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Best Educational Toys for Toddlers

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The Best Educational And Learning Toys for Toddlers Aged 1 to 3 Years

The best educational toys for toddlers help them learn through play and keep them occupied for a while too.

This article features the best educational toys based on the toys my son liked between the ages of 1 to 3 years. I have given age recommendations to let you know at what age my son played with each toy.

There are lots of educational toys to help learn letters, numbers, colors, hone fine motor skills, introduce social skills and develop speech, lanugage and vocabulary.

Check out the best educational toys for toddlers below.

Leapfrog Fridge Magnets

The Leapfrog Fridge Magnets are one of my favorite educational toys for toddlers. My son used to spend ages playing with them on the fridge when he was a toddler. It used to be great as it would give me a while to get things done in the kitchen and I could keep an eye on my son at the same time. My son used to play with these magnets from about 8 months (although the farmyard magnets featured below are suitable from 12 months). It also helps introduce toddlers to phonics and letters - a highly recommended toy.
LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set - Styles May Vary

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set - Styles May Vary

Amazon Price: $31.59 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $21.99

* Help reading skills rise and shine with this magnetic letter set! Introduces children to letter names and sounds
* Features big, bright letters that are easy for little fingers to grasp to help develop fine motor skills.
* Sing along to the Alphabet Song.
* Playful phonics songs help children remember the sound each letter makes.
* Includes magnetic letter reader, 26 magnetic letters, and 3 AAA batteries

More Leapfrog Fridge Magnets

These magnet sets are popular and there are lots of different sets to help toddlers of different ages learn. Check out some more below.
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Stacking toys

There are some great stacking toys for toddlers that help teach colors, counting and shapes. They are excellent value for money and will keep little ones occupied, focused and entertained. I think these are perfect for 2 year olds (maybe a few months before they are 2 for some children). My son is now 3 and still plays with his stacking toy a lot.
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LeapFrog Letter Discoveries

LeapFrog Letter Discoveries

LeapFrog Letter Discoveries

Amazon Price: $12.01 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now

This one is designed for older toddlers from aged 2 and over.

It teaches phonics as well as letter sounds and more. There are four learning modes with letter and phonics games, music and help from Scout the puppy. Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog%uFFFD Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning.

It's portable too, so a great toy to take to other people's houses and when you're out and about to entertain your toddler.

ShapeSorters

My son had this exact toy at his Grandmas house and was one that he would love playing with everytime we visited. Its great for toddlers aged 1 and up and I think my son used to play with it until he was about 2. Its a good shape sorter as it has letters (A,B,C) and numbers (1,2,3) as well as shapes to put into the cube so is good for introducing these concepts. There is also a bead maze which seems to fascinate toddlers.
Battat Shape Sorter Cube

Battat Shape Sorter Cube

Amazon Price: $11.84 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $12.99

Learn to Dress Dolls

There are great dress up dolls suitable from the ages of 18 months that help teach your toddler how to dress by practising skills with a button This h a button, snap, hook-and-loop closure, zipper and shoe tie. These dolls are also great as a soft comfort toy and for imaginative play.
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Jigsaw Puzzles for Toddlers

Jigsaws make great educational toys. They hone fine motors skills, introduce toddlers to new words and vocabulary if you talk about the puzzles they are doing, improve concentrations skills and problem solving. Great for ages 2 and up (maybe even a few months younger).

Check out the puzzles below.
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Melissa and Doug Food Cutting Box

I think this toys is great. Toddlers can hone fine motors skill by cutting up the pretend food in this box. Its fantastic for introducing them to the concepts of fractions and learning the words for halves, quarters and thirds. This is a great toy for 2 to 3 year olds.
Melissa & Doug Cutting Food Box

Melissa & Doug Cutting Food Box

Amazon Price: $11.65 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now

This set contains eight pieces of wooden food, a cutting board and a wooden knife. Food makes a fun "CRUNCH" sound when sliced. With 31 pieces, it's also a great way to introduce the concepts of part, whole and fractions.

Mr Potato Head

Playskool Mr. Potato Head

Playskool Mr. Potato Head

Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $9.99

My son loved Mr Potato Head as a toddler. Its great for teaching toddlers the names of body parts and clothes and kept my son occupied for ages too. Great from about 20 months. Also its very good value.

Laugh and Learn Mailbox

My son had a mailbox and between the ages of about 1 to 2, he used to spend ages posting the letters over and over again. This was great for developing fine motor skills. The letterbox below is very educational as it teaches letters, numbers, opposites, colors, greetings and more!
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Letters Mailbox

Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Letters Mailbox

Amazon Price: $18.99 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $29.99

* Teaches letters, numbers, opposites, colors, greetings and more!
* Includes three letters and a package for slotting.
* Hear the friendly mailbox characters.
* Slide the address roller to learn all about numbers.
* Lift the mail flag to learn about opposites through music and phrases.

More Laugh and Learn Toys by Fisher Price

The Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Series is very educational and toddlers love playing with these toys. The ratings are very high on Amazon. Great for ages 1 to 2. Check out the ones below.
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Pattern Blocks

Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks

Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks

Amazon Price: $10.70 (as of 05/27/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $19.99

This is a great educational toy for toddlers of about 22 months to 3 years.

Learn matching, sorting, colors and shapes. See how things fit together.

There are 10 wooden boards and about 30 wooden shapes to match up to the patterns.

ABC Bath Stickers

Alex Toys Abc Stickers For The Tub

Alex Toys Abc Stickers For The Tub

Amazon Price: $6.25 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now
List Price: $8.00

Toddlers will love these chubby foam shapes which will stick to the bath tub or tiles at bathtime. Its great as they can start to learn their ABCs when they're having fun in the bath. They come packaged in a reusable mesh bags that suction cup to the tub or tile walls, so they're easy to clean up after bathtime too.

1st Game to play

Pop up Pirate is a great first game to play for toddlers.

It's educational in that it helps teach them social skills such as taking turns, winning, loosing and having fun! The swords in the game are different colors so it's good to reinforce learning colors.They can play it with older kids and adults.

My own son loved playing this game from about 2 1/2 but there are reviews of toddlers playing it at a younger age.
Tomy Pop-Up Pirate Game

Tomy Pop-Up Pirate Game

Amazon Price: $9.75 (as of 05/28/2012)Buy Now

Take turns sliding the colorful swords into the barrel
Beware - if the pirate pops up on your turn, you are out
Kids love the popping action of the pirate flying out of the barrel
No reading required

Educational Toys in the UK

Educational Toys for 2 Year Old Boys in the UK
Here are some great ideas of educational toys for 2 year old boys in the UK

Books for Toddlers

Of course books for toddlers are very educational. Reading to your toddler can improve and expand their vocabulary, give them a love for books and a head start by the time they are at school. Reading books with your toddler is also great fun. Its great to spend some one on one time with them and its a nice quiet activity for when you need a few moments peace!

There are lots of great articles on books for toddlers. Check them out below.
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More Toddler Toys

More articles on toddler toys below
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Feedback on Best Educational Toys for Toddlers

  • Petar May 8, 2012 @ 5:04 pm | delete
    Great lens and great toy selections. My kids love playing with these types of toys.
  • ThomasJ4 Sep 26, 2011 @ 3:57 pm | delete
    Its always good to get them learning at a young age, great lens.
  • uncreative Jul 19, 2011 @ 7:13 pm | delete
    Fisher-Price is the brand name I grow up with. They were so well made, I still have many of them to this day, albeit in the loft!
  • all-about-toddlers Apr 5, 2011 @ 3:47 pm | delete
    Great lens! I have started to add my own lenses. I have a website all about toddlers and so I am trying to make everyone aware about my free information. Feel free to take a look and also leave feedback regarding my lenses.
    http://www.all-about-toddlers.com/index.html
  • KokoTravel Dec 27, 2010 @ 6:37 pm | delete
    Great compilation of kids educational toys. Thanks
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Lou1842

Hi my name is Louise and most of my articles are about toys for babies and children.

I spend most of my time with my lovely boys. I have a 8 month... more »

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