Birthdays, Black Friday, Christmas... Selecting a proper toy that allows children to have fun while encouraging them to develop different skills is not an easy task. As guidance we have introduce some Educational toys that allow your child to develop different skills, while having fun.

Peg board set

One main use of a pegboard is to improve fine motor skills. Placing pegs into holes on a peg board is great for developing your child's hand-eye co-ordination, and their control of hand and finger movements. They are excellent tools to develop your child creativity as they get a chance to use different colour pegs to create images such as animals, houses, boats while developing their imagination skills. Moreover, it teaches early math skills such as matching, sorting, identifying colours and making patterns. (2 years+) Example

Blocks

1. Soft blocks (6 months)
2. Building blocks (12 months+)
3. Wooden blocks (12 months+)
4. Bristle blocks (2 years+)
5. Magnetic blocks (3 years+)

Blocks help to develop gross and fine motor skills and promote open-ended creativity. They allow children to make and build different 3D images while developing their creativity and imagination skills. Stacking, sorting, building and creating cities are all important skills for future engineers and introduce children shapes and geometry.

Treading beads / lacing beads

It helps to develop fine motor skills.  It is an excellent way to strengthen the finger muscles and learn to control the fingers as they work together. Beading is a great way to practise colour recognition. Through beading, children get opportunity to develop early math skills, hand-eye coordination, and concentration. Children can have fun making their own necklaces and bracelets while developing their creativity.  (2 years +)

Play dough and moulding tools

Play dough is a great material that helps children to develop fine motor skills. It helps children to create whatever they like to due to its flexibility while developing their creativity and imagination skills. Play dough allows children to develop their social interaction and language skills. Moreover it is calming children while developing there sensory skills. (2 years +)

Puzzles

Puzzles are great resources that help children to develop their fine motor skill, concentration, spatial awareness, shape recognition, hand-eye coordination and problem solving. It allows children to develop their language skills in an interesting manner. (12 months +)

Wooden train set

Train set allows children to build the tracks themselves so that the train can continue moving without any obstacles. Furthermore; your child will also learn to organize the trains in a way that it will increase their ability to move more smoothly while developing their problem solving skills. (3 years +)

Educational toys that develop gross motor skills. Bicycles, scooters, trampoline, hopper balls, play tunnels...

Gross motor activities are very important for health as children need to move to be active. Gross motor educational toys help children develop skills such as running, jumping, climbing etc. while strengthening their large muscles such as arms and legs.

Thilini Fernando, Preschool Teacher in Colegio Orvalle