The 10 Best Educational Gifts for Kids (2023 Shopping Guide)

It can be tough to decide what gifts to give kids for special occasions and holidays.

You want to find something that is age-appropriate, but that will also be enjoyable but useful and beneficial.

That’s why educational gifts for kids are such a great choice!

Not only will they help your child learn and grow, but they’ll also have a lot of fun in the process.

The best educational gifts help to foster a love of learning in children, helping build problem solving skills and critical thinking skills, while also allowing them to have fun. Kids may be more interested in exploring and trying new things if they have a gift that is geared toward learning.

Educational gifts can also help to improve a child’s academic performance. If they are given gifts that are based around learning, they may be more likely to excel in school.

Of course, trying to find the best educational toys for kids can be daunting. There are thousands of choices!

That’s why we’ve reviewed and ranked the best educational gifts for kids, based on a variety of critical factors including age appropriateness, educational value, cost, quality, and ease of use.

This guide has been fully updated for 2023 to include our latest favorite educational gift ideas and learning toys that kids will love.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost for you, we might get a commission if you click the link and purchase.

 

1. Best Overall: KiwiCo Science & STEAM Kits

KiwiCo offers some of the best educational gifts for kids in their thoughtfully curated science, STEM, and STEAM crates.

They’re best known for their monthly science subscription boxes that include fun and interesting activities that teach kids valuable STEM skills in an exciting, engaging manner.

No matter how old the kid is you’re shopping for, KiwiCo has entertaining crates with things to do that your child can enjoy alone, with a sibling or friend, or together!

And with new activities delivered to your home every month, your kids will never get bored.

Don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription? They also offer a huge selection of activity kits you can purchase individually on a one-time basis.

They offer a number of different kits containing a whole package of age-appropriate educational toys, creative materials needed to expand the horizons, a science magazine, online tutorials, and activity cards containing tips as a guide for parents.

The crates create a space for youngsters to experiment with new materials, instruments, and ideas for active learning and fun.

Every package incorporates age-appropriate items to assist kids with advancing by doing what they excel at – playing and exploring their reality!

Key Features And Benefits

• Excellent projects: The creative material you need to explore your imaginative side
• Inspiration guide: illustrated kid-friendly content with guidelines
• Science Magazine: Extra science content, comics, and mind-boggling exercises
• Online DIYs: Tutorial and fun DIYs to practice at home

KiwiCo pricing varies depending on the kit(s) you choose, duration of subscription (one-off purchases also available), etc., ranging from ongoing monthly plans that are between $18.50 to $23.95 a month to one-off, limited-term plans that are a one-time purchase between $27.95 to $229.95.

Click here to learn more.

 

2. The Learning Journey Match! Self-Correcting Spelling Puzzles

This vivid arrangement of three-letter and four-letter puzzle cards acquaints kids with Spelling. Kids find ways of spelling by making connections between the item and the word and correctly assembling the pieces. The riddles are self-correcting – which means that just cards with the correct grouping will fit together.

The Match It! series includes various award-winning educational titles. The self-correcting puzzles acquaint kids with a specific educational topic or skill. The splendidly illustrated puzzle cards draw youngsters into the learning system entertainingly.

Key Features And Benefits

• The puzzle teaches your kid early reading skills, including letter recognition, language usage, word formation, vocabulary, and Spelling.
• The child gains a critical understanding of the mechanics of reading by putting the words together.
• These puzzles are a great way to help your child develop basic problem solving skills.
• Thick, durable cardboard construction makes products easy to grasp, ensuring the improvement of fine motor skills.
• It also improves hand-eye coordination.
• The puzzle helps your child develop their concentration skills, teaching them the importance of focusing on completing the task.

 

3. Thames & Kosmos Robotics: Smart Machines – Super Sphere

Do you have a nerdy kid who has a keen interest in science and innovations? He will cherish this present!

Robotics is an educational and lucrative interdisciplinary field involving physics, engineering, and computer science. This kit allows kids to have fun in a simple yet fun way. They are given an introduction to robotics followed by an in-depth analysis of the seven motorized machines controlled by a sound sensor.

Develop an entertaining crocodile model that sways its tail if nothing is to be seen and opens its monster jaws when an object draws near. You can also put together an adorable little Spybot that meanders around.

Key Features And Benefits

• It piques the interest of kids who love science and are born inventors!
• Nurtures creativity and promotes out-of-the-box thinking.
• A full-variety, 64-page manual assists kids with assembling all models and shows them robotics in reality.
• The visual programming language permits you to order the robots’ engines to move at various times, at various power levels, answer the information from the sensor, and so much more.

 

4. Osmo Explorer Starter Kit

Studies show that kids are able to process information well when they get a hands-on learning experience. Hence, all Osmo games are designed in a way to incorporate physical activity such as moving number tiles, arranging tangrams, or even drawing freehand!

Osmo Explorer Starter Kit is everything you need to play nine classic Osmo games! Their complete STEM learning kit, Explorer Starter Kit, comprises all interactive kids’ games from  Monster and Coding Family to the Genius Starter Kit. It includes games pieces, art supplies, and stackable storage for Tangram, Numbers, and Words.

Key Features And Benefits

• Get the most comprehensive kit of educational and fun games for kids! Explore STEM in-depth with nine coding, math, reading, and art games.
• Great for building critical thinking skills.
• The Osmo base is necessary to play these games. Please select the base for your compatible device
• Osmo base for iPad or Fire, Tangram pieces, Numbers Tiles, Words Tiles, Monster hardware, Coding blocks, Stackable storage

 

5. Miniland ABC Monster

Miniland Educational, one of Spain’s leading toy manufacturing organizations, is globally renowned for protected, excellent educational toy manufacturing. A lot of thought goes into the plan and creation of Miniland Toys, yet they always remember the significance of play!

Miniland educational ABC monster game is interactive alphabet phonics and spelling teaching game for preschool and grade school children.

ABC monster from Miniland is a fun game where you feed the monster with letters. Discs are letters that, once inside the mouth, slide through a channel and are set systematically to shape the correct words in an orderly manner.

Key Features And Benefits

• It is an active game with various game modes to help kids learn to read and write.
• It includes one monster, 48 discs of letters, 30 game cards, one letter storage bag, and one teaching guide.
• It is appropriate for children of age 3 to 7 years.

 

6. My Little Farm Smart Felt Toy (3+ Age)

My Little Farm is an active, award-winning, multi-tangible, interactive felt toy effectively utilized in a reversible 3-dimensional playset. Developed by a speech pathologist to prosper early language abilities, essentially all aspects of My Little Farm are planned for educational purposes.

The 32 splendidly hued delicate, felt pieces improve receptive and expressive language, teach who, what, and where questions, foster matching abilities, and are a springboard for exhibiting narrating abilities.

My Little Farm reinforces youngsters’ language abilities and offers good chances for open-ended imaginative, and creative play. My Little Farm comes with a guide that provides guardians with an outline of the concepts and highlights pictorial stories that children can play along with easily.

Key Features And Benefits

• Encourages the Usage of receptive and expressive language
• Improves Visual processing
• Helps with Following basic directions
• Enhances ability to have Discussions and dialogue
• Helps with addressing who, what, where, when, why, and how questions
• Increases Vocabulary
• Encourages Building syntax
• Promotes storytelling

 

7. Learning Resources Dino Sorters Activity Set

Learning Resources has been assisting guardians and educators with building ages of astounding children beginning around 1984. From ABCs and 123s to refined engine and STEM abilities, their instructive toys offer children the structure squares to prevail in school and foster a deep-rooted love of learning.

This old playset makes learning into a drawing-in, intuitive game. Little children will work on counting, arranging, and number acknowledgment as they match the child dinosaurs to the right eggs. Or on the other hand, they can appreciate long periods of creative play with their new Dino companions. Airing out and assembling the eggshells assists build with fine motoring abilities as well. The set incorporates ten two-piece dinosaur eggs and 55 dinosaur counters.

The best way for kids to learn counting and colors while playing is to find the stowaway! These little dinos conceal inside the eggs for shock-counting fun. Each numbered, hued egg holds a relating number of dinos inside, so youngsters find out about number correspondence!

Key Features And Benefits

• Promotes Skills Development
• Advances in Visual and Tactile learning
• Empowers Imaginative play
• Language advancement
• Finely coordinated abilities
• Eye-hand coordination

 

8. Homer Explore Feelings Kit

Feelings can be precarious; however, they’re so essential to exploring!

Adventure into the Feelings Forest, where high and low points are essential for the excursion.

HOMER is a fundamental early learning program for youngsters aged 3-8. Fueled by the HOMER Method, the master-planned program is research-upheld and kid-tried to give your youngster the best beginning to their learning venture.

Directed and open-finished play open doors make this unit effectively versatile to your kid’s age and level as they learn.

Appreciate exercises and devices to construct the capacity to understand anyone at their core.

Key Features And Benefits

• Put the magnets on the foundations to rehearse passionate mindfulness through narrating. Allow sympathy to show you the way as you cause new situations with fluffy companions! Skills enhanced: narrating, naming feelings, interactive abilities
• Utilize the discussion prompts as a platform to discuss your sentiments and how you express them! Skills enhanced: recognizing sentiments, expressive language, interactive abilities.
• Play a state of mind match game or utilize the cards to talk about situations that flash various feelings; the decision is yours with the Fuzzy Feelings Card Deck! Skills enhanced: visual memory, recognizing sentiments, relational abilities

 

9. Fisher-Price Baby First Block

Open a container of good times for your little one with Baby’s First Blocks.

These thick, bright squares assist with presenting varieties and shapes as children sort, stack, and drop the squares through the spaces in the pail cover.

Empty the pail to begin the fun once more and once more.

Furthermore, you can take Baby’s First Blocks anywhere you and your minuscule child go with a simple convey handle.

Key Features And Benefits

• Enhances fine motor skills: Building blocks offer a great way to help kids develop their fine motor skills.
• Critical thinking: Babies will practice their critical thinking abilities and problem solving skills as they sort out some way to sort and drop the squares perfectly positioned.
• Interest: As little ones figure out how to sort the shapes autonomously and work on filling (and spilling!) more often, their certainty and feeling of freedom are reinforced.
• So many colors and shapes, Oh My! Child’s First Blocks is an excellent way for you to broaden play into early learning, an open door for the child, presenting colors, counting, and shapes as you play together. As your child places blocks into the container, he recognizes colors (“That square is red… “) and shapes (“Look, that is a triangle!”).

 

10. Geomag Magicubes Full Color Try Me Recycled

This inventive toy is a structural arrangement of attractive solid shapes appended to six sides. By tackling the undetectable and otherworldly properties of attraction, kids can give free rein to their creative minds as they construct bright 3D models.

By playing with the distinct solid shapes, even the most youthful kids foster their first manual abilities. The new Magicube Recycled assortment with 100 percent reused plastic has similar splendid varieties and significant norms as any remaining unique Geomag sets.

The new shapes are made with 100 percent reused plastic, guaranteeing the development toy world is much more respectful of our planet

Key Features And Benefits

• Age group: 1-5 years
• Plastic: 100% Recycled
• Direction to build: Any
• Magnetic cubes: 24
• Measure in inches: 1.5*1.5*1.5

 

What to Look for in Educational Gifts for Kids

When choosing educational gifts for kids, there are a few things to keep in mind.

For one thing, you want to make sure that the gift is something that the child will actually enjoy and find useful. This might mean checking with them to see what toys and games interest them, or talking with other parents who may have insight into their children’s hobbies and interests.

Another important factor to consider is whether or not the gift will help your child develop valuable skills or knowledge. This can include everything from logic puzzles that sharpen mental acuity to KiwiCo’s science kits that help kids learn more about the world around them.

You also want to look for educational gifts that are engaging and fun, so that your child will stay motivated to learn and explore for a long time to come. This can include toys or games with exciting stories and characters, or activities that make learning feel like a game.

Here are some other things to consider when looking for gift ideas:

Select toys that match your kid’s advantages and capacities

It’s important to make sure the toys and learning activities you choose are the right level of challenge for your child. If they’re too easy, they won’t be engaging; if they’re too hard, it can be discouraging. Look for a good balance and try to find something that will help them hone their existing strengths or develop new skills.

Search for toys that advance heuristic play

Heuristic play is the tactile investigation of ‘regular things,’ which is exceptionally helpful to the advancement of youngsters. You can advance this equivalent sort of play through the kinds of toys you select; ensure they are open-finished and can be utilized differently.

Pick toys that advance interactive abilities and cooperative play

By picking toys that advance the improvement of interactive abilities — for example, tabletop games, puzzles, try packs, and building materials — you are helping your kids create critical aptitudes in the region of participation, understanding, and collaboration.

Choose toys that spark creative thinking

Creative thinking enables kids to build up their problem-solving abilities and encourages them to think outside of the box. Toys that help inspire imaginative, creative thinking can range from clay and arts and crafts, to blocks, construction sets, and even simple household items.

Look for age-proper tabletop games that are incredible for further developing math skills and language abilities

Tabletop games can be a great tool for helping kids learn basic math and reading skills. Look for age-appropriate tabletop educational games that will help teach your kids math, spelling, or even basic life skills.

Pick toys that energize investigation of this present reality

Investigating, finding, and finding out about the everyday world is something that we constantly do, even as grown-ups, so why not begin assisting our kids with doing this right on time to fabricate how they might interpret their general surroundings?

Toys that welcome kids outside, such as optics and a bird book, a bug-getting unit, or science packs, can get them associated with nature, advancing a characteristic interest and wanting to discover that will be priceless for their other lives.

 

A Final Word on the Best Educational Gifts for Kids

As a parent, you want to give your children the best gifts possible on special occasions and holidays.

But what makes for a good gift? Many people believe that educational gifts are a great choice.

Toys that encourage creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving are ideal for helping kids develop important skills.

Furthermore, educational gifts often have the added benefit of being long-lasting and entertaining.

With so many advantages, it’s no wonder that educational gifts are a popular choice for holidays and special occasions. Whether you’re looking for a birthday present, a Christmas gift, or something to help your child excel in school, an educational toy is always a great option.

Have any questions about choosing educational gifts for kids? Comment below and we’ll help.