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What are Educational Toys for Toddlers?

Toys that are developed to teach particular skills or concepts are called educational toys. Most toys provide some type of learning opportunity; stuffed animals may encourage nurturing skills or pretend play. Transformer toys are good for fine motor skills. However in my opinion educational toys are directly focussed on enhancing particular cognitive, social and motor skills. Educational toys for toddlers concentrate on fine and gross motor, early math concepts, vocabulary, and color and letter recognition. They may also contribute to cooperative play and social interactions. A toy may be introduced to practice one particular skill such as a Montessori toy that provides repetition in using a zipper or can enhance multiple skills such as a pegboard set that teaches simple math concepts, fine motor skills and color recognition.

Shape Sorter Pegboard Set

A very early educational toy is wooden alphabet blocks; they were produced to teach letters to children and are still popular today. Like most toys, they teach more than the intended concept. The blocks are also great for fine motor, counting and sorting. Nowadays there are educational toys for every age group and developmental level.

Building toys for 2 year olds (which include wooden alphabet blocks) are particularly good educational toys for toddlers and preschoolers. Some examples are nuts and bolts sets, interlocking bricks or pipe and joint connecting sets. These are all great for practicing fine motor skills of grasping, pinching, twisting, pulling and pushing as your child manipulates the pieces. They are super for color recognition and increased vocabulary, particularly geometric shapes. Building toys or construction sets encourage multiple early math skills such as counting, sorting, matching and one to one correspondence. They also enhance imagination, creativity, concentration and planning skills. Building toys can be used independently or cooperatively with others. The best building toys for 2 year olds are just the right size for little hands; they are sturdy and washable. They must be challenging enough to hold a child’s attention but pieces must fit smoothly together to avoid frustration.

Most importantly, educational toys for toddlers need to be enticing and fun. Toys that aren’t played with have no educational benefits at all.

For more information click here. building toys for preschoolers, best learning toys for 2 year olds, counting toys for 2 year olds
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