How to Buy Educational Gifts for Toddlers
Toddlers spend much of their day playing. Encourage learning by giving a toddler in your life an educational gift for birthdays, holidays or just because you love him.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Bookstore Gift Certificates
- Children's Board Books
- Crayons
- Magazine Subscriptions
- Construction Paper
- Children's Puzzles
- Sandboxes
- Toy Alphabet Blocks
- Toy Alphabet Magnets
- Toy Blocks
-
-
1
Give a book. Toddlers love to look at pictures whether they're actual photos or drawings. They like to manipulate the pages of sturdy board books while they pretend to read. A quality children's book is a great way to encourage reading and letter recognition.
-
2
Buy books that introduce a specific skill. You can find a range of children's books introducing such concepts as the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors. There are even books for toddlers that explain opposites and cause and effect relationships, or social experiences such as sharing and feelings.
-
3
Look for age-appropriate craft kits. Toddlers enjoy creating. What better way to teach colors than by painting or drawing with washable markers? Learning shapes can be exciting for toddlers when they are able to glue together different sizes and textures of shape cutouts. Foster creativity and, at the same time, teach an important concept.
-
4
Buy toys that require filling and pouring. When toddlers pour water or sand into containers or from one container to another they learn important characteristics about volume. The spatial orientation skills involved with filling and emptying containers will help the toddler understand the relationship between different sizes.
-
5
Find any toy that focuses on letter or number recognition. Blocks, puzzles, electronic toys - the list is endless. The more toddlers are immersed in alphabet or number print, the more likely they are to retain and recall numbers and letters.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Make sure the gift you buy is recommended for the age of the child you are buying for. Toddlers become frustrated easily and nothing is more frustrating than receiving a toy you cannot play with.
Buy a gift certificate from an educational catalogue that sells toys. You can still buy something educational and give the gift of choice, too.
Check the gift for small parts that may be a choking hazard for small children.
Related Searches
Comments
-
6daughters4me
Mar 29, 2009
godinluc- that's really interesting, but I think it's wrong of you to join eHow just so you can leave the same comment on every single article written about toys, just to advertise your discovery toys business. Please write your own articles instead of spamming. -
6daughters4me
Mar 29, 2009
godinluc- that's really interesting, but I think it's wrong of you to join eHow just so you can leave the same comment on every single article written about toys, just to advertise your discovery toys business. Please write your own articles instead of spamming.
-
Nov 22, 2005
When buying a gift for toddlers, look beyond the toy store. Toddlers love to fill and pour things and they love to mimic Mom. Purchase small plastic watering cans, measuring pans and cusps (plastic) and stackable plastic storage boxes with lids. Just make sure that it is a quality plastic that will not break. Another excellent choice for older todlers is "dress up:: clothes.. These will help them learn to dress themselves, and "act out" different roles. Another great "toy" is a large sturdy cardboard box (like large appliance boxes) that the child can crawl in to or through -- just remember not to have a lid that can close on them. A sheet or blanket draped over a card table makes a great "fort" etc. I think the most important thing to remember is that any toy or activity that allows the child to explore and manipulate his or her world is a learning experience.
-
Nov 22, 2005
When buying a gift for toddlers, look beyond the toy store. Toddlers love to fill and pour things and they love to mimic Mom. Purchase small plastic watering cans, measuring pans and cusps (plastic) and stackable plastic storage boxes with lids. Just make sure that it is a quality plastic that will not break. Another excellent choice for older todlers is "dress up:: clothes.. These will help them learn to dress themselves, and "act out" different roles. Another great "toy" is a large sturdy cardboard box (like large appliance boxes) that the child can crawl in to or through -- just remember not to have a lid that can close on them. A sheet or blanket draped over a card table makes a great "fort" etc. I think the most important thing to remember is that any toy or activity that allows the child to explore and manipulate his or her world is a learning experience.
