Back to school is now upon us, and one surefire way to help kids make the most of their early years of education and development is by providing them with great educational toys. Educational toys help kids to learn through play, which makes learning both fun and exciting. It also makes it more desirable for kids that might not otherwise be super keen to pack in their summer holidays and hit the books. If you’d like to give your child something to make learning more fun and attractive, educational toys are certainly a great choice. Let’s check out some of the best examples currently available at Best Buy and consider a few fun ways to get kids interested in learning.

Educational toys for preschool aged kids

If your child is a toddler or preschooler, you may not be thinking too much yet about the back to school tradition. But that doesn’t prevent your child from getting a good head start on learning from as early an age as possible. After all, learning isn’t just something that happens in a school. Luckily, there are numerous educational toys to choose from for kids in the preschool years. In fact, just about every toy for kids in the first 5 or so years of their lives is educational in one way or another.

Educational Toys

An excellent example of this is the Roybi Smart Educational Robot, which gets kids ages 3 to 7 learning and having fun through songs, games, activities, special daily lessons on a wide variety of important subjects, and more. This spellbinding little robot will educate and entertain them at the same time. You can learn all about it by visiting its Best Buy product page or reading the review I did of it a few months ago.

Another educational toy for kids of all ages (from 3-99) is the Intelino Smart Train Starter Set. I actually tested and reviewed this set myself as well, and I can vouch both for its educational value as well as its fun factor—even for someone of my (undisclosed) age. Check out that review by clicking the preceding link if you’re interested in getting full details on this cool little smart train.

Educational Toys

As for what I can tell you here (which will barely scratch the surface of what this very cool train can do), it’s basically a toy that intersects the worlds of model train sets and smart toy tech. As such, it features a smart phone app (both Android and iOS) that gives kids control over pretty much everything, from its movement (forward, backwards, various speeds, etc.) to its many sound effects (typical train sounds and a whole lot more).

The Intelino Smart Train also has lights that can change colour, enough track pieces for you to build more than 10 different track configurations, and a feature in the app that allows kids to learn the basics of computer coding by programming routines for their train to perform. It truly is one of the coolest tech toys out right now, and it’s as educational as it is fun!

Educational toys for elementary school aged kids

As kids get older, soon they’re ready for something a bit more challenging. For this, you might consider something from the wide world of LEGO. LEGO is just the sort of thing that both challenges and inspires kids. It’s complex, fun, and leaves lots of room for creativity.

Educational Toys

Although I am showing a set from the LEGO Super Mario theme above, you can get LEGO sets across a wide variety of popular themes. Kids might build, for instance, robots that can really move, miniature versions of real-life architecture (like the Eiffel Tower), Star Wars vehicles and locations (as shown in the header image, top of page), Harry Potter scenes and characters, and so, so, so much more. With so many different options to choose from, LEGO allows kids to build truly complex creations in the themes that interest them most.

One thing to note about LEGO is that there is also a wide variety of set sizes—as in more and more individual pieces the bigger the set you choose. For this reason, it might be wise to start younger kids off a bit more slowly with less complex and challenging sets. They can always work their way up to ever more challenging projects later on if they discover they like building toys.

Educational toys for secondary school kids & beyond

As kids get considerably older—as in teenagers and young adults, their interests begin to move further and further away from toys. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still like to have fun in ways that are also educational. For this reason, I’m including on the list something that can’t quite be classified a toy, though it is both a whole lot of fun and highly educational. That’s right, it’s a telescope—specifically the Explore Scientific ExploreOne Aurora II 114 x 1100mm Reflector Telescope, which is a powerful model that uses a mirror to collect its light.

This telescope features a powerful 114mm aperture, a 1100mm focal length, and both 26mm and 9.7mm Plössl eyepieces, making it ideal for checking out much of our own vast solar system—from the Moon’s many craters to our various planetary neighbours. Of course, these are just a few of this telescope’s many features. Others include a sturdy mount and adjustable tripod, a 5×24 red-dot finder to help users locate objects in the sky, and it even provides special downloadable astronomy software to help them learn about all the astronomical objects they’re looking at.

With this telescope, older kids through to adults will be able to easily see celestial bodies such as Saturn and Jupiter. But not only that, Jupiter will be so clear that they’ll easily be able to see and count its moons. Very educational indeed!

If you’ve got a child with a strong interest in scientific pursuits who is old enough to appreciate and enjoy the sophistication of such equipment, this (or one of Best Buy’s many other telescopes) may be just the thing to help channel that interest into something more serious and long lasting.

 

Additionally, if you’re ready to take a more in-depth look at the many toys and educational items that are available for kids right now at Best Buy, click on the above link and begin your exploration. There’s sure to be something fun and educational to suit the needs and interests of every curious child!

 

Leonard Bond
Leo enjoys writing about everything from secret agents to tech toys and gadgets to professional hockey. Find his reviews and other product related commentary right here on the Best Buy Blog and his latest hockey rants at www.hockeycontroversial.com.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I really appreciate you for this blog. This one is very informative and also in simple language. Educational toys and robotics coding are new normal in this modern world. These toys are very useful for mental and physical growth.

Comments are closed.