Best Educational Toys for Toddlers 2022

As our little ones enter the toddler phase, their minds are more open to learning new things, skills and tasks! They want to explore the world around them and ask all the questions in the world! And while they’re only toddlers for a little while (sobs quietly…) they have so many developmental milestones going on during this period! This is a great time to incorporate educational toys into their playtime! Watching our little ones enjoying the magic of childhood, play and imagination is so rewarding, but it’s even better when we know they’re also learning at the same time! Pssst we’ll let you into a secret… our little ones are always learning (yes all the time!). So you won’t always need ‘specialist’ toys! Lots of typical toys have educational elements to them!

What are educational toys?

Educational toys are toys that aid our children in learning, that could be learning about themselves, the world, or typical academic ideas (maths, language learning). Educational toys don’t need to be specially sort out, most toys can be used as educational toys!  Educational toys really help children by engaging their growing minds! Here’s some reasons why we love toys that aid learning!

• Develops fine and gross motor skills
• Improving social and communication skills
• Strengthening cognitive development
• Supporting their growing imagination

Types of educational toys 

Sensory Toys  -  Toys that engage children's senses and help them learn about the environment around them. Toys can incorporate all senses or focus on 1-2
Movement Toys - These are toys that get your little one moving! Helping to strengthen their gross motor skills, balance, and confidence 
Construction Toys - Toys that allow children to build and create. These develop their problem solving skills, and help them to learn how objects fit together
Open-Ended Toys - A favourite here at The Kid Collective! These toys offer endless, unstructured play options - to be imaginative, create, discover and play! 

Helping your little one on their journey to discover the world around them is such a fun experience not just for them but you too!  At the toddler stage learning should all be about fun with an emphasis on learning through play! To get your little one on their learning journey, we’ve put together a guide of our favourite educational toys for toddlers…

As our little ones move from their first 12 months to the next, their play gets more fun and involved. At this age children are learning how objects are used together, their fine motor skills are developing are they are able to use their fingers to grasp items, put objects in and out of containers and love to stack toys together! Here's some great toys to incorporate into their play!
 

Le Toy Van Sensory Shapes, £30

This award winning wooden sensory toy from Le Toy Van is full of sensory stimulating activities, that will explore sight, sounds and touch! Shake to hear a jingling bell, look through the kaleidoscope, touch the fluffy fabric! This set also encourages colour and shape matching too! As with all our Le Toy Van wooden toys, this sensory toy is made from sustainable FSC wood. 

Wobbel Boards! From £89

Wobbel boards combine two great educational play types, Movement and open-ended play! Wobbel Boards have their origins in Waldorf learning. Stimulating balance and strength during play! A Wobble board is like a magnet for a child - they will instinctively know exactly what to do with it, not only for exuberant and energetic play, but also for quiet moments too! But if you're curious for ways to use them check out these activity cards, and for added style and comfort check out our range of Wobbel accessories!

Le Toy Van ABC Wooden Blocks, £30

This award winning set of 30 wooden blocks is ideal for early counting practice, language development and dexterity! It's the classic alphabet blocks but better! The colours, letters and illustrations means playtime has endless opportunities! Plus little ones will love building (and destroying) their creations!
 

At two years old, their gross motor skills are more developed and they may be walking! As they're moving more, active play is needed much more! They may be experiment with simple communication phrases and they love to imitate those around them! So incorporating speech into their play is great! 

Little Dutch Puzzle Clock, £15

This fun wooden puzzle clock can not only help in the early stages of learning about time, but with different shapes, colours and illustrations this toy can be used for sorting, counting, recognition and for making and learning phrases to do with the illustrations.

Yellow Door Emotion Stones, £24

Children are never too young to learn about emotions! These tactile emotion stones depict common emotions allowing your children to learn the names of different emotions and recognise what they may look like! The stones can be used to help your little one communicate their own feelings easier and teach them about empathy!

Little Dutch Cutting Fruit, £15

A classic children's toy, this wooden cutting fruit set can help improve their dexterity and fine motor skills all while pretending to be like the grownups! This set can be used to build on language skills through repetition and question prompts.

At three years old, children are more able to understand the concept of counting and may recognise several numbers. They're more interested in role-play, and will engage in more independent play but are open to playing with other children and learning the concept of sharing! They are also refining the motor skills they learnt as a two year old - its tough being three!

Plan Toys Beehives - Orchard Collection, £25

A well-loved toy here at The Kid Collective, this Plan Toys beehives game is creative and unique take on a fine motor skills toy - match the bee to it's hive using the pincer grip or the tweezers. It's also great for colour recognition and counting! The fun hive shapes make it great for children to work out how to balance the hives on top of each other too! Also available in rainbow colours.

Londji Discover the treasure puzzle, £22

Puzzles are great for toddlers as they begin to learn the idea of something being 'whole' and how the puzzle pieces make up the bigger picture! The beautiful illustrations on the Londji puzzles also make them great for storytelling, colour and shape recognition and problem solving! This fun pirate themed puzzle has four smaller puzzles that build up to make one larger one - great for making stories up about finding the hidden treasure at the bottom of the sea!

Little Dutch Hairdresser set, £29

This extensive role-play hairdresser set from Little Dutch has everything your little one needs to play stylist to the entire family! This fun set is great for developing social and communication skills, as they interact with whoever they are playing with be it family, friends or dolls and teddys! As well as being super fun, role-play toys are great for helping children to get into a character and acting out real life situations, which can also boost their confidence too!

Yellow Door Alphabet Pebbles lowercase, £24

Letter learning has never been more fun with this super tactile alphabet puzzles from Yellow Door. Known for their great range of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) learning resources and toys, Yellow Door make learning, creative, fun and engaging. These letter pebbles are great for letter recognition, early word building, sorting and counting! Made from a tactile stone and resin mix these letter pebbles can be used both indoors and outdoors to!

We are all constantly learning, and that's no truer than for our little ones! They are constantly taking on new information, learning and mastering new skills and tasks! This is the most magical time! With any of the above toys they'll definitely reap the benefits of learning through play! Browse our entire range of educational toys here! Or send a query through to our customer service team or chat to us on socials we're more than happy to help!