Top Educational Toys for Preschoolers

   I'm happy to have Emily Bradbury back with another guest post today! She last wrote about the benefits of pets for children with special challenges and today she's going to share some recommendations for educational toys and games for preschoolers. 

    For young children play is an essential part of learning. It is important that you invest in a wide range of toys that will teach your children a variety of skills before they begin at school. Children are proven to learn difficult material more easily when it is presented in a game that is fun and engaging. Without even realizing it the fun they are having will be teaching them valuable skills for life!
   These are our handpicked toddler toys to inspire creativity, stimulate physical and intellectual development and develop your child’s social skills:

Playing board games together is a great way to bond with your children as well as to educate them. Children learn social skills such as how to take turns and be patient, as well as learning to lose graciously! Board games also encourage concentration and strategy development.

Some good board games for small children include:

• ‘Roll and Play’ – this is an excellent choice as a first board game for very young children. Children roll a large plush die and perform the action from a card of a corresponding colour. This helps learn about colour and encourages reading.
  
  
• ‘Hi Ho Cherry-O’ – This popular game can be played in 5 to 10 minutes, making it perfect for very young children with short attention spans. It teaches colour recognition, fine motor development and social skills like turn-taking.
  
  
• ‘Zingo’ – This game is suitable for children aged 3 and older. It is based on bingo, but in this game children have to fill out the entire board to win. It is a great game to help children match pictures to text.

  Naturally small children will want what their parents and older siblings have. Buying a tablet specifically made for children’s learning is a perfect way for them to learn, whilst they feel they are being grown up like you! A popular brand for educational tablets is LeapFrog; a fun way to introduce your toddlers to numbers and letters.

   LeapFrog make tablets with child-friendly controls which are more hard-wearing than your average tablet. Apps help children write, draw and play a huge number of educational games. The LeapFrog tablet is also invaluable in getting children used to operating technology at a young age, which is of course imperative for people of their generation.

  Pretend play is a game or activity that encourages children to think for themselves, which children will often engage in with found items around the home; for example a child could create a fort with blankets. Many toy manufacturers create toy sets to assist this play, such as model cash registers, toy shops, kitchens, doctor sets and more. Whilst modern electronic games are good for your child’s development in some ways, they are the product of your own imagination rather than the child’s.   Pretend play develops a child’s language skills, social skills when playing with friends and problem solving skills. Surprisingly, it has been proven that children control their impulses during pretend play the most effectively, making it the perfect opportunity to develop self-control.

What do you think? What would you recommend as a top toy or 
game to buy for a preschooler? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Image fromJodi C, shared under a Creative Commons license.