What are some good learning toys to buy a toddler for Christmas?
December 15th, 2009 | 
Author: My son is 18 months old and I am not sure what to get him other than what I already have. I wanted to get him something specifically aimed at learning, not just fun time.
It may sound weird, but at this age – EVERYTHING is a learning toy. Your child will be able to learn from anything. Kids are sponges at this age and absorb everything from how something feels, to the noise it makes, to the way it moves, etc.
My son always loved things with wheels. He would flip cars over just to play with the wheels – especially ones that you could pull back, and then they’d go forward on their own. You could see the excitement in his face when he figured out how to do this on his own. =)
I’ve read articles that said constantly giving your baby toys that are teaching, and learning things can actually be detrimental. They say it limits a child’s imagination. If a toy is telling your child that something is a bear.. then it’s a bear. Nothing more. It’s not a magical bear with super powers.. or a bear that loves to eat vanilla pudding.. it’s just a bear.
My son does have some learning toys, but I’ve found he doesn’t like them that much. (He likes cause and effect toys like keyboards/pianos.. those pop a shape things, etc where you have to do something to make something happen)
Here’s a list of the top 5 educational toddler toys :
http://toys.about.com/od/learningtoysbyage/tp/learningtots.htm
*monkey*
Posted in learning toys
i’m getting my 15 month old the leap frog toy that has the letters and you put the letter in the thing and it says the letter and the sound it makes.
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i got my 2 year old a bowling set (for toddlers) and its good for cordination and its fun, also puzzles (those wooden kind) with animals, abc’s, or numbers on them. or maybe a learning DVD to watch with him.
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It may sound weird, but at this age – EVERYTHING is a learning toy. Your child will be able to learn from anything. Kids are sponges at this age and absorb everything from how something feels, to the noise it makes, to the way it moves, etc.
My son always loved things with wheels. He would flip cars over just to play with the wheels – especially ones that you could pull back, and then they’d go forward on their own. You could see the excitement in his face when he figured out how to do this on his own. =)
I’ve read articles that said constantly giving your baby toys that are teaching, and learning things can actually be detrimental. They say it limits a child’s imagination. If a toy is telling your child that something is a bear.. then it’s a bear. Nothing more. It’s not a magical bear with super powers.. or a bear that loves to eat vanilla pudding.. it’s just a bear.
My son does have some learning toys, but I’ve found he doesn’t like them that much. (He likes cause and effect toys like keyboards/pianos.. those pop a shape things, etc where you have to do something to make something happen)
Here’s a list of the top 5 educational toddler toys :
http://toys.about.com/od/learningtoysbyage/tp/learningtots.htm
*monkey*
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Never Cared for the leap frog toys because my kids always got tie rd of them.
Coloring books and building blocks were great for my boys. They also like bright colorful soft cars to roll around. They were rubber and large so they weren’t a choking hazard.
What ever you decide it will be a learning experience for them even if the toy isn’t labeled a learning toy.
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I LOVE the V Tech toys from Target, they are interactive toys that turn on and off, teach to count, read, and name animals and pictures. Leap Frog toys are also at target and also do the same!
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anything by leapfrog is good.
I got my son the fridge farm for his first birthday. It is a magnetic thing that hangs on the fridge…the base is in the shape of a barn, then there are 1/2 animals shapes to put in it. When you match them up correctly it sings a little song and gives you a little fact. If you are wrong it just tells you "that is silly"
at about 2.5 years old I got him the fridge phonics. It has all the ABCs and a base to put them in one at a time. When you put in A it says "A… A says ah, and A says A…touch the letter, hear the sound. a says ah and a."
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mom of 3. youngest knew all his capital letters by 2.5 years old!
really anything by leapfrog or v-tech is a learning winner!!!
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You can check out the following website. It recommends educational toys that can help your kid develop different skills (language, gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social, etc).
http://www.play4kid.com
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http://www.play4kid.com
It would have helped if you’d said what he already has…
A xylophone or a keyboard (target has a keyboard for age 2+ that’s probably fine for 18mo as well).
A wooden toy train with train tracks.
Lego duplo.
This kind of thing: http://www.educational-toys-mart.com/gazoobo-shape-sorter-logic-coordination-toy.php
Puzzles, books, etc. Melissa & Doug have puzzles that make noise if you put the puzzle pieces in them, e.g., the cow moos.
Etc.
Anything from V-Tech gives me a headache after about 5 seconds and will likely teach your kid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, imo, they’re super-annoying.
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I’ve got an almost 16mo.
I think you will find some good idea at the 2008 Christmas Favorites web site – there are some good educational toys there.
http://www.2008christmasfavorites.info
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http://www.2008christmasfavorites.info
I think a fun and good learning toy would be the Ultra Dinosaur by Fisher Price
http://fun-learning-games.com/Toys-and-Hobbies/FisherPriceUltraDinosaur
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i ever see them on this site : http://www.buycheaptoysonline.com
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