As adult, we tend to separate play and work in learning, but for children, it is not all similar. Educational toys are designed to be the kids’ friends in the learning process. These toys help your child to develop fundamental skills such as imagination, logic, and problem-solving skills. So it is essential to pick suitable educational toys for your kids.
What are educational toys and their uses?
Educational toys are the tools that stimulate children’s creativity and encourage them to participate in more activities such as number counting, and colour recognizing,… The purpose of these toys is very simple: to help children learn at their pace while still being able to have fun. For example, a puzzle meant to trigger some very basic logical thought while being interesting enough to not bored the children.
There are several educational toys that are most common on the market and easy to purchase.
Educational toys – develop kids’ fundamental skills
1. Puzzles
Puzzle is a toy that helps to build basic observation and cognitive abilities in children. With simple gameplay: requires children to coordinate the ability to see and remember to assemble a complete puzzle. Moreover, with a variety of illustrations and difficulty levels, the puzzle could be very interesting even with babies, toddlers or preschoolers.
2. Montessori toys
A Montessori toy is a type of toy that helps children learn through exploration and play. The toys are designed to be interactive and engaging so that kids can hold and touch them as they play. It allows your children to increase logic processes, colour recognition, and physical feeling. For instance, Montessori Wooden Busy Board, kids are able to learn how to generate buildings and vehicles, learn the alphabet and calculate, etc.
In general, Montessori toys are likely to enhance kids’ ingenuity and perseverance that encourage our children to learn from their own mistakes.
3. Open-ended toys
It can’t be denied that open-ended toys play an important role in children’s growth. It allows children to utilize their cognitive skills and build their own ideas visually.
Rainbow stackers, building blocks, balance stones, and cross buckles are advised for parents to choose for their kids.
4. Pretend-to-play toys
Imaginary play contributes an essential part in developing the social and communication skills of children. Wooden pretend play toys, which help create indoor activities for kids and contribute to small world play ideas, like pretend food toys. It is the playground for children to practice multi-roles in social life. It is essential that kids will not only learn how to realize and deal with others’ thoughts and feelings when joining imaginary activities but they also control and decline anxiety as language becomes more familiar.
What skills should children know before going to primary school?
Children are empowered to learn and develop through exploration and play. To assist the well-rounded growth of children, educational toys will help your children build fundamental skills such as leadership and emotional control, which play an essential part in their personal life afterward.
1. Identify basic patterns, shapes, and colours
In terms of developing cognitive ability in children, still the most basic is to distinguish colours, shapes and patterns. As a result, many toys like building blocks, puzzles,… are upgraded to be more helpful in this aspect. For example, building blocks toy sets will teach children what a square, triangle or circle is while children practice grasping and identifying their distinctive shapes.
Most educational toys at Melli’s Kids are very great for helping children identify colours as they’re covered with a colourful and, of course, kid-friendly paint job. Some of the notable nomination include rainbow building blocks, rainbow jigsaw puzzle, colour eggs matching toy,…
2. Identify some numbers and understand how numbers are used
Numeracy skills involve, noticing numbers, counting, solving number problems, patterning, organizing, and categorizing the information to build math concepts in their ideas. It is the early stage of solving problems. Ladybug study is a perfect tool that allows preschoolers to learn logical subjects: math and science effectively. With the support of this tool, children are able to explore the world of living things, especially the ladybug’s life cycle.
Moreover, the attractive colour of the toy set encourages kids to develop colour recognising skills and challenges them to handle basic counting problems and matching numbers. It plays a crucial role in developing soft skills in children involving critical thinking and problem-solving.
3. Identify letters and begin to understand that letters stand for the sounds heard in words
You may feel the way your kids are obtaining letters is different from how you learn. With the support of renovative toys, the awareness of words is more simple. The Montessori Felt Busy Board , which is made of fine quality fabric and built with compact design, is a wonderful choice for children. Packed with letters and numbers plus some simple objects, this toy helps children get more exposure to the alphabet and simple math with ease while still having fun.
