Long ago educational toys amounted to a coloured abacus, blocks with numbers and letters on them, and songs that were sung by parents. As time crept forward, more toys were developed to help with eye hand coordination and small motor skills. Along with these toys came animal noises, colors and the alphabet that could be heard by pulling a string and watching the circular middle go around until it landed on one of the above. Legos were invented and children were able to use their imagination to build whatever they could think of. These legos came in different sizes so they could be easily handled by the kiddos.

A Brief History

Back in the 1920’s crayons were invented an enabled parents to draw and spell with their children. The 1940’s brought the advent of many board games that would help the preschooler count and share along with learning how to socialize with other kids. Since the 1950’s educational toys have been on the cutting edge when it comes to enhancing our little people’s eye hand coordination, fine motor skills and communication abilities. Mr. Potato Head began in the 1950’s and is still popular with preschoolers today as well as thousands of kinds of puzzles starting with really large shapes for spatial recognition to tiny ones for cognitive thinking.

With the 1970’s, toys were beginning to be very innovated and designed for a more positive learning experience while playing.  Electronics were in it’s infancy but even so calculators and game consoles were hitting the market. Preschoolers were beginning to learn the alphabet and numbers by using a hand held device. Many more construction toys were coming on board such as a newer lego, brix blocks and erector sets. The etch-a-sketch was very popular with kids as they could manipulate and draw anything they wanted and immediately erase it only to begin again.

The 1980’s brought about the first decade where kids began to start playing inside more than they did outside. This would be because of the advent of more board games, hand held gameboys  and Nintendo home video games. Some of the games required the kids to do arithmetic and spelling or use their cognitive abilities to problem solve.

In the decade of the nineties, computer technology began to grow by leaps and bounds.  Almost every home had one and along with that came games and activities for which children could interact. There were loads of toys hitting the market that allowed for children to play with one another and by themselves that were designed specifically for educational value.

Modern Day Educational Toys

In the new millennium, the toys produced for educational purposes are many.  Not only do children use the home computer and the internet for learning and playing, they have video games by the hundreds.  The interactive play has moved into three dimensional play if their parents can afford a television that  will produce these images.

There are toy computers that allow for the youngest of children to play and practice skills on. These toys engage the child in multiple activities, teach them the use of a mouse and prepare them for the real thing. Learning does not have to stop after school is out as they can provide hours of entertainment as well as sneaking in learning. One of the things that is very important for children to do is to learn to read. Many books actually talk to the child as they read along with them. They ask questions and involve the child in the story. Of course there are loads of books for children of every age to read by themselves or be read to by their parents.

The card and board games today range from learning to spell, to mathematics. Some help children learn phonics while learning the alphabet. As early as the baby’s years in the crib, there are language recordings that come in the form of mobiles and myriad attachments for the crib that can be manipulated by the baby. They sing songs about numbers and letters and subconsciously begin to ingrain language skills at a very early age.

For the older child, companies produce science and labs kits so they can learn to invent and discover how things work. Telling time can be fun when using some of the games and toys designed especially to play games around the face of a clock. Of course most children today can only use a digital clock, so playing these games can be quite advantageous. One really cool product is an interactive globe that helps the kiddo learn geography, populations, what currency is used in different countries, how time zones work and distances between different areas. All they have to do is touch the globe with an electronic pen and like magic that area will come to life and teach the child tons of information. There is a voice within the globe that talks to the child and allows the child to interact.

Final Thoughts

All in all, games and toys today touch on every aspect of the world. They allow for children to play with toys that actually open up new worlds of fun and interest for them.  From cooking toys, to discovery toys, to building toys, to science toys to computer toys, there is something there for every child to tap into what happens to shake up their aptitude and appetite for learning. Many companies have created great toys for every ages including infants. Unlike the olden days where their great grandfathers had to literally make their own toys out of old rubber bands, paper, and string, kids today have at their fingertips enough stimulation to last them a lifetime.

Purchasing new toys is always a fun and exciting thing for kids but if it is impossible to do that on a continuous basis, there are plenty of next to new shops and internet links where toys can be bought once another child has outgrown it. Having educational toys around the house is a dynamic and exciting adventure for everyone, kids and parents alike.

It used to be that kids had toys just for something to do and for physical activity. Not any more as today toys have become extremely sophisticated in order to continue teaching long after the school bell rings. Manufactures of today’s educational toys make them so much fun that the kids normally have no earthly idea that they are actually learning by playing with them. What a win win situation!

Exactly what is an educational toy? Instead of merely playing with a doll, or a truck, or coloring on a sheet of paper, educational toys provide actual activities for kids to do.  Many of the toys work on learning colors, numbers and letters. As the children begin to grow, the toys begin to shift to leaning math, spelling and shapes. Some of the toys are designed to play with inside and some are ready to played with outside where a lot of physical activity can be combined with the learning process.

There is a talk ball and several discussion balls that are fun to play with and also stimulate the child into talking about open ended statements written on the ball. For example, ‘someone I hope to be like is ….’ or ‘I am not pleased with myself when ….’.  Not only does this encourage a child to speak but enhance listening and social skills. It teaches kids how to take turns and how to actually have two way discussions with another individual, a skill that will always be needed in life.

Discovery Toys is a manufacturer who started selling educational toys about thirty years ago and has grown into one of the best products around. The quality and engineering that goes into these toys is surpassed by no one. The majority of the toys are made from wood and painted in primary colors.  The toys begin at before age one giving the baby an opportunity to play with mazes, mirrors, sounds and movement. When the baby becomes mobile there is a multicoloured wooden push cart that is chocked full of  blocks in a mixture of shapes  and colors.

Learning can even be fun in the bathtub. Foam animals,  numbers and letters can be easily be stuck to the ceramic tile of the tub once they are wet.

And finally, when the family takes a long trip in the car, there are loads of kids educational toys for the trip. Checking online retailers there is a long list of kids educational toys to have along for the ride. Many of the games come with compact discs so that  there are many different choices. There are snack and play trays for drawing, spelling and doing math. If you like spelling then there are loads of word games to play as a family. Normally, boredom is usually the thing that gets kids in trouble on long road trips, so having an array of  travel toys in your entertainment arsenal will make the entire trip fun for the kids and you.

Long ago children had toys.  Plain and simple, toys that were for entertaining and keeping them busy.  Today, life has changed for these guys.  They not only have the regular dolls, trucks and puzzles from which to derive their amusement, there has been an onslaught of educational toys brought into the market to teach, intrigue and tap into the inspirations of children.  The best educational toys can actually teach new skills, give language training and help to teach reading, writing and arithmetic at an early age.  The great thing about these toys is that they actually are designed so the children are ecstatic about playing with them.

Some of the best educational toys have been around for a while.  These toys were developed to help with eye hand coordination and fine motor skills.  Lincoln logs, tinker toys, and legos are all toys that children can build things with and use their vivid imaginations for all structures.   Puzzles are in never ending  supply and can be constructed of really large pieces for the toddle all the way up to smaller pieces for older children.

The best educational toys do not have to be boring and end up under the bed or hiding in a closet.  Designers have really plugged into their own child within to come up with some stunning and ingenious products.   Many of today’s toys require batteries, but in the long run, that isn’t much to ask when it provides hours of fun for the wee ones.

In choosing toys, the most popular ones generally have primary colors in them.  Seems they just catch the eye of the youngster, and the brighter the better. Bristle blocks  are soft, flexible plastic building blocks that can be interconnected by soft bristles.  Toddlers love these and it allows them to use their thumb and index finger to ‘squish’ them together.

SmartVille has an alphabet train station that intrigues and interests kiddos for long periods of time.  There are activities galore for them to interact and play with such as a big clock that says the times out loud, a multicolored piano that plays music about shapes and colors, and alphabet  track for the train that tells the letter of the alphabet as the train rolls over it.  It also gives examples of different words that start with that particular letter.  The developer of this product included some pretty little animals that sit in the train and speak to the child.

Ultimately the best educational toys allow the child to reach into his or her imagination and become part of the toy by interaction.  Regular book,  talking books, puzzles, magnets, coloring books, blocks and shapes, talking telephones; well the list is virtually endless as to what the best educational toys are.  All these toys can be found by switching on your computer and looking online for a complete listing of any and all toys available.  There is no limit to the imagination and if your little one is ready to start to learn by play, there is a plethora of fun and enjoyment incorporated into toys today.