58 Best Educational Toys For Kids: The Ultimate List (Updated!)

Magna Tiles are a true favorite amongst kids – making them a definite highlight on our list of the best big gifts for kids.

Magna Tiles allow kids the opportunity to explore, create, and build, using just their imagination – so fun! The magnets easily hold together, making it easy for kid’s as young as two to understand how they work. With so many shapes and colors, the options are endless in what they can create. This set comes with over 100 pieces that all work together. 

The fun and learning of the Osmo Genius kit that is so popular for iPad and Android tablets is now available for the most popular kids tablets, the Amazon Fire Kids tablet. It’s recommended for ages 6-10, and it comes with learning games that are designed for both beginners and experts.

With the Osmo Genius, they’ll use their tablet to build shapes and placements, learn problem-solving through physics, counting, letters, and spelling.

This edition comes with the base for the Fire tablet, Tangram pieces, number tiles, dice, words tiles, and stackable storage containers for each game.

Recommended Ages: 6-10 Years Old

Looking for some cool gifts for kids that will knock their socks off on Christmas morning? Look no further than this innovative new toy we know they’ll love.

Best for kids five years of age and up, the Sphero BOLT is a codable robot designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and invention through connected play and coding. Equipped with Bluetooth Smart technology and a scratch-resistant and durable shell, BOLT takes hands-on learning up a notch. Programmable sensors like motor encoders, LED lights, accelerometer, and a gyroscope allow for all kinds of coding fun. Simply connect a mobile device to the Sphero Edu app and they’ll be up and running!

Here’s the thing: science is totally fun and we think kids of all ages should learn about it and get their hands dirty with it. So, if you’re looking for a way to get them started, check out this 20-piece kit sure to get your kids to love science in no time.

This kit works hand in hand with STEM principles because it is open-ended and allows your child to explore. It includes red cabbage powder, citric acid, baking soda, color tablets, polyacrylate copolymer, vegetable oil, and cornstarch as chemicals. There’s nothing harmful that you have to worry about your child getting into. However, the experiments are still very cool for them to see. The supplies include two cotton swabs, three test tubes and stand, three plastic cups, a pipette, two sticks, two measuring scoops, and an activity guide. Any child six and older will love to play with this, and you’ll love that you are encouraging their love for science alongside them! If there is one scientific toy to get your child, its this one. This toy is affordable, fun, and basic.

Using hands-on learning, the Rock on! Geology Game With Rock & Mineral Collection is totally fun as your child can collect rocks and even break open a geode. There are five different levels of play, and up to 6 players can play at a time. It can be used with children who can’t yet read, but it is also still fun to play for elementary school-aged kids.

STEM-based learning is all the rage right now, and for good reason. Science and technology is what the world is made of, so it’s important to foster our children’s minds with these topics. This geology game is the perfect way to incorporate these teachings in a fun and exciting way. The rock collection is unique, and each rock is different. Your child will be entertained for hours. It comes in its own package and carrying case, so it stores nicely as well.

A relaxing stress relief that allows children to put their best creativity forward, these mind puzzles are the perfect gift for a child. Bonus – this is the travel edition. They can take it anywhere, including long car rides.

Educational toys are very important for your child to learn and grow. It doesn’t matter what age they are, educational toys can help them have fun while learning. This puzzle game is a great addition to any household that likes educational toys. This one keeps a little one’s brain challenged, and it can grow with them. There are many easy puzzles that they can start out with, and then there are advanced puzzles that even adults could do if they want! 

How fun is this! The Creativity for Kids Grow and Glow Terrarium is a kit that helps kids create their own small indoor garden. Science is so important, but it’s sometimes a hard topic to sell if you don’t have fun activities to aid in the learning process. However, that won’t be a problem with this terrarium kit.

Craft, plant, water, grow – it’s that easy. Equipped with everything they need to get started and get growing, you’ll find the following in the box: a plastic mason jar, a lid they can decorate, potting mix, chia and wheatgrass seeds, garden figurines, decorative sand, river stones, and a plant mister. Chia and wheatgrass both grow very quickly, so it won’t take long for them to see their creation grow.

This magnetic drawing board is unlike anything else you’ve seen. It allows your children to get a head start on writing and drawing, making it the perfect toy for children about to enter kindergarten.

With animated demonstrations, kids can follow along and learn how to write upper and lowercase letters. You can even customize the board with your child’s name, which will lead them through the letters to get their name written nicely. There are 26 different objects that this magnetic board will teach, and it goes from simple lines and shapes to much harder objects. This is in addition to the alphabet, so it’s perfect for young kids!

Combined with gravity, this maze allows children to build different mazes with 60 challenges. Marble mazes are a great way for your child to see how objects will go through obstacles. However, this toy takes marble runs to a whole different level. Ranging from beginner to expert, these challenges become more difficult as you play. The instruction manual is very easy to read and follow along with, so while your child will be learning, they won’t get frustrated with how the toy is supposed to work. This marble run has won multiple awards, including the Toy of the Year Award. Kids of all ages can have fun with this, but it’s recommended that the child can follow basic instructions before using. The small marbles also present a choking hazard to children under 3.

If you want your 8 year old or older child to learn something unique and useful, this is the perfect toy to purchase. This comes with 6 base boards, a battery module, variable resistor module, microprocessor module, tricolor LED module, speaker module, photodiode module, tilt switch module, 6 LED array module, 2 push button modules, 31 jumper wires, and a 48 page book with different ideas to follow. If all of this is going in one ear and out the other, you’re not alone. But, tons of kids are getting involved with building technological pieces and they love it! This challenges your child, but it also teaches them invaluable skills. They’ll be able to build unlimited electronic games and gadgets. It focuses on electronics in a STEM environment.

One of the highest-rated STEM building sets on Amazon comes with 163-pieces of various types of building units and a book containing 42 designs for your kids to put together.

This STEM kit is specifically intended to help your child develop their hand-eye coordination and master their fine motor skills. On top of that, it influences their logical thinking and problem-solving.

It’s a great toy for social situations as well, as your child and a friend can team-up to build even more of their ideas.

Recommended Ages: 3 Years and Up

With recognizable cubs, Cody and Cora, your child will be ready to learn all about the alphabet and words! The most important skill that your child can learn is how to read. They need to know this before they are in the first or second grade, but a lot of children struggle with it these days. However, this educational toy book is the perfect way to get your child interested in reading. There are 12 detailed pages that teach your child over 100 words. There are four different modes of play, and the pages react to your toddler’s touch. There are sounds, music, and words, and this educational toy can help teach fine motor skills along with words. 

No matter what age your child is right now, they can benefit from this awesome set of building toys. Many professionals already recommend this brand, and this set is the perfect set to challenge your child and get them building. Using your hands and building things is so important for kids, but they don’t do it often enough. With this 164 piece set, they will be able to build anything that their heart desires. There are no limits to the imagination and what your child can build. There are three instructional books included, which are for beginner, intermediate, and advanced building. With a storage container itself, you don’t have to worry about every piece being strewn across the house. They are also thoroughly tested, and have been proved to be safe for children. The best part about them is that there is a 100% money back guarantee if it doesn’t work out for you.

This educational toy takes building and makes it fun. With chunky bolts that your child can drill into the activity board, there’s no limit to what they can create with different patterns. This is a fun activity that they will enjoy doing, and it also grows with them. Little kids can drill randomly and learn hand-eye coordination, whereas older kids can drill patterns and shapes like is shown in the 20 activity cards it includes. There are plenty of fun designs to make, and your child will use the drill and get familiarized with it. The drill is battery powered, but it doesn’t spin fast enough for any harm to come to your child. It’s easy to use and super fun! This unique toy will be a hit with any child 3 or up.

Learning your states and countries is important for a child, but it’s something that is often a hard sell. No one wants to stare at a mundane globe and watch it twirl around. That’s much too boring for the kids these days. That’s why this globe is the perfect toy to get your child learning. It comes with a free app, and it helps take your child on an out of this world experience that is fun and interactive. With a 10” globe, passport, stamp, county flag stickers, and an instruction manual, your child will be set for hours. They can go through cultures, monuments, inventions, animals, maps, and weather! There is so much fun for them to go through, and their imagination and curiosity will be filled.

Everyone loves to break open geodes, but they are surprisingly hard to find. Thankfully, you can give your child the educational experience they need without having to hunt for geodes yourself. With 10 colorful geodes inside, your child will have a blast breaking these open. They are 100% natural and can be as big as a tennis ball or as small as ping pong ball. There is also a 16 page learning guide that talks about geodes and details about the ones found in nature. There is a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and there are different colored geodes within the kit. This is educational and fun, and it’s something pretty your child can display when they are done with it.

Talk about a fun way for kids to learn to code! If you’re shopping for big gifts for kids who have some creative flair and an interest in learning something new, be sure to check out the incredibly cool LEGO Star Wars Boost Droid Commander kit featuring lovable droids from the Star Wars galaxy.

This interactive building experience puts your kids in command of three app-controlled Star Wars droids: R2-D2, a gonk droid, and a mouse droid, each with their own personalities and skills. Kids will build the droids, insert the Bluetooth-controlled hub, and then using the free LEGO BOOST Star Wars app, control the droids as they work their way through 40 missions where they’re tasked with creative problem solving and coding adventures.

If your child is learning how to write, or you’d like them to get a head start on learning, this tablet is the perfect way to do so! It’s really fun to play with, and you get to trace the lights to learn how to write. Your child will love how interactive the tablet is, and it even gives them feedback on how well they do. It teaches both capital and lowercase letters, and it also teaches the numbers 1-10. It’s recommended for ages 3 and up because it comes with an easy-grip stylus that children can easily hold onto and write with. There are two separate levels, making it perfect for young toddlers and kindergarteners alike!

With this crystal growing experiment, they will stay busy for hours. If there is anything that children love to do, it’s experiments. However, most experiments take place in your house with items you really don’t want touched, which is just a bummer! Thankfully, you don’t need anything in your household ruined again. It comes with a special display case so your child can keep the crystals they have grown and shown them off to their friends. The instructions are easy to follow, and it lets kids have an interest in science that they may not have had without this! Your child won’t feel like they are using an educational toy because they will be having so much fun while participating in this. While it’s a one time toy that can’t be done over and over again, it’s really exciting to watch happen.

With 72 plastic pieces that are unique shapes and designs, your child will love creating endless designs. This toy will help to develop important skills that they need, and it teaches them how to be creative as well. The plastic is made from high quality TPE plastic that is colored with natural resources. It’s nice because these pieces are totally washable! With an included canvas bag, you and your family are set. There’s no limit to what can be built with this set of Taska Toys building blocks.

This toy is affordable and dependable, and you don’t need to worry about it breaking. It is non-toxic and safe to use. It comes with BPA free, lead-free, phthalate, free wood that is of the highest quality. There are 20 pieces that are detachable and will allow your child to stack them to their heart’s desire.

This toy helps to encourage hand-eye coordination and imaginative play because it helps them see the colors and the matching shapes and stack them on one another. Your two year old is finally old enough to decipher between different shapes and colors, and this is one toy that can help them to do the job.

By purchasing this floor map, you’re encouraging your child to learn about geography, and it helps them with spatial and problem solving skills because it comes as a puzzle! Living in the USA, it’s fun to teach your child all about the country. There are so many different states, and there’s a fun way your child can learn about them and the geography of the country. The floor puzzle is fun to put together, and the big pieces are easy for your child to match and figure out. They will love to put it together and take it apart again, challenging themselves over and over again. There are fun little pictures on each puzzle piece that show a fact about the state. Any toddler will love having this to play with.

Any child over the age of 3 can learn from and enjoy this toy. Before sending your child off to preschool, give them this perfect set that will help them learn and grow. There are plenty of activities that work with children on learning important skills, like tying your shoe, writing the alphabet, learning to cut, and drawing shapes. The set is going to come with 3 wipe away books and marker, 8 finger crayons, safety scissors, 2 stencils, 15 activity pages, 179 stickers, a shoelace, and instructions. It makes learning fun in a way that we often don’t think of, and it’s going to keep your child entertained for hours. Send them off to school prepared by getting them this toy now!

They are made without BPA, lead, heavy metals, or phthalates. What better way for your child to learn than to use their imagination and build? With these unique brain flakes, there’s nothing your child can’t build. They are thin and easy to connect, and you can use a lot of them or a small amount of them to make intricate objects to keep forever. The discs themselves measure 1.3 inches across, making them small but mighty! They are the perfect toys for boys and girls because of how it tests their brains and creativity. It comes with a carrying case, so you won’t need to have them strewn across the house. With the ability to teach spatial thinking, this is one educational toy you don’t want to miss out on.

The best part of all is that they can be washed in the washer without falling apart: it’s a toy that is going to last for years. Whether you have a baby or a kindergartener, this is a toy that is perfect. It’s nice because the toy will grow with your child! Babies will love that the cards are soft, and they will love to chew on the fabric. You can feel good about letting them because they are made from non-toxic and soft material. As your child grows, they can learn their letters and alphabet with the cards. And when they get older, they can read the back of the cards that will teach them new words! It comes with 26 pieces and a cloth bag to hold them all. 

Melissa & Doug has created a line of toys that is unlike any other toys out there. They don’t have batteries, and they are always made in a way that will challenge children and teach them something new. This Suspend game is no different. It can be played with one to four players, and it works by people hanging the rods together. This game will include 24 game rods, a wooden base, 4 frame rods, colored die, and a wooden connector. It develops that hand eye coordination that is so important, and it also helps with cognitive and interpersonal skills. You can’t go wrong playing this game for family night because it is fun for young children and adults!

If your child is just starting to learn, there’s a great way to foster their sentence making skills. This game is a perfect toy because it combines the fun of a game with the educational aspect of learning. There are plenty of puzzle pieces, and when they are combined, they make some funny sentences! It can be played with one to four players, and both children and their parents will have fun playing it. This will help your child to learn new words they may not be as familiar with, and it will also help them to put together sentences to learn the order of words. It teaches nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and there are 124 pieces to play with!

Your child loves to play in the bath, and you can make it a time for some education by providing them with this mega set of bathroom books. These are waterproof books that use simple words and pictures to help your child learn to read and recognize letters. The thirteen books will all float in the water, and there are five illustrated pages to each book. The books are soft, so you don’t have to worry about injury as well. It’s also fun because they contain squeakers inside of the book! This will keep them entertained in a safe way, and it will also help them to learn while they are in the process of bathing.

The solar system is something that every child needs to know, and introducing it in a fun way that will encourage their science skills is something that is amazing. 4M is known for making science fun, and they didn’t disappoint with this toy. Your child will get to put together the solar system, which will help them learn where each planet goes, paint the solar system, which will help their creativity skills, and learn all while doing it! The set comes with the planets, stencils, a glow paint pen, rods, string, chart with facts, and 10 sets of questions. There are no batteries required for assembly, so you will finally get a break from all those horrible electronic toys! Any child who has an interest in space and the solar system will love creating their own one for their room.

If you can combine play and learning, why wouldn’t you? This educational toy is so fun for kids, both young and old! Playfoam is so much better than play dough because it isn’t going to dry out as quickly, and it feels so cool on your hands. It’s a great sensory object to play with, but the playfoam doesn’t stop there. You can actually use the included cards to teach your children letters. Instead of having them write their letters over and over, let them create them from the playfoam! It’s easy for younger children since the letters are so large, but it still teaches valuable hand eye coordination skills. The foam comes in multiple colors, so your child will never grow bored. Let them play to their hearts’ content with this cool toy!

If you have kids who love to build and create, encourage their creative expression and budding engineer skills and treat them to this incredible Creative Toolbox from LEGO.

Equipped with all the tools and parts to build their own robot – yes, they really are taking over! – this is an awesome toy that’s also educational. And, with five different buildable models, kids will be able to build and then rebuild as much as they want. A toy that’s actually many toys, this is one of those gifts for kids that keeps on giving. 

Sometimes, the classic toys are the best! These bears are fun and easy to sort, and they come with matching cups to sort them in. It’s the perfect way to teach children how to separate colors and figure out how to correctly sort things. It’s a wonderful educational toy for toddlers! If you have a rambunctious toddler who needs to learn how to settle down, this toy can help. It’s relaxing and a little bit of a stress relief for children to play with. Preschoolers benefit greatly from this game, so if you know one or own a preschool yourself, you definitely need to add this to your collection! It’s by far one of the easiest toys to store, but it’s fun that you can see them learning as you go.

Your child is going to learn how to spell whether you want them to or not, but they could learn faster with this toy. This is a great way to teach your child to recognize letters and start to read. They will be able to match up the letters with the simple words, and the words also have a drawing next to them so they know what they are spelling. Some of the examples include cat and boat. There are 8 two sides cutout boards that have three to four letter words. It comes with 50+ colorful wooden letters that fit into the cutout boards. There is also a compact wooden storage space that keeps everything together. The really cool thing is that they also make a personalized version so you can get your child’s name if you’d like!

For those children who show an interest in music from an early age, this makes a great gift. It’s also just a fun baby gift for any child because of the sounds it makes. There are 8 different instruments, and they each show how they make up Mozart’s masterpieces. The corners are rounded, so you don’t need to worry about potential injury, and the sides light up with the music for added fun.

If you are raising a future scientist, then they really need their own microscope. Your child may not have experienced a microscope before, but they will love seeing it when they receive this. It’s easy to focus, and the design of this is completely kid-proof. It helps to encourage your child to love science. The two extra large eyepieces are easy to use, even for preschoolers. It has 8x magnification, so look at plants or bugs underneath the scope! It also has an LED light to help with viewing, non-skid feet, and a sample tray. It was the winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal, and more. The STEM learning is key here, and it can help create a healthy curiosity in your child.

For the most educational toy of all, get this bundle of flash cards. Your child will learn all the concepts they need to be ready for school and more. There are four sets of cards here, and they each focus on something different. There is social emotional learning, spatial concepts, general knowledge, and verbal concepts. With 370 flash cards and 1,500 questions, this set will keep your child entertained for hours. This is a fun way to teach them what they need to know, and it’s the perfect way to get the ahead of the curve if you want them to be in a higher class.

There are so many things that children have to learn, and it’s often not very fun for them. Whether you’re looking for students or kids at home, these opposites flashcards are perfect for teaching listening and problem-solving skills. They are perfect for interacting with, and they let your children learn about the world around them in terms of opposites. There are different games that they can match and see which items are opposites for other items. And the great thing about these flashcards is that they are large. There are 50 cards, which make for 25 pairs, and they measure 3.5 inches x 4.5 inches.

Your child loves to explore, but you wish it would be a lot more educational than exploring in your bathroom makeup and lotion. Forget about your ruined items and get your child this awesome explorer kit. It will keep them so busy that they won’t have time to even look your way! There are hours of fun included, and the outdoor exploration kit is fun and education. With STEM activities included, your boys and girls can learn all about the hand cranking flashlight, compass, whistle, and bugs. There are also binoculars for bird watching and a magnification glass to look at those tiny bugs!

Whether you have a child in school or a child who wishes they could go to school, this activity desk is so much fun. It is interactive with your child, and it includes five activity pages with cool content for them to learn from. If that isn’t enough, the educational desk can also be expanded with the purchase of expansion packs. There is an LED display that illustrates the letter and number stroke order, and it also teaches how to draw some basic shapes. If they tire of the desk, turn it into an easel and chalkboard, and use the storage space for art supplies! There are so many ways to play, and it even includes a toy telephone and music player. Overall, there are 100 vocabulary words, 20 activities, 20 songs and melodies, and the option for the expansion packs. It’s a wonderful toy for ages 2 and up!

If you have a dinosaur lover on your hands, nothing is more perfect than this educational toy. It is so fun for your child to look through, and the pop up images are absolutely stunning. It shows exactly what they dinosaurs looked like, and all the information within this book is new and significant. There’s nothing cooler than watching the smile on your child’s face when a giant T-Rex pops out of the pages! It will be a book that they want to read every night before bed.

Every child loves to drink out of straws, but disposable straws are so bad for the environment. Instead of buying disposable straws, invest in this one time purchase of Spelly Straws. These straws are super cool because not only are they reusable, but they can help teach your child how to spell. There are colorful ABC letters that come in this set, and they slide onto the straw to make words. Teach your child their name or basic words by instructing them to put the letter on their straw. It’s a fun way to jazz up snack or drink time, and it’s an easy way to add in some learning in a normal daily task. The set comes with 44 letters and 4 straw bases. This unique toy is going to get lots of love!

Bindi Irwin is one of the best scientists out there to follow, and this talking microscope is the perfect toy to teach your child about science. Science has become a lot more popular in recent years because of how important it is in a STEM atmosphere. If your child loves science or even if your child is struggling to love science, this is the toy to help them learn. There are 60 colorful slide images with over 100 facts and questions about animals, plants, and household items. There is a double eyepiece, which makes it easy to see out of. The image slide storage makes the cleanup easy, and it can even speak in multiple languages!

This pegboard is the perfect toy to travel with and keep in a purse or bag for when your child is bored and you are out and about. Forget showing them your phone or giving them YouTube to watch, this is a great educational toy that packs up small that they can have fun playing with. It comes with 10 different pictures and 46 colorful buttons that will plug into the picture and make it complete. It is really fun for a child to finish the pictures, and it can help teach them about matching colors and patterns. The materials are safe to play with, and the easy clean up with the built in storage tray makes it perfect to take with you.

Children and adults will enjoy these metal puzzles because they are challenging to the mind and give you a fun mental workout. Kids love it because it is hard, but it is also something that keeps their fingers busy. Much like an educational version of a fidget spinner, it will keep them busy enough that they will put their focus on it. Kids as young as five can learn how to untangle these puzzles, and they will never get bored since this is a set of 12 of them. These puzzles are high quality because there is no bending to be had while solving them. The metal is sturdy and isn’t going to break at all. Since they come individually packaged, you can save the puzzles for when your child accomplishes something good or save them as a prize. They are an affordable educational toy that will keep your child challenged and busy.

If you have a science-obsessed kid, they’ll love the Wonder Workshop Dot and Dash Robot Wonder Pack.

Best suited for children ages six years and older, this is one cool robot kit where kids can learn the basics of coding – something we know they’ll appreciate. The robots can be built in so many ways, allowing for hundreds of hours of educational STEM play.