Teaching young children through the use of educational toys is a terrific idea.
Kids are always looking to have fun, so when you introduce them to educational entertainment, they are more likely to stay engaged and want to learn the things that you are trying to teach them.
Fortunately, there are a wide variety of toys on the market that double as learning objects, helping parents to keep their children occupied while becoming smarter.
Read on below for some of the cheap educational toys that are sure to please both children and parents alike.
1. LeapFrog Learning Friends 100 Words Book, Green
This is a fun, interactive product that will help any child to learn over 100 introductory words. There are multiple categories including food, colors, animals, body parts, and activities.
The child can physically touch the word to play it as well as sound effects that the word might make in real life. In addition, there are two different songs that the child can sing along with in order to further his or her understanding of the language. This is the perfect reading introduction for children from 18 months to 4 years old.
2. Skillmatics Education Game: Skill Games
For children ages 6 and up, Skill Games includes a wonderful set of unique, multi-player games and activities that all contain educational content. There are 6 different activity mats with 2 sides each, making for 13 total games when you include 2 pens and a dusty cloth.
These games are designed to develop observational, social, and decision-making skills as well as encourage children to strategize and work with others to reach solutions. The games are easily repeatable and can be made more difficult in order to keep up with the child’s progress.
3. LeapFrog My Own Laptop
Young children always want to do what their parents are doing, and with My Own Laptop your child can type and play on a computer just like you! This fun laptop replica helps your child to learn about the alphabet and spell new, simple words.
It contains a variety of animal animations and includes 4 different learning modes. Children can emulate their parents by sending pretend emails and playing music that helps them to learn different words and phrases. All in all, there are 16 different songs, making for a whole lot of laptop fun!
4. Toyard Doodle Mat
The Toyard Doodle Mat is the perfect item to encourage your child’s creative and artistic side! The non-toxic water color is both reusable and perfectly safe, meaning that kids can write and draw on this mat for as long as they please.
Due to the large size of the mat, this is an excellent toy for toddlers who are just learning how to create pictures and letters. Drawings disappear after 3-10 minutes, so there’s no vigorous erasing required when the child wants to create a new image. Cleanup is made even easier by the fact that this can be folded into a compact, portable size.
5. Toyk Aqua Mat
Like the Toyard Mat, this provides a life-size drawing surface that is great fun for toddlers and older children alike! Siblings can have a great bonding experience by drawing and writing stories together on the Toyk Aqua Mat, using the convenient and fun refillable water pens.
Like magic, the drawings disappear within 10 minutes, providing a blank slate for stories that can go on all day long! The materials are perfectly safe for children, and the water pens leave no marks or residue that needs to be cleaned up, so parents will love this too!
6. 163 Piece STEM Toys Kit
For the young, aspiring engineering, this is the perfect toy set! Allowing up to 6 different players, this building set includes blocks, wheels, wrenches, plates, nuts, bolts, and everything else required to create robots, animals, vehicles, and buildings!
It is an excellent way to develop the STEM skills – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, while keeping your child entertained and engaged. This is a useful toy for children aged 3 to 10, and will continue to provide challenges and fun for years to come.
7. Exasticks Magnetic Blocks
Kids love magnets, and this comprehensive sets includes a fun set of safe, reliable magnets that will provide hours of fun for any child! With 66 total pieces in multiple shapes and sizes, your child can learn about magnetic properties and make all kinds of fun creations.
There are even wheels that can be used to make cares and trucks that will roll smoothly across the floor. With soft, rounded edges, these magnets are injury free, and they encourage cognitive reasoning and creative thinking.
8. Just Smarty Electronic Interactive Alphabet Wall Chart
Learning the alphabet is a basic requirement of learning to read, and this wall chart will encourage early development and letter recognition. It is bright, colorful, and attractive to children of all ages, and will be sure to catch the eyes of your toddler.
Each letter contains a picture that will help your child to associate words and phrases together, and there are quizzes that can further the education properties of this chart even more! In addition, there are 9 fun, recognizable songs that are sure to keep any child engaged and entertained.
9. Shifu Orboot Augmented Reality Globe
Teach your child about all the countries of the world with the Shifu Orboot Globe. Compatible with iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, this is a fantastic learning tool that can take your child on an interactive trek to all corners of the world.
It includes a globe, passport, stamp, country flags, and a help guide so that your child has a fun, guided tour across all types of terrain!
10. Shifu Plugo – Count & Link Combo
The Shifu Plugo is a great companion for children to develop their STEM skills, providing a gamepad, building blocks, numbers, and a count spike.
With 8 interactive games that can be altered to challenge kids from 4 to 10 years of age, this is an educational set that will keep on giving for many years! Plugo will help hone visual, tactile, and auditory senses and develop critical thinking, logical reasoning, mathematic, and creative skills!