Are you looking for ideas for birthday gifts, holiday gifts, educational toys, or just new things to help teach and engage your preschooler? You’ve come to the right place!
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As an Early Childhood Special Educator, I am a big believer in play-based learning. Kids learn best through play. I have created these lists to help you find toys that will help your child learn and grow through exploration, imagination, and creativity. I hope you will find them helpful, and if you have anything you’d recommend to me, I’d love to hear it in the comments!
The things that I am recommending are either products I have owned, or used in other places like schools I’ve taught at, play places, libraries, etc. If I have not personally used them, then I did my best to find products that are from brands that I trust with high ratings, and I will write comments stating that.
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Sensory play is engaging and fun. These types of activities are great for all kids, but especially for kids that are harder to engage in play.
Tactile Toys
There’s lots of different themes you can choose from. The texture is great, and it never dries out.
A fun texture to explore. Watch them go through different phases as they grow. Fun to scoop and transfer.
I’ve gone through a lot of bubbles over the years. These are my favorite brand.
There are so many different play-doh sets to choose from. This is great for fine motor skills too.
My daughter had this toy when she was little, and it was a big hit!
This sink really works, I loved having one of these for my daughter to play with while I cooked dinner.
Yes, it’s messy, but it’s such a great tactile experience for young kids
Theraputty is so great for hand strength and fine motor skills. Hide little toys in it for your child to find. This is what our OTs use at the clinic I’m at
There is a whole series of these touchy-feely books that kids love. You can get them from an Usborne distributor or from Amazon.
This is another Yookidoo toy like the one above
One of my clients had this puzzle, I loved it. It’s on the pricier side though.
I haven’t seen this one, but it’s an alternative to the one to the left of this and is about half the price.
I loved theses as a kid. They’re so fun to explore with and make new designs. Plus, they feel really cool.
I haven’t tried these yet, but as far as a tactile activity goes, I think this would be awesome
Of all the sensory tables I’ve used, this one (at least it was one that looked just like this) was my favorite. It’s on the pricier side, but if I had my choice, I’d choose this one
I haven’t used these particular ones, but they have good ratings and they look fun.
Tangles are fun fidget toys, and I like this one because it has some texture to it.
This is another type of Tangle, but it’s fuzzy
These also have good ratings, and look like they would be good fidgets.
Scarves are fun for music time, pulling out of a kleenex box (cause and effect play), matching, imitating actions, and wrapping things in. Get creative 🙂
Another fun little fidget.
Another fun and different texture to explore
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Vestibular and Proprioceptive Toys
If you have room for an indoor trampoline like this, I would highly recommend it. Great for bad weather days. This is the one we have at work, and it’s definitely a favorite
Saucer swings are the best. I use this more than anything at work. I’m not sure what brand we have at work, but it looks like this.
These are so much fun! If you don’t want to spend as much money, check out FB Marketplace, I oftentimes see them there, but they go fast.
If your child loves deep pressure and movement, then a lycra swing is the way to go. I haven’t used this specific swing, but it has good ratings. I love being able to use a swing in therapy sessions.
I haven’t used this specific toy, but ball pits and tunnels in general are great proprioceptive activities
There’s so much you can do with a scooter. They’re great for motor planning, vestibular input, proprioceptive input, and more. I like the ones that can connect together like this one.
Another great toy to have indoors when you can’t make it outside
These are great for obstacle courses inside or out. I’m not sure what brand I have, but they look like this
Another great addition to your obstacle courses. You can set it up different ways kind of like a train track. I’ve used a similar one when I worked in a clinic, and it’s great for so many motor skills.
These are also fun for obstacle courses or floor is lava. I used these all the time when I worked in a clinic, they’re great because they’re different sizes. They’re good for balance, and motor planning.
One of my schools had these, and they were great for indoor play. They’re good for balance and vestibular input. You can stand or sit on them. The kids had so much fun with these
This scooter is good for beginners. I own this one, and it’s been a great starter scooter. They’re good for balance, vestibular, proprioception, and coordination
I have two balance bikes, the chillafish one and the strider. I definitely prefer the strider balance bike. It cost twice as much, so I guess that makes sense. Biking is such a great activity from childhood to adulthood
If your child is bouncing off the walls (literally), these are fabulous for getting some of those wiggles out. It does require some coordination and body awareness though
These are great for obstacle courses, or building and knocking down. You can knock them down by running into them or throwing a ball at them. I use these all the time with my class
Cause and effect toys are great for kids who are harder to engage and/or learning independent play. You can use these toys to engage your child and help them ask for more by creating Circles of Communication (back and forth interactions).
Always a favorite. Great for fine motor. I also love these types of activities for working on circles of communication to initiate more.
I almost always have this toy in my classrooms. They’re fun, motivating, and great for working on requesting.
Don’t forget about the classic See N’ Say.
There’s a reason why certain toys stay around for years and years
I had this toy in my first classroom that I taught in, and kids loved it.
I’ve used these a lot during circle times, or just playing together. The kids like to come up with different things to pretend that the tubes are. For example, a phone, a trumpet, a crown, a necklace, a snake, etc. Plus they’re great for hand strength, and they make a fun noise.
This spinning toy is a lot of fun, and great for working on requesting more, or identifying or naming colors.
Musical instruments are always great for cause and effect play. I haven’t had this music set, but Melissa and Doug are always my go-to for quality toys.
We have this toy at my work, but we have a plastic one. The kids love it, but it falls apart all the time. This wood one looks great with good ratings. I would definitely get this over the plastic one next time.
There’s something so satisfying about building with Magna-tiles. They’re fun to build, they’re fun to break down, and they’re even fun to clean up.
Hammering toys are always a fun one.
These are fun for kids to build with, and you can work on color identification as well as requesting more.
These sensory toys are good for cause and effect. They’re pretty simple, but can be calming for some kids.
Another version of a hammer toy. I like that it adds music to it.
My parents have a cat version of this. Kids think they’re so fun. This would be a good way to encourage initiating more by having coins to give the dog. Obviously, if your child puts things in his/her mouth, this needs to be done with supervision.
Pulling things out of a box is always a fun cause and effect activity. I haven’t used this toy, but I like that the scarves have the alphabet on them so you can do ABC activities or color activities if you wanted to.
This is meant for babies or toddlers, but I think it could make a great cause and effect toy for other kids as well. Use your judgment on whether it would be good for your child.
This looks like a fun cause and effect toy for the bath tub. It has good reviews, but I haven’t used it before (Unfortunately, I don’t have all the money in the world to buy every toy I think looks great. If you get it, let me know how you like it)
Kids learn so much through pretend play. The more opportunities a child has to pretend, the better. This develops the brain, and helps a child learn things like cooperation, problem solving, empathy, personal responsibility, social skills, motor planning, sequencing, and the list goes on. My two favorite brands are Melissa and Doug and Learning Resources, so I’ll have a lot from them.
As I look at my list of toys, I realize how many toys I have and have had over the years. Let’s just say my daughter was lucky that I was a preschool teacher long before she was born, it’s the only way she had access to so many toys.
This was the absolute best birthday present for my 5-year-old. She could spend forever playing with it.
A fun little cleaning set. I find these on FB Marketplace all the time if you want a used one, see if there’s one in your area.
Pizza party, pizza parlor, delivery man, house, restaurant, school lunch. Lots of pretend ideas with a simple pizza
This little mixer is battery operated, you can also mix by hand. I’ve had it for over a year and it’s still going strong. My daughter likes to mix all kinds of foods in it.
They had this fun toy at a little play place in Maryland, when I lived there. I thought it was so cute.
I have played with a lot of different play food. These are by far my favorite. Their quality is way better than most. I also love this set because of the variety and you can also work on color recognition.
Melissa and Doug also has great quality food. Their food is wooden. These are great for fine motor skills as well as pretend play as you can cut the food.
I have a kidkraft kitchen. The doors are falling off, but it’s probably because it’s 14 years old. So it’s really lasted a while. It was a hand me down from my nieces and probably broke during one of our cross country moves. I would once again recommend looking on FB Marketplace for a kitchen. There’s always a bunch when I look.
I have this dollhouse. It’s pretty good quality. A lot of times you can find these on FB Marketplace.
I love this chair. It’s held up great, especially considering my huge dog thought it was hers for a while. It would make a great addition to a play house
This is such a fun little set. It’s all made out of wood and is great quality.
I also got this used. It’s a great addition to a grocery mart. Just watch out for your toes!
Melissa and Doug has a lot of great dress ups for pretend play. Check them out!
This tent has held up great at our house. It gets used all the time for pretend play
My daughter loves these. She likes to go downstairs and talk to me upstairs. They work pretty good for our purposes.
Puppets are great for all stages of play. They’re my go to for introducing pretend play, and can be used for complex pretend play as well. Melissa and Doug have a lot of different characters to choose from.
I love having one of these in my classroom. It’s so good for social skills, and pretend play.
I don’t have this toy, but I really want it
These are my favorite books to use in my preschool classes. They are generally books that have a good rhythm, and kids are able to “read” with you because they are simple or have repetitive phrases. They are also good books to use with adaptive devices.
I don’t have time to add every single book I love, but I will try to highlight some of my favorites.
Kids think this book is so funny. It has predictable phrases making it easy for kids to “read” along. Sandra Boynton has so many good books. Themes: colors, clothes
Big bear keeps misunderstanding what he’s being told. All the words rhyme with share. Themes: sharing, rhyming
This book talks about things friends should not do and things they should do. Themes: social skills, friends
I like the cadence of this book. It’s a fun read. Themes: confidence, self-esteem
A cute book with lots of great rhymes. Kids love to act this one out. Themes: rhyming, actions
This is one of my favorite books to use in class, but I don’t love the pictures. Kids still love it though. Themes: animals, animal sounds
Froggy is getting dressed to go play in the snow, but he keeps forgetting to put things on. I love using my felt set for this book. Themes: clothes
This book has nice rhymes, and repetitive phrases for kids to repeat. The tickling part is most kids’ favorite. Themes: animals, actions
I like the actions in this book, it’s a fun one to act out with the kids. Themes: transportation, actions
I love the Todd Parr books. They’re simple, colorful and fun. Theme: feelings and emotions
This is a cute book about what friends do to help each other. Themes: friendship, shapes
I love to use this book for Halloween, and really any other time of year. Kids love to “read” this book and yell “go away!” Themes: body parts, colors
Have your kids help you spot the camouflage lizard throughout the book. Theme: colors
A fun halloween book about friendship. Repetitive words that make it fun to read. Themes: halloween, friends, animals, objects
Little Blue Truck is one of my favorites. I love the rhyming, the themes, and the pictures. Themes: animals, friendship
The first time I saw this book was when it was being used with an augmentative device. It has great repetition so that kids can participate. Themes: animals, adjectives
I love using this as my Christmas book theme. It’s fun to wrap and unwrap presents as we read this book. Themes: Christmas, objects, adjectives
A silly book about turkeys falling down. Fun for thanksgiving. Themes: Thanksgiving, actions, counting
I love these shine-a-light books just because they’re fun. I wouldn’t use them as a preschool theme necessarily, but they’re fun to read together
I like how this book incorporates a lot of movement and action as you read it. She also has other books like Bounce that I want to buy. Themes: movement, body awareness
These are some fun ways to work on fine motor skills with kids.
A simple game that helps kids work on fine motor, turn taking, and colors
Kids love breaking these gems open. You can hide them like an Easter egg hunt and expand the activity.
Opening the doors with the keys is great for coordination and fine motor. I’ve loved this toy.
These don’t really come clean when you wash them, but they’re still fun to draw on and clean
The quality is definitely not as good as when I was a kid way back when, but it’s a classic and great for fine motor.
I don’t have this easel, but I think if I were to buy a new one I would get this one. I like how it has the spots for cups, a bar that holds the paper down on top, and the adjustable height.
Plain old blocks are so good for so many reasons. Great for fine motor, imagination, and creativity.
I’ve had a couple brands of these, but I like this one better because it can stand up and you don’t have to dump all the pegs to use them.
For one of my students, this toy was magic. It’s what started him talking because he would request each piece. I love this toy.
Takes good fine motor skills and concentration. There are different types of these boards available
Tweezers are a fun way to work on fine motor skills. You can use them to pick up small animals, pom poms, pipe cleaners, etc. I haven’t used these specific ones, but I have generally liked Learning Resources brand
I have a set of these eyedroppers and they are great quality. We use them for making potions, water play, bath time, in the pool, cooking.
I like to use these for kids that aren’t able to bead on a string yet. It’s a good starting point. I also like the sequencing, and matching that can go along with it if you’re working on those skills
This is a fun alternative to drawing on paper. It’s also fun to pop the magnets back in one by one.
I’ve had some clients that have had these at home. They’re a good alternative to blocks, and they involve some good fine motor skills to build them up without falling.
I love using Boogie Boards for quiet activities, especially if we’re going somewhere and need something to do.
Some kids will love lacing cards, others might not. They’re good for fine motor though.
I haven’t used this, but it looks like it would be a winner with most of my students. For kids who love to build, this could be really fun.
This is similar to the car building toy. I have had some students that have been very motivated by toys like this.
These were a favorite at the clinic I worked at. Kids loved to put them on the wall mirror and take them off. They can get creative with these, and they’re good for motor skills.
These are some of my favorite games to play with preschoolers. Unfortunately, some of my favorite games have been discontinued and you can’t find them anymore.
My sister (an Occupational Therapist) recommended this game. Its a fun matching game that works on fine motor, sequencing, turn taking, and more.
This game has a fun twist on the game memory as you try to find everything on your shopping list
This is a good cooperative game where you work together to reach the end. It works on counting, matching animals, and turn taking
This game works on math skills and can be adapted for different levels. The one I got seems to have pretty good quality pieces.
This game works on counting, turn taking, teamwork, object identification, and matching
This game is great for kids that are able to tell stories. It works on communication, language, and creativity
This game has pictures or written clues that you can use inside or outside. It gets kids moving as they run around the house with purpose
This is an interactive game with lots of movement. Kids work on turn taking, color matching, following directions, and actions
This game works on matching animals, turn taking, and strategy. The goal is to get 4 animals in a row.
This is a good matching game and works on speed and visual discrimination
This is a fun and simple game with matching colors. Great for turn taking. It’s kind of like matching dominoes, but with colors.
This game is good for color identification, number recognition, counting, and fine motor skills.
I bought Osmo for my daughter, and I’ve really liked it so far. I have the version for a little bit older, but I wish I would have gotten it for her when she was younger too.
There are a bunch of different versions of Zingo. It’s great for matching and pre-reading skills.
I have another game similar to this, but I like this one because it uses more of your senses rather than concrete items. It leaves room for creativity too.
This game is good for matching, fine motor, and pretend. You can adapt this game easily to the child’s level of play.
One of my clients had this game, it’s super cute. This is good for color recognition, turn taking, following directions, and cooperative play.
This game works on fine motor skills, turn taking, and color recognition.
I use this game for kids who are a little older, but if you have a child that’s good at visual perception and problem solving, this is great.
If you’re looking for some ideas for kids that are in elementary school (instead of preschool) here are some of my recommendations. I use some of these as activities to work on Executive Functioning Skills.
This is one of my favorites. The Jr. version has some cards that are more simple for beginners.
These games are great as a visual perception game. They’re fun puzzles, I got one for myself to do 🙂
I have the spelling and math sets, and just bought this coding kit. I’ve only used it once so far, but it’s a fun game. Some of the skills you can work on with this game are response inhibition, planning, and working memory.
This is in another section, but this would be a good game for working on cooperation and also flexibility. I’m not really sure what the real rules are, but you could tell stories using the items, but everyone gets to participate in the story.
Headband is good for working on communication skills, categorizing, theory of mind, turn taking, and working memory.
I haven’t played this game yet, but I think some of my clients would like it because they love dogs. This would be another problem solving game.
This would be a good game for working on planning, organization, attention, turn taking, and strategy
This is another game that I’ve never played, but from reading about it, it looks like it would be a good game for cooperation as well as flexibility because the board changes as you play.
I also mentioned this game in another section, but I think this game is fun for a lot of ages. You can adapt it easily for different ages and levels of play.
I haven’t played this game yet, but it looks really fun. If you go on amazon, you can watch a video of how to play. I think I may pick this one up.
These question cards would be good for conversation skills and getting to know each other better.
This game is a classic. IT’s great for following directions, and working memory.
Guess who is good for categorization, communication skills, and turn taking. It’s easier than headband because you have a visual of possibilities and don’t have to remember as much.
This is a great game for problem solving, visual perception, and plus it’s just fun.
4 thoughts on “Best Preschool Toys That Will Help Your Child Improve Developmental Skills”
My 3 yr old grandson will not play with toys.
Hi Sharlene, some kids are just not interested in toys, and that’s ok. I would love to help you brainstorm some ideas on how to engage him in play. Feel free to send me an e-mail at joy@playwithjoy.com if you’d like some help 🙂
I always thought children learn through playing with toys. If my grandson won’t play with toys isn’t he missing out on important learning skills. Should we try to teach him how to play with his toys? Yes I’d like some help engaging him in play.
Hi Sharlene!
You are totally right, kids definitely learn through playing with toys. However, when a child does not yet engage in play, whether it’s with a toy or with a person there may be underlying skills that are important to focus on before focusing on toys. I am so excited to be able to start working with your family, and we can definitely talk more about this at our next session 🙂
Joy