Educational toys give your child a head start in life. Whether they love stacking building blocks, playing board games, or even experimenting with science kits, the important thing is that they are exploring and understanding the world more and more every time they use them.
Learning from educational toys at an early age helps healthy brain development.
This engaging stimulation during play is essential to a child’s learning and is a great way to form new experiences. It helps prepare them for early education and learn skills that can stick with them throughout their entire lives!
We also know that not every child learns the same way. Your baby would probably not be interested in a young child’s math kit.
This is why it is so important to have the right toy that keeps your child engaged and stimulates healthy brain development at the right age.
From toddlers to young kids, we have the best toys for any age group of young children that teach; Hand-Eye Coordination, Problem Solving, STEM skills, Fine and Gross Motor Skills.
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Why are educational toys so important?
Educational toys are a way for young children to explore their environment and to learn life skills.
It is a fun and safe way to develop thinking processes as well as practicing how their bodies move and can help them learn to perform complex tasks.
And of course, it's fun for the little ones!
Which educational toys are the best?
At My Happy Helpers we sell toys that are inspired by the Montessori method. This means our educational toys are simple, interactive, and fun, over and over again!
The best toys for your child depend on their age and how they like to learn.
Are educational toys effective?
Educational toys are known to be extremely effective for children’s early learning skills.
A 20-year study conducted by the centre of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania looked at children's brain scans when introduced to educational toys.
They found that continually playing with the educational toys had a positive effect on the learning centre of their brains and the more they played with those toys, the easier they were able to pick up new skills and learn more effectively.
Best educational toys based on age
Whilst learning through toys is fun for any kid of any age, each age group learns in different ways and explores their environment differently.
To make it easy for you, we’ve compiled some of the best educational toys that we recommend for each age group.
Best educational toys for 1-year-olds
It's never too early to start stimulating the mind. In fact, some say the earlier, the better.
1-year-olds are just learning to use their senses to explore the brave new world around them and need toys that help them become familiar with using them.
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Baby Noise Wooden Double Maraca
The Babynoise Beech and Birch Wooden Double Maraca are double the shaking fun.
These hand-painted maracas are perfect for a one-year-old to learn through music and promote hand-eye coordination.
Inny Bin
The Inny Bin is a unique shape and touch sensory experience, with six safe chunky blocks that are designed to make cleaning up fun!
Lift and See Fruit Puzzle
The Lift and See Fruit Puzzle stimulates fine motor and basic association skills. Each chunky wooden piece is brightly coloured and shaped differently for little hands to play with.
Best educational toys for 2-year-olds
2-year-olds, or toddlers, love playing and exploring. As 1-year-olds, they use their senses to interact with their surroundings, but they can now start associating shapes, numbers, and even letters to different meanings.
Just make sure that whatever they are using to learn is interesting and fun enough to hold their attention!
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Alphabet Blocks
The Alphabet Blocks help practice building those first words. The My Happy Helpers educational blocks come in beautiful dark grey colours! These blocks have letters printed on one side and come individually wrapped.
Chunky Alphabet Puzzle Uppercase
The Chunky Alphabet Puzzle Uppercase lets your toddler learn about letters the fun way. Each chunky, hand-painted woodblock is designed for safety and ease of use for little hands to grasp, examine, and solve.
Activity Walker
The Activity Walker comes with brightly coloured animal paintings, a mini abacus, a spinning mirror, and turning cogs. No 2-year-old will be able to wait to get up and become a walking master when it's this fun!
Best educational toys for 3-year-olds
3-year-olds are starting to learn how to interact, play and learn. This is when educational activities and play toys promote STEM learning as well as helping 3-year-olds prepare for preschool.
The best educational toys at this stage focus on creativity, learning, and thinking.
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Capital letter Tracing Board
The Capital Letter Tracing Board comes with bright colours and a wooden stylus. This tracing board is a fun way for 3-year-olds to start learning the alphabet. It can also be used during sensory play for a more hands-on experience.
Wooden Number Tracing Board
The Wooden Number Tracing Board is designed to help your little ones learn basic numbers and correct stroke sequences. The boards even come with their own multi-purpose wooden stylus.
Petilou Ladybird Binoculars
The Petilou Ladybird Binoculars is perfect for your little explorer. Your 3-year-old will love playing with these pretend play binoculars that feature two spinning kaleidoscope lenses and a ladybird motif.
Best educational toys for 4-year-olds
Now your 4-year-old is starting to think critically. The best educational toys blossom their passions and work on educational lessons that they might have learned at preschool or childcare.
But remember, learning time is still playtime with educational toys!
Click Here for Our Full Range of Educational Toys for 4-Year-Olds
Wipe clean activity set letters
The Wipe Clean Activity Set Letters contains 26 wipe clean, reusable letter cards and one erasable marker. This activity set makes it easy for your 4-year-old to practice letter tracing and writing and play alphabet games.
Bamboo Counting Set
The Bamboo Counting Set lets your 4-year-old engage in numeracy education and learn through fun play! This counting set comes with 10 Bamboo Cups and 55 sticks.
Educational cards and Language Development Toy
The Educational Cards and Language Development Toy comes with a beautiful wooden language development box that is the perfect starting point for language development. It also contains 24 flashcards for association and word learning.
Best educational toys for 5-year-olds
Just like 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds are discovering their passions and are thinking critically, just at a faster rate.
Here they must be learning the skills they will need for primary or ‘Big’ School.
Click Here for Our Full Range of Educational Toys for 5-Year-Olds
Wipe clean Activity Set Letters
The Wipe Clean Activity Set Letters contains 26 wipe clean, reusable letter cards and 1 erasable marker. This activity set makes it easy for your 5-year-old to practice letter tracing and writing and play alphabet games.
Times Table and Division Set
The Times Table and Division Set is a colourful wall chart (2-sided) displaying the Times Tables on one side and Division Tables on the other to help your little one learn and think.
World Puzzle
The World Puzzle is a fun-sized wooden puzzle that is perfect for your 5-year-old to develop a deeper understanding of their memory and problem-solving skills as well as learn about our planet!
Key Takeaways
A child’s brain starts developing and is eager to learn even before preschool. Having toys that stimulate the senses makes it fun and engaging for young kids of any age to learn through play.
It is important to know that the age of the child impacts which toys are best for them to learn from. This is because children learn differently at different ages, a baby won’t learn the same way as a four-year-old.
There are lots of different toys that teach different things such as; motor skills, hand-eye coordination, association, and basic problem-solving. In the long run, these are all skills that can stick with them in later life. In the short run, it helps the little ones get ready for school.
