How to choose the best educational toys for toddlers & pre-school
17th May 2017
Stimulating toys for toddlers & pre-school
Four-year-olds are a bundle of energy and exploration – we know this because we’re surrounded by them everyday at Gambado. At this age, children have fairly short attention spans and vast imaginations. Choose educational toys for toddlers & pre-school children that encourage open-ended role play, learning toys that support collaboration and teamwork and toys that allow your child to feel mastery and achievement.
Best learning toys for toddlers & pre-school
Toys that encourage sorting
Four-year-olds love categorising. Toys that consist of multiple parts that can be grouped in various ways – such as blocks that differ in shape, size and colour, are a good choice.
Turn-taking Games
Four-year-olds have flourishing communication skills, but they still often have trouble negotiating with peers and expressing their feelings. Look for toys and games that require turn-taking, such as board games or card games. Board games that also foster early learning goals (like those that require counting spaces to move your piece around the board) are a bonus!
Educational games
Four-year-olds enjoy rehearsing the skills they learn in preschool and beyond. Consider technology-infused toys, including kids tablets and handheld games that contain educational and age-appropriate content. What’s better than practicing your letters? Practicing them in a fun game on a cool device is even better, of course!
Pretend play toys
Four-year-olds love to construct elaborate imaginative scenarios. Look for toys that inspire role play and imaginative play. Kids love figurines (such as toy soldiers, pirates or princesses), dress-up clothes, sock puppets and toy stations such as kitchens and tool benches. – complete with dishes and tools, of course! 😉
Play and learn together
At this precious age, your child often still wants to play with you. Play and learn together – Gambado offers children the chance to play, learn, run free and explore in a fun, safe and stimulating environment. Our indoor soft play for toddlers & pre-school has been superbly designed to cater for all ages, including under 2’s and under 4’s. Our venues are packed full of variety and innovation. The play areas for toddlers and pre-school are designed to be stimulating and to inspire young minds. All of our sensory zones have play equipment for learning and development, including infinity tunnels, bubble tubes, touch balls, soft play floor piano, imagination toys, ‘under the sea’ sensory walls, ‘earthquake’ zones, ball pits, play frames and slides.
Young children learn by imagining and doing – bring them to Gambado to explore our soft play for toddlers & pre-school areas. Our sensory equipment varies from site to site. Book your indoor soft play session below to avoid queues and registration fees. We have indoor soft play centres in Beckenham, Chelsea, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Watford.