Good morning! I am really excited to share this educational toddler gift guide with Y’all. This is one gift guide/topic I am super passionate about. Since having my son I have really made it a passion project to find toys that are entertaining but that also help him to learn through play.
For those of you that are new here, I want to share a little back story on why I feel pretty confident saying these are really great educational toy options. For the last year or so my son has been in speech therapy and occupational therapy. It has made a huge impact on us as a family and we have become more intentional in the toys we buy. These are some of the toys the therapists suggests for intentional play and growing their fine and gross motor skills.
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Alright, it’s time to chat a little about why I chose these gifts for the educational toddler gift guide. These are all toys that I got the thumbs up from Pookies therapists.
Lace beads are a great way to work on fine motor skills. Sets like this one are great because you can use them for color recognition and sorting shapes.
Fun educational games are always a plus. This one is great because you can involve everyone and work on color recognition and fine motor skills. I’ve done something similar with clothes pins but this is one Pookie really likes.
Sorting games like this one are amazing for getting toddlers ready for puzzles. I look at it as the prepuzzle. Now that Pookie loves puzzles we use it for matching shapes and talking about the name and colors. I’m a big fan of anything that reiterates what we work on in a different way.
Tool sets are a big hit in my house. This one is a little different from the typical toolset, but I love that it works on the fine motor skills in different ways. I love that it’s really helped my son gain strength in his hands for things like tasks like zipping his jacket to holding opening and closing his markers.
You can never have enough pegboard shape and number games. This one is a big hit for my kiddos. I think they like that it has lots of different activities in one pegboard. I love the counting for my kiddos and the shape matching for both kiddos. Sofia is still learning all her shapes and this has been another fun way to introduce them.
These colored counting cubes are great for color recognition and strengthening my kiddos hands. They will also be really helpful when they learn addition and subtraction.
Counting bears are a big hit in my house and they are cheaper than the counting monkeys. They are one of the ways we introduced sorting and matching. This set comes with matching sorting cups. For some reason having matching, cups makes it more entertaining for my kiddos.
This sorting board has been a huge hit in the Amores house. Both my babies love it.
You can never have too many lacing toy options. This one is a lot of fun because it includes animals which are always a big hit with my kiddos.
Scissors are one of those tools that I learned I was supposed to start when my kiddos were both two years ish. These scissors are a really great pair of training scissors. They have a spring that helps to assist new scissor users. The great thing is they transition into regular toddler scissors so they can be used as kiddos hand strength grows.
Building toys that work with building something and working the twisting skill are really important. Twisting skills help to strengthen little one’s hands. This one was a huge hit for both my kiddos.
Games are a really great way to keep the learning going. This one is great for matching and fine motor skills since they have to put the pegs in and pull them out.
This is another lacing card. I feel like you can never have too many options to keep the learning and growing going. These have smaller holes so they have to work a little harder to get the string in. Another fun way to work on this skill is with a pipe cleaner and some small beads. Pookie made the cutest candy cane with red and white beads and one pipe cleaner. The resistance was so good for Pookie and working on this skill.
Activity books a must. This one works on scissor skills which are a must have since kiddos evidently need to cut a straight line at 2 years old and by 3 years old cup out shapes. If you are mind blown by this you aren’t alone. I was too.
Boogie boards are like the technology version of a chalkboard for your kiddos. We bought these for both kiddos and they are great for working on vertical and horizontal lines. Those are the beginning of triangles and lots of shapes. Circles are Pookies hardest shape so far. Something about being left-handed and drawing a circle trips him up a little. I love that it looks like an Ipad or something but totally isn’t one. These are also great for keeping in your bag. Think of it as an extra something to pull out to keep the kiddos entertained without needing the tablet.
Thank you all so much for stopping by! If you got to the end I am impressed!
