Best educational toys for Christmas 2012

When it comes to buying toys, I think parents should exercise some thoughts into what they are buying. Toys can be a very good form of learning but only when they are designed correctly. The unfortunate thing is most toys are not created with proper understanding of how a child learns. For example, most of the push button type toys have minimal effect on a child’s learning as they do not require the child to do any form of creative thinking, puzzle solving or even physical action. Hence, if you are a concerned parent who wish to buy good education kids toys, here are some recommendations for Christmas 2012.

Lego blocks

I loved buying lego blocks for my child as he always seems to have fun with them. Lego blocks belong to the category of toys known as constuction toys. These are great for letting your child exercise their imagination and creativity. Recently, LEGO has been coming up with themes that many children love such as transformers, harry potter etc. This makes is even easier for a child to fall in love playing LEGO. The only downside is the price. A more complex set of lego blocks can cost up to USD100. The alternative is to buy LEGO look alike. The patent on LEGO block has expired and I have seeing lots of imitation in the market that cost less than 50% of what LEGO is selling.

Science toys

Another category of toys that I like to recommend is the science toys. The Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden is a good example. It is like a live garden where children can learn how a butterfly is born. The toy can basically set up an easy to care for environment for the children to learn how nature works and what is responsibility. Definitely recommended.

Puzzle Games

Puzzle toys are also another category of toys that help a child to develop important problem solving skills. The toy I am recommending is the perplexus maze game. It is a puzzle game whereby children have to figure out how to guide a marble through the different obstacles. Not only is this good for problem solving, it also helps a child’s motor skills.