Educational Toys for Kids: Types and Benefits

Kids are always interested in exploring and learning new things. They’re constantly curious about the world around them and this active exploring characteristic is part of growing up. While growing up and exploring, kids spend most of their time playing with toys. But, toys are more than just fun items to pass the time and keep kids entertained – they can play a crucial part in their development, which is why it’s important to invest in educational toys.

What Are Educational Toys?

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Educational toys are toys and objects for playing designed for kids and older children. They are meant to stimulate certain senses and to promote learning in one way or another. They’re mostly created to fulfil an educational purpose, such as teaching about a subject, developing a new skill or learning a new art. When buying toys for your little ones, your best bet is to check out a reputable online shop for toys and get goodies meant to educate kids and aid in their development.

Why Are Educational Toys Important?

Development of Fine and Gross Motor Skills

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Of course, your kid will have a lot of fun playing, but these toys also work well for their motor development. This is why educational toys are suitable for every stage of children’s motor development – from the first gripping reflex to improving fine motor skills. When playing with building blocks, for instance, kids must engage in a refined use of the small muscles in their hands and fingers, which will improve their fine motor skills. These allow children to develop their muscular abilities, balance, and coordination. Such developments are very important for several areas in their life – from writing and holding a pencil to tying their shoes.

Development of Problem-Solving Skills

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Educational toys can challenge the mind of a child. There are some educational toys, such as the wooden puzzles, that encourage kids to think as they follow a step-by-step sequence of solving a certain problem. Different puzzles vary in complication and the more complicated the puzzle is the more attention, thinking and energy will be required from children. There are also toys that teach numbers, basic additions and subtraction which are designed to help develop their problem-solving and logical-skills. As kids learn how to solve puzzles and provide mathematical solutions using these toys, they can more efficiently handle real-life issues as they grow up.

Enhancing Creativity

Educational toys boost children’s creative skills. As they are playing with them, your kids will come up with different solutions to the same problem. These creative toys for kids offer imaginative play, creative designing and building, experimentation, and exploration.

Increasing Social and Emotional Development

Most educational toys for kids require them to play and interact with other kids or adults. While playing with other children and through demanding activities, sharing, leadership, waiting for a turn, kids will encounter emotional and social cues like anger, laughter and crying. This way, they will understand and adapt to various emotional situations.

The Best Types of Educational Toys

When you shop for educational toys, you will find many different types, including games for sorting shapes, magnetic toys, flashcards, games for fine and gross motor skills, maths, language and literacy, engineering, and many more. When it comes to quality toy brands that produce educational toys for kids, Djeco toys are on top of the list.

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Shape Sorters

These toys consist of colourful geometric shapes that can easily slide into the chute cut-outs of a sorter. They usually include stars, squares, circles, triangles, etc., which are created to be the ideal size and weight for little hands. Such toys will help develop recognition of shapes while encouraging eye-hand coordination, fine and gross motor skill development, and problem-solving skills.

Magnetic

Magnetics are types of educational toys that use different geomagnetic shapes in a set to build original magnetic constructions, stained glass windows or anything you can imagine. They are great for entertaining children and inspiring their creativity. Such magnetic toys encourage kids’ skill-development.

Arts and Crafts

Encouraging creative fun, arts and crafts toys can be clay, plastic, paper and wooden. Modelling clay can be pretty interesting to kids, as it can be stretched, squeezed, pinched, pulled apart, and moulded. Bright colouring pencils, in turn, make it appealing to children to create models and characters. Playing with such toys is a sensory experience and helps kids develop their creativity, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Flashcards

These are fun and stimulating set of flashcards that can be found in any well-supplied shop for toys. They promote alphabetical recognition and early reading skills. They are double-sided and can be designed with simple or complex words in order to help your child build a collection of words to help them develop early literacy and reading skills.