With the holidays behind us, parents often face an influx of toys this time of year as they find space for new arrivals and new homes for whatever’s been outgrown. Over the years, we’ve found there are some types of toys we love to have around. Not only do these toys entertain for hours, but they enhance learning and discovery as well. Here are my top five learning toys you may want to keep out of the donation bin while spring cleaning:
Building Toys:
Our number one is of course Legos, but we also love tinker toys, megablocks, and kits like marble mazes or just classic blocks! If you rotate, these are easy to store and change out to keep your child’s interest year-round.
Science Toys:
Any kit designed by National Geographic. We’ve done rock tumbling, crystal growing, fossil digging, and more. We also love Insect Lore for real-life biology lessons detailed in this previous post.
Tech Toys:
Code-a-Mouse and Snap Circuits have been our favorite toys when it comes to learning the basics of computer science in a fun way. Our five-year-old is starting to get really good at coding the mouse to go through mazes he creates!
Pretend Play Toys:
Even as the boys are getting older, pretend play is still one of their favorite past-times. Now, they usually include star wars costumes and lightsabers, but they still utilize some of our basics when roaming the yard or the neighborhood on a mission. This includes binoculars or magnifying glasses, construction tools like shovels or small hammers, or medical supplies like stethoscopes or “bandages” for injured stuffed animals.
Creative Toys
Play dough, kinetic sand, and now modeling clay are popular activities that can keep the boys independently busy for hours. We also keep art supply bins of markers, crayons, pipe cleaners, pom-poms and other supplies that allow for endless possibilities. Perler beads are the most recent favorite, but I’d recommend getting the bead sweeper to help with clean-up.
Our Life in A-Z 