey Balance toy is easy to set up and assemble, the educational experience can exist in all sorts of spaces like at schools, nurseries, tutoring sessions, and of course, in the household playrooms.
This CoolToys Monkey Balance Cool Math Game for Girls & Boys consists of 65 components that include 19 monkeys, numbers that go from one through 30, 30 double-sided cards, a monkey scale, its base, two-scale pans, and a comprehensive guide that has the instructions for the game and its mechanics.
Exercise the kids’ counting skills and accelerate their growth in the field of mathematics by using the Monkey Balance toy that research has proven to strengthen memory through interactive play that helps develop fine motor skills. A well-rounded option for improving math skills for both boys and abilities.
The beauty of the hand2mind Numberblocks MathLink Cubes 1-10 Activity Set is its ability to visualize mathematical processes and numbers for children who are still in the middle of understanding basic math concepts.
By using fun characters, Numberblocks helps children gain a better understanding of how numbers work in an interactive way that will keep them engaged and excited for the day’s lessons.
Riding on the successful showing of the Numberblock characters to keep ch children thrilled for mathematical learning, the award-winning show from the British Broadcast Channel, or BBC, the toy enlivens playtime by having the kids create their own Numberblocks characters through the building blocks that come with the activity set called the MathLink Cubes.
Using the building blocks, children can build Numberblocks characters from One all the way through to Ten, so they can follow the show and or make characters of their own. The learning activities that come with the activity set are all connected to the shows on TV, all of which can be done through the 100 MathLink cubes, 59 faceplates, 54 stickers, 11 numberings, 11 character cards, 15 double-sided Write ‘N’ Wipe Activity Cards, a stand for zero, and a single activity guide.
Kids are known to absolutely love the accurate depiction of the Numberblocks, as reviews rave about the excellent integration between the toy and the TV show. Parents have shared that their kids have instantly recognized the faces on the blocks, keeping them engaged as they learn about math without them even realizing it.
The My Little Farm Interactive 1.25 Ft Tall Felt Playhouse and Board is a terrific STEM-powered toy that gives priority to early language and vocabulary development through exciting visuals and superior tactile quality.
Childcare experts have acknowledged this toy’s activity for therapeutic purposes and are clinically proven to be effective in helping kids with special needs, notably winning awards and being endorsed by the Center for Autism Related Disorders and Autism Live.
The My Little Farm toys include eight visually stunning panels that illustrate daily farm life. Each panel is reversible and can show another set of drawings that reveal a barn interior and fun outdoor images.
The My Little Farm Interactive 1.25 Ft Tall Felt Playhouse and Board comes with 32 felt pieces that match the creative farm theme. Developers designed these felt pieces to impart important lessons on numbers or quantity, colors, shapes, and sizes. A pamphlet that can help parents facilitate play and teach children early language lessons through this toy also comes with the package, paired with recommendations for strengthening activities to facilitate complete physical and mental development.
Unleash your kids’ inner Stephen Spielberg through the KLUTZ Lego Make Your Own Movie Activity Kit, a lego masterpiece specially designed to nurture your kids’ moviemaking passions through educational exercises that come with playing with the STEAM masterpiece that is LEGO.
This toy works best hand in hand with stop-motion applications available and readily accessible through free apps that experts developed for phones and tablets. Through such technological developments, animation has become an accessible art. Help your kids expand your creativity through this lego kit and by telling stories through stop-motion animation that improve creativity and develop their social and emotional capacities.
To give your children some inspiration for their masterpiece in the making, the KLUTZ Lego Make Your Own Movie Activity Kit comes with a 78-paged book of things that they can explore themselves, 36 official lego mini-figures, props, foldout backgrounds that they can use to establish settings, and punch-out animation frames.
The KLUTZ Lego Make Your Own Movie Activity Kit is so easy to use your children will be shooting movies left and right in no time, expanding their creativity in the process and learning the many techniques of filmmaking at a young age.
A highly-acclaimed therapeutic toy for kids who need to calm themselves, the hand2mind Mindful Maze Boards has proven its mettle in practical and clinical use as a resource that helps children build social and emotional skills. Experts have used this toy clinically as an instrument for alleviating anxiety by providing guidance through cues and physical objects that aid children through breathing exercises.
A proven therapy toy, the hand2mind Mindful Maze Boards, experts packaged the toy with three double-sided mindful maze boards. The game includes a finger tracing element that helps kids pace their breathing. This unique feature makes the maze boards excellent sensory toys for occupational therapy activities for kids who need to learn how to calm themselves.
Experts designed each mindful maze board in unique ways to give kids a different experience as they move from one panel to the next. The difference in the designs creates varied breathing exercises tailored for distinct situations.
A meaningful life skill that children need to learn early on in life is reading the calendar. Through the Melissa & Doug My Magnetic Daily Calendar, kids learn more than just this vital life skill as they enjoy stimulating visuals and playing with magnets in the process.
The Melissa & Doug My Magnetic Daily Calendar displays the days, the week, the month, and the year. As an interactive and dynamic lesson for the kids, parents, and teachers can have them observe the weather and have them indicate their findings through the special calendar.
The company also displays other information in the Melissa & Doug My Magnetic Daily Calendar, like special events. The package has 80 magnets included in the kit that show years, months, days of the week, holidays, emotions, and many other fun categories.
What makes the Melissa & Doug My Magnetic Daily Calendar unique is its capacity to encourage interaction between the kids and their friends or family. It keeps children excited about upcoming special occasions and holidays that they mark on the calendar. Combined with the fun and learning they can have with the magnets, the Melissa & Doug My Magnetic Daily Calendar is an amusing way to develop social and emotional skills in addition to essential STEM lessons they pick up along the way.
Studies in recent years have revealed some fascinating data about children who are passionate about dinosaurs. According to various research, learning about dinosaurs enhances a child’s cognitive and mental development. Drawing inspiration from such facts, Learning Resources Counting Dino-Sorters Math Activity Set is a thrilling way to learn about colors, numbers, counting, and mathematical operations.
The eggs are colored in exciting colors and contain dinosaurs that come from the most prominent species. Each of the eggs is numbered according to how many dinosaurs there are inside the colorful life capsules. The eggs measure up to three inches tall and are perfect for exploring various mathematical concepts such as quantity relationships, number sequencing, counting from one to ten, sorting, foundational addition, early subtraction, and more.
Inside the eggs are dinosaurs from the most notable species like the tyrannosaurus rex, apatosaurus, triceratops, and many other prominent behemoths from prehistoric times. Cracking apart the eggs alone is already an exercise to enhance fine motor skills – just one of the many developmental benefits that come with the Learning Resources Counting Dino-Sorters Math Activity Set.
In total, there are ten two-piece dinosaur eggs and 55 colorfully painted dinosaur counters to complete the entire package. The Learning Resources Counting Dino-Sorters Math Activity Set is best for children around two years old.
When manufacturers embellish a toy with the famous National Geographic yellow frame, you better bet it’s nothing short of amazing and practical. Manufactured by a brand most prominent for its educational TV channel, National Geographic gives children the chance to feel like real-life geologists by introducing the National Geographic Geode Kit, which digs up ten beautiful and premium geode kits for children to break open.
Let your kids’ inner geologists run wild as they crack open ten stunning geodes handpicked by the best eyes and minds that the National Geographic team can offer. Reveal the brilliant crystals that lie dormant inside each rock and enjoy the beauty of geology firsthand with each crystalline treasure. This science kit is perfect for your young and curious scientists as they explore with friends or family!
Each geode is 100% natural and selected from the best varieties available. Able to form all sorts of colorful variants, the sizes of the geodes in this set can be as big as tennis balls or as small as table tennis balls, too. Cracking these magnificent enigmas open will surely thrill the STEM-minded kids as they appreciate the world’s creation that lies inside.
With the science kit, to answer any curiosities that may arise is a 16-paged full-color learning guide. Through this book, kids will be able to learn all the fascinating science that involves the beautiful geodes to emphasize the fun in discovery.
For kids, big emotions can be too much to handle for their little bodies. From the get-go and even through adulthood, emotions and social connections will always be a complex field to navigate for people in general.
This is why it’s imperative that children gain ample exposure to social and emotional exercises early in life. Using the magnetic story box that comes with the HOMER Explore Feelings Kit – Social & Emotional Magnetic Story Board Toy, children can venture and explore all sorts of imaginary and whimsical places that take the kids through fantastic adventures. There are 50 magnets, a Yeti Mask, a color-in feelings forest map, five conversation prompts, social-emotional cards, an activity book, crayons, and a bonus background included in the kit to foster and nurture an environment where children can broaden their social and emotional capabilities.
One of the highlights of the Homer Explore Feelings Kit is the adventure that children can experience through the Feelings Forest, a vital part of the game where simulation of ups and downs helps the kids process feelings that they may encounter in the future.
Through the Homer Explore Feelings Kit, children are prepared to experience identifying feelings, practice self-awareness and expression, enhance their social skills, and learn through play. This toy is best for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners.
Nothing beats a visual display of the marvels of chemistry. Through the National Geographic Crystal Growing Kit, the wonders of chemistry are on full display through brilliant crystals that light up through the power of science.
The crystals grow in eight different colors. The charming chemistry crystals light up in blue, pink, red, purple, green, orange, yellow, and teal and make for an enchanting scientific experience for the curious young minds.
For smooth experimentation, the National Geographic Crystal Growing Kit comes with detailed instructions that can guide kids and parents through the process of growing and lighting up the chemistry crystals that they have.
Help your kids expand their imagination through the timeless LEGO Classic Large Creative Brick Box, a bundle of STEM wonders that facilitates play that encourages them to express their creativity to the fullest.
Through the many things that children can create through this classic educational instrument, you and your kids can build and learn at the same time. The lego kit comes with 33 bricks colored in a variety of colors that kids love and enjoy. The package also has eight different types of toy windows and toy doors, two green baseplates, and six toy tires and toy wheel rims that children can use to make a wide array of shapes, structures, and other mechanisms.
Hi, my name is Elena Jones, and my full-time job is a teacher. Through teaching, I have discovered that children learn in many different ways, and have seen the positive impact both STEM and Montessori toys have on children.
Through this site I hope to educate parents and adults about these toys, providing them with useful information on how they can be used, and provide some in depth reviews of different toys to consider too.
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