Educational Toys for Toddlers

Here are a few educational toys that our family enjoys

Being an educator, appropriate developmental and educational toys for my toddler are important to me. Here are a few of my phonics/language arts, geography and science recommendations.

Refrigerator Phonics Learning

I love these refrigerator learning systems. My daughter perfected her abc's and their sounds with the single letter set. When you put a letter into the holder it says the letter and all of the sounds that it makes in a sing-song voice. The word whammer is great for her right now. She creates words and says them back. It's fun for her and she's learning at the same time.

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics® Magnetic Set

Price: $18.45
List Price: $21.99

LeapFrog Word Whammer™ Fridge Phonics® Set

Price: $19.95
List Price: $27.99

Leap Pad with Microphone on eBay

	LEAP FROG LEAPPAD PLUS MICROPHONE & 3 BOOKS &CARTRIDGES Current Bid: $9.99
	LEAP FROG LEAP PAD PLUS MICROPHONE PLUS TWO BKS. PRE.K Current Bid: $9.99

Leap Pad

Our toddler loves her leap pads. She is almost 4 and has just moved to this leap pad. It teaches phonics and word and letter recognition. She is beginning to understand many sight words now, and knows how sentences are contsructed on a page. When children start kindergarten, teachers often will assess their knowledge of reading. Do they know how to turn pages in the correct direction, do they know where a sentence starts and ends, do they understand that we read from left to right? The leap pad gives some instruction in this area. This particular Leap Pad has a microphone so you or your child can record yourself reading and play it back.

Alex Floor Standing Wooden Puppet Theater - 59" X 25" X 15"

Price: $49.00
List Price: $74.99

Pretend Play

Toddlers love to make believe. Puppets are a great way to build vocabulary and story telling skills. You can make your own puppets and theater or purchase this one from Amazon. We bought a bunch of great puppets from costco that were inexpensive and great quality.

Geography Through Globes

Learning the different contintents, how the world looks and how it spins on its axis are large concepts to accept. Globes help children find a bit of meaning in this area. The fly and learn globe is a great toddler globe. It is interactive in teaching geography, people, places, the wonders of the world, languages and music. The joystick allows the child to control the direction of the plane, north, south, east or west, around the globe. The Explorer Globe has three skill levels and is a great globe for the more advanced student. It has thousands of facts, national anthems and information on currencies. Children learn about states, countries and continents. There is a magic pen and a world clock too.

Explorer Globe

LeapFrog Explorer Smart Globe

Price: $95.00
List Price: $99.99

Fly and Learn Globe-great first globe

VTech Fly & Learn Globe™

Price: $18.99
List Price: $24.99

WaterWheel Play Table

Price: $34.99

Educational Science Toys

I've linked to a few science toys that I love. Children love to experiment with water. The water tub is a great learning tool for learning how water moves through different containers, density of objects (does it float or sink?) and how water moves. The hydroponics greenhouse grows plants or herbs in a non-soil environment. Kids love to watch what they plant grow and then possibly eat the result! The ant habitat is a self-sustaining environment. No food or sand is needed, instead a non-toxic gel, that was based on a 2003 space shuttle experiment, provides the proper nutrition and work environment for tunnelling. A magnifying glass and zoom lens aids in close-up observing.

Watch ants tunnel with this ant habitat

Discovery Exclusive Ant Gel Habitat

Price: $19.95

Grow plants or herbs with this hydroponic greenhouse

Mini Hydroponic Greenhouse

Price: $13.50
List Price: $19.99

Share it! — Rate it: up down [flag this hub]

Kid Product/Info Hubs: Potty Training Your Toddler

Kid Product/Info Hubs: Sandra Boynton

Do you have any other educational toys you or your child loves? Please share.

RSS for comments on this Hub

pharley says:
2 years ago

Good choices! When my wife and I were new parents, we received a few battery-operated, blinking-light, beeping toys from well-meaning friends. We realized that these toys are little better than TV for brain development (that is, nearly none at all).

No science here, nor even much by way of anecdote, but since we've gone back to "basics" and other simpler toys (colored blocks, simple musical instruments, refrigerator magnets, hand puppets, etc.) all of our kids as toddlers played a lot longer with these than the blinky-light toys. And mom and dad kept their sanity.

Robin says:
2 years ago

I agree Pharley. There are some really amazing educational toys out there now. I think we also have to be aware of some that are labeled educational. I know the Baby Einstein DVDs are popular, but I don't think we should fool ourselves into believing that they are making our children smarter. They are still watching TV, maybe better than other sources, but not better than parent/child interaction. It's understandable that parents need a break, I'm a stay-at-home mom and realize this completely. I just think we should be truthful with ourselves.

My 3 1/2 year old daughter loves imagination games right now. She also can play for hours with paper, scissors and pens. The basics are the best because they leave room for the imagination rather than having everything already created. Thanks for the comment!

Sissy says:
2 years ago

My son discovered Thomas the Tank Engine building play sets three years ago and is still going strong. At first he just played with the trains. by the age of 2, his building capabilitites were just connecting some track. Now he builds elaborate track configurations with bridges and the works. He now plays imaginary by making up stories with the trains he's playing with. I read an interesting article recently about the skills that children learn by playing with Thomas the Tank Engine playsets. Here it is: http://searchwarp.com/swa118473.htm

Maybe someone will find it beneficial.

Merry Christmas! Sissy

Lynn T. says:
2 years ago

Thomas the Tank Engine building play sets, or any building play sets for that matter, really help children to develop and grow. Developmental skills such as spatial, cognitive and motor skills, hand and eye coordination, problem-solving, imagination, interpersonal and even intrapersonal skills are just a few benefits that children experience when building. Their skills will increase dramatically as their play continues. You'll be able to watch as your child starts by building basic creations and as they grow, their basic creations become masterpieces! It's amazing. I've witnessed my son do just that. I can't believe the wonderful, extravagant creations he comes up with. To me, creativity and imagination toys are the best. All of those other skills they develop are the bonuses!