Preschool Toy Reviews
🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 🎯 Concentration & Persistence — Toys that require sustained engagement — a puzzle, a building project, a game — develop the focused attention and persistence that children need for classroom learning and complex tasks throughout life.
- 🔢 Early Math Concepts — Sorting, counting, comparing sizes, and arranging objects by attribute builds the number sense, classification skills, and spatial reasoning that kindergarten mathematics directly builds on.
- 🧪 Scientific Thinking — Toys that respond to a child's action — magnets that attract, LEGOs that click, water toys that spray — teach cause-and-effect thinking and the experimental mindset that underlies scientific reasoning.
- 🌿 Sensory Processing — Toys with varied textures, weights, and tactile properties support sensory processing development — particularly important for children with sensory processing differences, and enjoyable and beneficial for all children.
Not sure what to buy your preschooler? All those toys in the toy stores can be very overwhelming. Trying to do research online to find the best preschool toys takes too much time. Preschool Toys on PreschoolRock.com makes it easy for parents, grandparents and teachers of preschoolers to select the best preschool toys on the market. One-stop shopping on Preschool Toys and you will have all the great preschool toys you'll need.
Featured Preschool Toy Reviews
The Puzzle Set
This preschool furniture is much more than a table and two chairs. The vibrantly colored shapes fit together like a puzzle giving you an educational toy and a functional table and chair set all in one. No tools or complicated instructions -- just tons of fun! Read the review of The Puzzle Set.
Little People Doodle Pro
This preschool toy, manufactured by Fisher-Price, is a magnetic writing and drawing "pad" that comes with a magnetic pen and shapes. Read the review of Little People Doodle Pro.
TOMY Constructables
Constructables is a vehicle construction set that comes in 14 pieces. The preschooler is suppose to create many different vehicles by connecting the pieces in different combinations. Read the review of TOMY's Constructables.
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Helpful Tips for Parents
- Sensory toys (kinetic sand, water beads, slime, textured balls) serve a specific therapeutic function for children with sensory processing differences — but are enjoyable and beneficial for all children.
- Avoid toys with very loud sounds — preschoolers' hearing is more sensitive than adults', and toys that exceed 85dB can damage developing auditory systems.
- Declutter toys regularly. A child overwhelmed by too many toys plays less deeply and less creatively than one with fewer, well-chosen options.
- Books are the most educational toy at every developmental stage. A child's own bookshelf, regularly refreshed from the library, is the most valuable toy investment possible.
- Toy rotation keeps the toy collection feeling fresh and engagement high. Put 2/3 of toys in storage; rotate every 2–3 weeks. Children play more deeply with fewer options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are STEM toys worthwhile for preschoolers?
STEM toys vary enormously in quality and actual developmental value. The most valuable are those that genuinely engage children in scientific thinking or mathematical reasoning rather than those that simply carry the marketing label. Best actual STEM toys for preschoolers: simple coding toys (Bee-Bot, Code-a-Pillar) that make programming concepts tangible, construction sets (Magna-Tiles, KEVA planks) that develop engineering intuition, balance scales and measuring tools that make physics observable, and magnets and magnifying glasses. The worst "STEM" toys are traditional toys with a STEM label applied for marketing.
When should I introduce board games to my preschooler?
Simple board games are appropriate from age 3: Candy Land (color matching, taking turns), Chutes and Ladders (number recognition, sportsmanship with outcomes of chance), and Hi-Ho Cherry-O (counting, fine motor). At ages 4–5, introduce more complex games: Zingo (matching, fast visual processing), Uno (color and number matching, special cards), and Spot It (visual discrimination). The primary readiness indicators: the child can take turns, follow 2–3 step rules, and accept an outcome they didn't choose. Start with games of pure chance before games of skill — chance games reduce the outcome predictability that makes losing harder.
Related reading: See also our sensory bin ideas and our homemade playdough guide for more ideas on this topic.
Questions to Ask Your Child
Use these open-ended prompts to extend the learning during or after the activity:
- "What was the hardest part? What made it tricky?"
- "What would happen if we made the rules a little different?"
- "Can you teach me how to do your favorite part?"
- "What would you add to make this even more fun?"
- "What did you notice while we were doing this?"
- "How would this be different if we played it outside?"
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions. The goal is to keep the conversation going, model curious thinking, and give your child practice putting their experience into words.
