The Best Educational Toys to Reignite Your Child’s Joy for Learning (2024)

Your kiddo will have a blast using this real working microscope to get a closer look at leaves, flowers, shells, and blades of grass under the magnifier. Designed to fit your toddler's tiny hands and face, they can grab any object to take a closer look and jot down their observations.

More: The Best Toys for Kids

The wheels on this cute bus don’t go ‘round and ‘round, but the whole magnetic set will allow your kids to explore the alphabet.

Place it on your fridge and let your tot insert any of the magnetic letter tiles into the open window. Press it once to hear the letter’s name and sound, and press it again to hear that letter used in a word and sentence. Hit the music note to sing along to the “Alphabet Song” and “Wheels on the Bus.”

Whether you have a budding doctor at home or a kid who is fascinated by how the human body works, this magnetic wooden anatomy set from Melissa & Doug makes for a great learning toy.

From the skeleton and muscles to the happy face once it's complete, this is a wonderful introduction to learning the parts of the body while helping kids visualize the body’s organs and systems.

When you have a perpetually bored kid on your hands, having a new activity for them consistently keeps you both sane.

Kiwi Crate is a subscription service that sends your kiddo age-appropriate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) projects for them to complete. Each project combines creativity and learning in a way that your kid will love. Plus, they’ll get a package in the mail every month addressed to them, and that’s super fun in and of itself.

Your little sous chef will be ready to whip up their favorite snack with this 22-piece kitchen accessories play set. So, now you can be the one demanding a snack every 5 minutes, even if it’s pretend snacks.

Whether you're adding this set to their existing play kitchen or using it on its own, your kiddo will serve you the tastiest imaginary food you've ever had.

This is no Rube Goldberg trap — this is a fully functional marble-run kit made of solid wood.

The two kids of the parenting editor here at Best Products absolutely love the Hape (pronounced “hah-pay”) marble-run kits. They're completely malleable, allowing for tons of open-ended play.

Nothing like getting your kid started on their DIY journey early. This tool toy provides a ton of sensory input as well as providing them with the opportunity to learn how to use tools properly and safely.

The wooden sensory board comes with real tools, including insert screws, a double-sided screwdriver, a hex key, and a wrench. Now they’ll finally be able to help you build IKEA furniture.

Little ones don’t need their own laptop, but they’ll feel like they’re a big kid with the LeapFrog My Own Leaptop. Our kids have this one, and as parents who work from home, it’s a fun way for them to sit alongside us and feel connected.

The adorable device offers four learning modes: ABCs, messages, games, and music. It’s easy enough for your kids (it’s designed for ages 2 to 4) to figure it out on their own after just a couple of times using it.

For toddlers and kids whose lives revolve around vehicles (IYKYK), do yourself a favor and get this construction toy race track. There are 200 pieces included in the set that kids put together themselves, along with six types of construction trucks that move automatically along the track (with batteries).

It’s an Amazon best-seller, so you know it’s good. Our kids love this toy, but it wasn’t until around age 4 that they could put it together without the help of a grown-up.

Our kids are obsessed with everything offered by Osmo. They started out with this Little Genius Started Kit for iPad, which feels like a magical adventure. It's a bit spendier, so it makes for a killer birthday or Christmas gift.

The Osmo learning kit is a fusion of real-life block play with an iPad game and connectivity. It's a completely safe, closed system that helps teach your children things like numbers, the alphabet, and shapes. Whatever your child creates on the pad, Osmo instantly transfers it to the screen, which kids can’t get enough of.

This is the starter kit, which is perfect for kids ages 3 to 5, and it comes with multiple shaping blocks, the Osmo Base and reflector for your iPad, cardboard costume cutouts, and storage for the blocks.

There are entire Instagram pages dedicated to offering creative and unique ideas for Magna-Tile play. If your kids are as obsessed with magnetic tiles as ours are, they will be thrilled with this glow-in-the-dark set.

The set includes 16 pieces that glow in the dark, which might be an enticing way to get your little ones to stay in their room when they wake up before sunrise.

As a bonus, once your kids grow out of playing with blocks, they're super fun to hang on the fridge and play with while you wait for the water to boil.

You’re going to wish they made this mat in a grown-up size. This Aqua Magic Mat gives your kids a place to play and color without making a mess. It comes with stencils and writing utensils for clean, magical, artistic fun. Emphasis on the clean.

This particular mat happens to come with a ton of shapes, and has the alphabet on the perimeter of the map, elevating it from a creative art toy to something multidimensional.