The Best Toys to Promote Learning Naturally: What to Buy

It’s no secret that our children’s entertainment influences their development, either contributing to or detracting from their wellbeing and growth. For this reason, an element of education has become a significant selling factor in the entertainment we provide for our kiddos. At the intersection of entertainment and education, we have educational toys, which can help improve motor skills, jumpstart learning, and forge creative pathways in the brain from a young age. When we add elements of science into the mix, we find ourselves in the wondrous world of toys with an emphasis on nature and natural learning.

A first, and ever-so-valuable perk of nature-based toys, whether you’re buying them for your own children or as a gift for others, is that they are all completely non-discriminatory. Learning about our planet and the vast amount of life that inhabits it is an entertaining, educational task for all children, so it’s hard to go wrong here. Many of these toys also suit a relatively wide age range, attracting the attention and sharpening the minds of our children and their siblings or playmates for a number of years.

Many toys help promote nature and natural learning—for example, animal toys, such as stuffed animals, wooden playsets in the shape of animals, zoo or jungle-themed toys, and dress-up toys, such as animal masks; construction sets with a nature theme, such as some Lego sets, Lincoln Logs, Mobilo sets, etc.; camping equipment for indoor or outdoor use; Geode sets and crystal growing kits; rock and mineral kits; books on bird identification, as well as binoculars; insect kits; kits including a compass, magnifying glass, flashlight, and cartography-related items; and even plain building blocks made from natural wood elements. Nifty websites like Take Them Outside and HearthSong have compiled outstanding gift lists that can serve as examples.

Other nature and natural learning toys can be homemade and customized to your own preferences; in this way, toys can reflect current weather or environmental situations for real-time learning. One great option is to make an activity table, possibly with interchangeable cubbies. These tables can include sand, water, clay, snow, ice shavings or cubes, rocks, or any other elements of nature that you’d like for your child to explore (or that your child is interested in if they have any input!).

Bringing the outside indoors can be especially helpful year-round, for different reasons. Extreme temperatures and harsh environmental conditions over the winter or summer, along with housing locations, safety, and other factors, can hinder our kids’ ability to get outside and explore. Toys that emphasize nature and natural learning gift us the opportunity to broaden our children’s horizons, connect them with the beauty and simplicity of nature, and educate them about things they may not have current access to. The tactile and engaging nature of these sorts of toys can be much more informative than reading alone, whether that be on a device or in a book.

Even for those who are lucky enough to have year-round access to outdoor exploration, sometimes we can’t offer up the guardian supervision and/or interaction that that may require—and while we’d all love to be able to do it all and be everywhere at once, sometimes we need activities that allow our children to take charge and learn independently. Thankfully, this is valuable for their continued, healthy development, to help keep their minds active over long holiday and summer school breaks, and so we can keep our ship running smoothly.

Don’t forget to consider astronomy books, telescopes, star-gazing kits, and indoor projectors for some bonus nighttime nature and natural learning. Some projectors provide real glimpses of our solar system, helping children learn to identify significant aspects of our sky, while others offer maps of the world, teaching all about our planet’s landmasses and bodies of water. Classic telescopes and astronomy books can offer even more exploration as our children grow.

The concepts of physics are also often showcased through toys with an emphasis on nature and natural learning. Water droppers, spinning tops, bubbles, various types of balls, mirrors, and magnets can all help teach children about the natural forces and elements of our planet. Optical illusions, liquid viscosity and behavior, gravity, geometry, and all sorts of fantastically interesting wonders of nature can be taught through these types of toy selections. These concepts will not only help our children as they progress through their schooling but can also help teach valuable lessons about our reality, as looks can often be deceiving in the world of science and discovery!

Resources— Naturemoms, NAEYC

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