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17 of The Best Educational Toys for Toddlers and Pre-schoolers

The best educational toys for toddlers and pre-schoolers make such wonderful gifts, as not only do they keep your little ones occupied, but whilst they are busy having fun they are also learning along the way.  Quality educational toys for kids help your child develop a range of skills such as gross and fine motor skills, cognitive as well as social skills.

There are a range of fantastic children’s education toys on the Australian market today for infants to teens and all ages in between.  However, in this article we’re going to focus on the top educational toys for 1 year old kids up to around the age of 4 or 5 year old. This is the age group where great educational toys are so important as it helps get them ready for their school years.

So keep reading below for some ideas for some of the top educational toys toddlers will love including:

  • fun educational games for toddlers,
  • interactive educational toys,
  • electronic education toys,
  • good old fashion wooden educational toys and
  • much much more!

What to look for in quality educational toys for 2 year olds Australia

To ensure you purchase the best educational toys for 0-5 year olds, give consideration to the following points:

  • Skill development: Educational toys for pre-schoolers are designed to help your child develop or fine tune a certain skill. The best educational toys for kids can develop a range of different skills such as fine motor skills, number and word recognition or problem solving for example.  Even just general social skills like learning to take turns, sharing and developing their vocabulary.
  • Durability: Toddlers aren’t always the gentlest when it comes to their things, so look for good educational toys for children that are durable and made from high quality materials
  • Safety: Of course, your child’s safety is of the utmost importance, so the best educational toys for kindergarteners are ones that are free from small pieces which may become a choking hazard as well ensuring that toys are made from BPA free materials.

17 of the best educational toys for toddlers and preschoolers

  1. Peppa Pig Wooden Clock

educational toys

Those little Peppa Pig fans will love this wooden clock puzzle, which will not only introduce them to the concept of time, but also assist in number and shape recognition.

This wooden clock puzzle features double sided pieces to help teach little ones the difference between hours and minutes, and with each block piece being a different shape it assists toddlers in putting the numbers in the correct order.

Being designed with the delightful and popular Peppa Pig, toddlers will love this clock, which makes one of the best educational toys for 3 year old’s and above.

Educational wooden toys for toddlers are ideal, as they are durable, safe and long lasting making them a great choice for anyone looking for some of the best educational gifts for kids.

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  1. LeapPad Ultimate Get Ready for School

educational toys

Encourage your little one to be school ready with this specially designed table made just for kids.  This LeapPad comes with over $150 worth of top selling apps which help little ones learn core school shills, social skills, problem solving and encourages creativity making it one of the best educational gifts for toddlers

One of the things that makes this tablet one of the top educational toys for kids is that it contains special technology that assesses your child whilst they play and automatically adapts the curriculum to be more or less challenging depending upon your child’s skill level.  This ensure your child remains focused and motivated to continue learning, as well as being able to adapt with your child as they grow.  In fact this tablet is suitable for children from age 3 to 9.

This tablet includes many features to ensure it is safe for children.  Some of the features include a kid friendly web browser with provides access to pre-selected websites, a built in bumper to keep the tablet well protected as well as a shatter proof screen.

If you’re looking for one of the best educational gifts for toddlers that encourages life long learning, this tablet from LeapPad is a great choice.

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  1. 4 in 1 Wooden Easel

educational toys

An easel would have to be one of the most popular educational toys for 2 year olds in Australia, as they encourage your child to be creative and help them with them with their fine motor skills.

This 4 in 1 wooden easel includes a chalk board on one side and a magnetic white board on the other.  Toddlers can use the magnetic white board to either draw with white board markers, play with magnetic letters and numbers or to hold paper so they can paint.

The easel comes with everything your child needs to get started.  Included is 4 paint pots, chalk, white board markers, paper holders, magnetic letters, numbers and symbols.

If you’re looking for educational gifts for kindergarteners that unleash their creative side, you can’t go wrong with this 4 in 1 wooden easel.

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  1. Magnetic Alphabet and Number Set

educational toys

I think we can all remember playing with alphabet letters on the fridge when we were young.  Whilst they are such a simple idea, it’s easy to see why they are one of the best educational toys for young children.

Help your child start recognising numbers and letters as well as colours, be encouraging them to place the pieces of the fridge, or even the magnetic wooden easel mentioned above.  As they get older you can help them in spelling basic words and solving basic mathematical problems.

This particular set of magnetic letters and numbers comes with 86 pieces and also includes symbols too.

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  1. Wooden Block Set

educational toys

Wooden block sets are timeless toys that are perfect for keeping young children entertained and are easily among the top 10 education toys for kids. This 101-piece wooden block and shape sorting set from Hape Toys is one of the fun educational toys aimed at young children.

If your toddler is looking for new and more complex ways to be creative, introducing a wooden block set like this will be perfect for them. With many different colours and shapes, it is easy to see why children will never stop reaching for wood blocks to create their towers and houses with. Watch your child construct and be imaginative, and have fun knocking everything down before packing up.

This set will help your kids develop their fine motor skills, as well as enhancing their patience and thinking skills, as they must think of strategies to uphold what they have created. They will have hours of fun being creative and increasing their personal potential.

A wooden block set like, makes for one of the best educational toys for one year old children and above.

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  1. LEGO DUPLO Train

educational toys

LEGO sets like this DUPLO train are known to trigger your child’s creative side and are among the top rated educational toys for toddlers.

This colourful train set is a great introduction to assembling and dissembling toys and is one of the educational toys for sale that toddlers will love. With numbers on the side of each DUPLO block, kids from 18 months to 3 years will enjoy practicing their counting and number recognition skills, as well as developing their motor skills.

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  1. Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set

educational toys

This Leap Frog Phonics Letter Set helps young children recognise and learn letters in a fun way.  With this set they can hear letter names, sounds and phonic songs. Young children can sing along to the alphabet song to familiarise themselves with the letters and sounds.

This toy teaches phonics, the alphabet and basic, early vocabulary and therefore ensures your child is learning fundamental listening and thinking skills.

Incorporated in a fun and entertaining way, this Leap Frog set is one of the top educational gifts for preschoolers that will keep them occupied and happy – they won’t even realise they are learning at the same time.

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  1. Leap Frog Shapes and Sharing Picnic Basket Set

educational toys

Designed to improve social and motor skills, this Leap Frog picnic set is one of the great and fun educational toys that encourage children’s role-play during their play time.

This colourful set has two settings, learning mode and music mode. In learn mode, the picnic basket says shape names and to help your child identify with those words, as well as teaching them basic manners. Then, the music mode plays fun learning songs.

This particular basket has 30 auditory responses to improve their vocabulary and familiarise them with colours, shapes and items.

If you’re looking for educational gifts for children, this is a great little set which helps develop toddlers social and fine motor skills.

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  1. Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Servin Up Fun Food Truck

educational toys

The Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Food Truck provides lots of fun for your toddler, whilst also helping them with their word to item recognition and social skills.

This food truck has two sides, one for driving the vehicle and one for serving. Your child will love to take and create your order, as well as developing their own character. The truck offers different songs, sounds and phrases so your child can keep learning throughout their different learning phases.

With educational learning toys like this, you can watch as your toddler learn listening skills through the orders they take and begins to recognise and learn items in their truck more easily.

The Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Servin Up Fun Food Truck makes one of the best educational toys for 2 year olds and above.

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  1. Leapstart 3D Interactive Learning System

educational toys

This Leapstart 3D Interactive Learning System enhances learning and is a great present idea for young children from the age of 2 years.

Little ones will love the pop-up holographic screen where characters and objects come to life and through the more than 600 different activities little ones will develop their skills to become school ready.  Educational toys and games like this are great, as the Leapstart 3D includes everything from counting and problem solving to creative thinking.  A stylus is also included to promote early hand writing.

The Leapstart 3D is designed to adapat with child as they grow being suitable for children from 2 to 7.

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  1. Think and Learn Teach N Tag Movi

educational toys

If you’re after robot cool educational toys for 3 year old’s, check out the ‘Think and Learn Teach ‘N Tag Movi’.  This robot toy for pre-schoolers subconsciously teaching them listening and critical thinking skills.

As the ‘Teach ‘N Tag Movi’ circulates and gives instructions, it encourages the young children to move with it by using a fun voice and interesting sound effects. This little robot has 360 degrees of mobility and asks little ones a range of questions or gets them playing fun games.

The Teach N Tag Movi is one of the best preschool educational toys, as it teaches them how to move by following directions, improving their listening ability and attention spans. Your little ones will have a great time playing with this toy and will be learning at the same time.

If you’re looking for educational gifts for 3 year old to 6 year old children, the Think and Learn Teach N Tag Movi makes a great choice.

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  1. Mega Bloks 80 Piece Set

educational toys

A Mega Block set is the perfect education toy for younger children as they are designed for a smaller hands that needs something chunky to grab. Let your children be creative as they play and create whatever their imagination comes up with.

Allow for open ended play while your little one learns invaluable motor skills and unleashes their creative side at a young age. Then, further down the line, they will be able to take these learnt skills and apply them to create more intricate designs with smaller blocks, keeping them entertained for the years to come.

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  1. Watergarden

WATER GARDEN learning toys

This interactive resource provides endless opportunities for learning about the environment and its ecosystems. Children learn about the process of planting and growing, care and respect for animals and the interdependence between plants and animals. You will be amazed at how simple it is.

  • Step 1. Feed the fish.
  • Step 2. Fish feed the plants.
  • Step 3. Plants clean the water.
  • Step 4. Harvest plants to feed the family!

The best part is, children are involved every step of the way. They will have the chance to feel confident, knowledgeable and autonomous in their role of caring for both plant and animal.

  1. Harpe Basic Builder Set

Learning toys for children

The Harpe Basic Builder Set encourages children to experiment, explore and create with engineering and mathematical theories. With 42 pieces, this resource has a multitude of potential combinations that allow for fine motor development and exploration important mathematical concepts. You will be amazed at a child’s ability to problem solve when this resource is presented without any instruction!  This resource truly incorporates the Harpe values being both creatively designed and eco-friendly. Equally as important, neither culture, nor language, nor gender inhibits the intuitive process of play with this resource. Ages 3yrs+

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  1. Tegu Pocket Punch Prism Jungle

educational toys

Tegu Pocket Pouch Prism is one of the most versatile, compact and beautifully designed products in the Tegu range. With its ability to be easily included in a backpack or handbag, this resource provide endless amounts of creative play on the go. Children can explore trial and error, process planning, engineering, mathematics and problem solving with the innovative magnetic block system. Suitable for children 12mths + this is the perfect resource to pop in your pocket and take with you anywhere for a rewarding learning experience. Ages 12mths+

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Angling Fever

ANGLING FEVER learning toys

This resources provides children with infinite hours of fun, in either solitary play or group play. The aim of the game is to catch as many fish as possible through hooking the loop with your fishing rod. Enjoyed outdoors or inside, Angling Fever allows children to strategize, problem solve and concentrate. Using fine motor control, children strengthen hand and arm muscles when using the fishing rods. As these skills are built, the game can be extended through introducing challenges such as using one arm and catching the fish blindfolded. Ages 4+

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  1. The Play Cement Mixer Construction

PLAY CEMENT MIXER CONSTRUCTION learning toys

The Play Cement – Mixer Construction is a child-sized, realistic resource full of fun. Children can create, imagine and explore dramatic play roles through engaging with this resource. Easily washed and cleaned, it can be used in the sandpit, mud patch or garden. Children develop social skills through negotiation, turn taking and collaboration when using this resource in groups.

The Play Cement – Mixer Construction also maximises opportunities for physical development in an exciting and fun way through encouraging turning, rolling, pushing, pulling and lifting. Colours may vary. Measures 60H x 35W x 67cm L. Ages 12mths+

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Still wondering? You can read our top tips for toys for for 3 year olds here too!

Photo of author

Janine Mergler

Janine Mergler is a veteran Queensland teacher, graduating from QUT with a BEd majoring in Social Sciences. After many years in the classroom, Janine moved on to academia. She has proudly trained new generations of teachers in her role as a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Education. She has also worked in the Queensland Government as an education specialist, developing education resources and delivering community awareness programs to help families conserve water. Currently she is the owner and editor of Families Magazine, a publication specifically targeted at parents who value a quality education for children.  Janine leads a team of professionals who write about family lifestyle, early childhood, schools and education information and family-friendly events.

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