The preschooler is a child from three to five years old. Preschoolers enjoy learning, playing, and exploring. They are active and enthusiastic about the world. They are curious, observant, and inquisitive. Preschoolers learn through play and as their skills, blossom and they reach milestones in many areas of development.

Through my two decades of working with young children, I have had the opportunity to try out a great multitude of toys. I have thoroughly assessed the toy benefits based on age, appeal, safety, and durability. Furthermore, I have examined if a child can play with the toy in multiple ways, if the toy appeals to several senses, promotes problem-solving, and boosts imagination. Most importantly, does the toy include ways for children to use their hands and fingers to help build the small muscles and coordination?

Below is a list of 10 educational toys for preschoolers.

1) Full and Pop Tubes are colorful interactive stretch tubes. Kids bend, build, connect, extend, spin, and play with tubes in multiple ways. They create imaginative play scenarios. Pulling, pushing, and manipulating tubes supports upper body coordination, strengthens hands, and fingers. Tubes are visually pleasant, tactically stimulating, and provide unique sounds. Tubes truly offer a bundle of fun!

2) Melissa and Doug Bead Sequencing Set includes colored wooded beads, dowels, and pattern cards. Children stack and build matching patterns while they improve their fine motor and visual perceptual skills. Bead Sequencing Set encourages learning colors, patterns, shapes, and counting.

3) Stacking Peg Board Set Toy is well-known and loved among occupational therapists. It encourages grasping skills and hand-eye coordination. Children work to aim and exert appropriate pressure to insert pegs. It is an excellent tool for fine motor and visual perceptual skills, sorting, color recognition, counting, and creativity. Children enjoy making birthday cakes, stacking towers, and more. The pegboard set is engaging and entertaining.

4) Melissa and Doug Lacing Beads is a brightly colored wooden lacing bead set for little hands. Initially, young preschoolers struggle to figure out how to string beads. This activity provides excellent fine-motor practice for both hands. Wood beads provide enhanced weight awareness for little fingers, as they are heavier than plastic—an engaging educational playset.

5) Fat Brain Toys Squigz is suction cup builders in versatile shapes and colors. Squigz attach, flex, stick together, or pop apart. Fun to build and create unique designs. Fantastic for hand strengthening, engaging to the ears and eyes. Innovative, durable, safe, and entertaining.

6) Button Art Set is a match and snaps chunky button activity board. Children work on matching colored buttons to complete eye-catching pictures. It is a delightful play to grow fine motor and visual perceptual skills. Fun and unique learning toy.

7) Kids Wood Sorting Puzzle Toy is one educational toy packed with a lot of great learning. This fun set provides opportunities to develop early math skills and use hands with eyes in a coordinated manner. It boosts problem-solving, cognitive skills, and visual-perceptual skills.

8) Picasso Magnet Tiles are every preschooler’s favorite toy. This building set provides endless creative construction play for young children. Creating masterpieces with magnet tiles is fascinating. Magnet tiles are excellent for imaginative and creative play. It is endless learning fun! (Picasso are exceptional quality magnet tiles).

9) Magnetic Drawing Board is a fun way to practice drawing, writing letters, and stamping skills. Children create artwork with stylus and shape stamps. They love moving sliding eraser to clean the board—an enjoyable tool to expand prewriting skills.

10) Magnetic ABC Letter Writing Board boosts uppercase letter writing skills. Provides visual cues for correct letter formation, writing top to bottom and left to right. Preschoolers work on holding the stylus pen with a finger grasp while they trace letters by pulling the beads up to the surface. Then they push back the dots with a finger or other side of the stylus—an exciting way to practice enriched sensory prewriting. Additional magnetic boards are available for lowercase and number writing; however, I recommend starting with uppercase letters to build a foundation for future writing skills.

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