We have so many choices when shopping for children's toys that the options quickly become overwhelming. Since children learn by playing and experiencing the environment around them, the best toys we can buy are those that are both fun and educational. To make holiday shopping easier, we are pleased to share our BCBA-approved children's holiday gift guide!
Educational Gifts for Ages 0-1
Every experience is new in a baby's first year. This is a crucial time for developing basic motor skills, beginning to crawl, and eventually experimenting with standing and walking. Here are some of our favorite toys to promote early childhood development in the first year.
This piggy bank encourages childhood development at different stages and will be fun and useful to your child from age zero and on to preschool. As an infant, children can play with the large, colorful coins and eventually practice putting them in the piggy bank. As children grow older, they can identify the colors and numbers on the coins too.
This fun, engaging, and colorful slide comes with three round, easy-to-grab toys and gives your infant and toddler a fun opportunity to develop problem solving skills, sensory skills, and fine motor skills.
There are numerous baby walkers on the market, and our favorites are the ones that double as an opportunity for sensory play and motor skills development! The example included here comes with counting beads, a small xylophone, as well as gears and blocks to turn.
There are several Poke-a-Dot books available for young children, and the Old MacDonald's Farm edition will provide your baby with a fun and interactive way to learn the names of animals. As your child grows, he or she can also use this Poke-a-Dot book to count the animals as you read together.
Educational Gifts for Ages 1-2 Years
One-year-olds are growing more confident with walking and motor skills. Promote this important learning phase with these fun toys and books.
Encourage fine motor skills with this hedgehog game. Your toddler outfits Spike with his colorful quills, putting him back together again! This fun game also offers an opportunity to experiment with color patterning.
Another great educational toy from Learning Resources, mix-and-match dinosaur parts allow your child to create numerous fun combinations. This is a perfect toy for developing visual and tactile skills, while also helping your child develop the necessary motor skills for getting dressed.
Crawl-through tunnels encourage crawling skills--arm and trunk strength--in a fun, playful way. They also provide a calming sensory environment for young children.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Promote your toddler's language development and color recognition with this classic children's book!
Educational Toys for Ages 2-3 Years
Between ages two and three, young children start engaging in pretend play and also start establishing some independence. The toys featured below encourage these skills!
This play set will keep kids from ages one to five busy for hours! Complete with a farmer, animals, and food pieces, this electronic toy gives your child numerous options for creative and exploratory play, along with opportunities to learn animal sounds, counting, and colors.
Most of us remember hours of fun with Play-Doh as kids, and it is still wildly popular. While a simple tub of Play-Doh is enough to keep children busy, starter kits come with accessories that allow kids to roll, stamp, and cut their creations--perfect activities for developing motor skills and engaging in pretend play.
Squigz are the tinker toys of suction cups. A starter kit comes with 24 pieces--each with at least two suction cups. Get ready for endless pretend play--both in the playroom and the bath--and a great opportunity for your child to develop hand strength and both visual and physical motor skills.
Small slides, such as those by Little Tikes, are made specifically for young children and are typically appropriate for ages 18 months to six years. Slides promote coordination, balance, and calming sensory input for young children.
Educational Toys for Ages 3-4 Years
From ages three to four, children start making friends with peers and continue developing their pretend play skills and independence. They are increasingly mobile and typically can run and jump at this age. The toys featured here help children develop dexterity, pretend play skills, coordination, and skills needed to perform daily tasks.
Doodle and color mats provide a fun, no-mess coloring activity for kids ages three and up. Just add water! These mats promote grasp development, pre-writing skills, and help kids develop number, letter, and color recognition.
Whether or not your toddler is already helping in the kitchen, pretend-play kitchen toys help young children feel empowered to accomplish daily tasks and allow them to mirror caretakers. A wide variety of kitchen toy are available, ranging from simple plastic plates and utensils to toddler-sized full kitchens.
This fun toy set from Learning Resources is, as the name implies, full of surprises! Each two-piece gift has a surprise inside and promotes sorting, matching, and counting skills, as well as dexterity, strength, and sensory input.
Obstacle Course Stepping Stones
Stackable obstacle course stepping stones can be used indoors or outdoors by kids between ages 3-7. Stepping stones promote balance, coordination, strength, and also offer sensory input.
Educational Gifts for Children Ages 4-5
Age four to five is an optimal time for children to develop fine motor skills, communication skills, counting, naming colors, learning letters, and more.
Promote fine motor skills and visual motor skills to prepare your child for coloring, cutting paper, and writing with Rock 'n' Gem Surprise. Kids can crack open plastic geodes with a hammer and chisel to reveal gems inside. This is also a great toy to help your child develop color identification, sorting, matching, and counting skills.
ABC Pops provide a fun way for toddlers to build vocabulary, learn uppercase letters, learn and match colors, and practice fine motor skills. Your child will acquire important skills for coloring, cutting paper, and writing.
With hundreds of stickers and over a dozen scenes, sticker pads offer kids an opportunity to color pages and match stickers to pictures within the design. This fun activity promotes fine motor skills, visual motor skills, and shape matching.
Not only are they fun to slide around on, scooter boards promote arm and leg strength and coordination. They also help your child build core strength, which is essential for posture and gross motor activities such as bike riding. Many children also find that scooter boards provide calming sensory input.
Educational Gifts for Ages 5-6
At age five, children often have a strong sense of independence, they continue making friends, and continue developing letter and number identification and writing skills. They also have a longer attention span than younger children. These toys help them develop their growing skills.
This colorful sorting set promotes fine motor strength to help with pencil and utensil grasp, pattern recognition, sorting skills, and counting skills.
Jigsaw puzzles are fun for kids of all ages! Twelve-piece puzzle sets are approachable for young children and help them build perceptual skills and visual motor skills needed for writing.
A fun way to practice letter formation! Tracing letters also allows children to practice pencil grasp, letter recognition, and writing skills.
Kids develop gross motor skills, balance, and practice following directions while the whole family has fun playing The Floor is Lava. The set comes with 30 foam stones, 27 challenge cards, and more.
We hope this gift guide makes your holiday shopping easier! Happy Holidays from all of us at Sunny Days Sunshine Center.