Do you remember playing with Discovery Toys when you were a kid? I do and I’m thrilled to be buying them now for my kids! You must at least remember their marbleworks toy—it’s still the best!
We had some educational toy that I was obsessed with—like word problems, matching, simple math kind of things. They don’t have it anymore, but I’d say their current “It’s a Match” game is the closest thing to it.
So I came up with a list of my favorite education toys from Discovery Toys. My friend recently became an educational consultant and I had a party so that I my kids could play with all the toys! My links go to my friend’s Discovery Toys page where you can shop.
Tac Tiles: it might look simple, but there are SO many ways to use this! Tac Tiles comes with 32 fun and familiar shapes with 32 matching tiles. Improve tactile skills by guessing objects by touch (close your eyes!) or visual skills by matching shapes or colors, sorting by categories, or use the tiles to draw or trace. $25.
Body Amazing (boy): also comes in girl. I am obsessed with this!!! Mayyyyybe because I used to be an anatomy teacher, but I think it’s so important to know about your own body! For younger kids, this can be a fun puzzle. For older kids, they can start learning about the human body. From bones, organs, muscles, and skin… to naming organ systems, specific organs and muscles, and body parts. The back of each layer is numbered to help sort. $23.
Measure Up! Cups: again, these’s so much more to these than you might think. Of course you can stack them or use them to scoop and dump (a toddler’s favorite thing to do?!). But they are also volumetrically correct, numbered, and have scalloped edges. Learn about volume, size, time, colors, and measurement. Use the edges for stamping and printing. Learn math by adding and subtracting cups (if you have a full #3 cup and you use it to fill #2 cup, how much is left in cup #3?). $15.
Giant Pegboard: this is another staple of every home. Side one has a pegboard for sorting, stacking, counting, and matching the 25 pegs of different colors and shapes. The other side of the board has a raised peg geoboard for creating your own designs! It comes with 12 two-sided activity cards (shapes, letters, math, what comes next, matching, and so much more). This grows with your child. We first bought this to keep our son busy during a road trip! $28.50.
Playful Patterns: younger kids can match shapes and sizes right on top of the cards or older kids can build on their own (left image above). Patterns on cards are left white so your child can be creative with their colors! Learn about relative sizes (big, bigger, biggest or small, smaller, smallest), shapes, colors, and patterns. Designs range in difficulty. $38.
Busy Farm and Busy Bugs: two separate games, but both soooo cool. In each game there are 23 progressively difficult activities and the 36 colorful animals and bugs let you learn hands-on in 3D! Make visual associations, sort, match, and count! Busy Farm is more focused on words, letters, animal identification, etc. Busy Bugs is more focused on numbers, sequencing, addition, subtraction, and more. $25 each.
Pathways to Printing: 6 activity books with wipe-off surfaces for continuous fun and learning! Progress from lines to curves to waves to closed shapes—great tools to be prepared for printing. The kit comes with 6 colored markers, too, with the idea that you trace each activity 6 times, once with each color. Each book teaches something, too, like animal habitats, clothing, grooming, sports, body parts, and more. With upper and lower case letters, numbers, and tons of activities, this is great for a wide range of pre-k kids. It was designed by a pediatric occupational therapist and an elementary and special education teacher! $30.
It’s a Match: I love this one! Like I said, I think it’s the closest to my favorite Discovery Toys toy when I was a kid. This is a self-checking system for preschoolers. Snap colored frames onto the answers and then pull down the yellow tray to check your answers! You can buy the entire kit for $48 or you can buy just Level 1 and 2 ($35) or just Level 3 ($15). Level 1: reading readiness (objects, matching, visual associations, etc.). Level 2: math concepts, logic building, and critical thinking. Level 3: higher reading set and math set. $15-48.
You can find plenty more on Discovery Toys, these are just my favorites! Have a little one? They have a super cute Earth Play collection (you can buy individually, too) and my favorite for babies is the Super Yummy—five teethers in one full of sensory exploration.
This is NOT a sponsored post, I just love Discovery Toys and recently hosted a party. For Christmas, I ordered a few things for our kids: It’s a Match, Body Amazing (boy), Money Money, Simple Tape Measure (stocking stuffer!), and the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Card Game (we have the board game and the kids love it). We already have a few of the ones above.
They have such cute toys. I love the emphasis on learning at different ages. Some of the toys give me flashbacks of my son with them and then others are good for me to get him now that he is in preschool.
[Reply]
I had a few discovery toys when my boys were little. I loved everything I got from them!
[Reply]
My children always played with educational toys and games growing up. The best part about it is that the toys are fun for them so they don’t realize they are learning. High Schools and Colleges need to learn how to do this.
[Reply]
These are great toys, so awesome! I know that they would be fun and educational. Great list!
[Reply]
I too love when my kids get educational toys that stimulate their minds. these look great!
[Reply]
I love these toys! Any time we can combine learning with play, it’s a good thing. Kids really absorb knowledge like that.
[Reply]
They have some great products! My oldest had those staking cups, they were great!
[Reply]
I love toys that inspire learning and discovery! My son would love any of these toys! I need to look into that Amazing Body toy!
[Reply]
I love the anatomy puzzle! My kids are so interested in how the body works. These are great. Thanks!
[Reply]
My 5 year old loves these kinds of mind stimulating toys. He’d rather these than electronics most days. I’d never seen those anatomy puzzles before – I have something new on my holiday list now. He would get hours of fun (and learning) from those.
[Reply]
I always bought toys like this for my son when he was a toddler. It’s never to early for the kids to start learning.
[Reply]
Thank you for sharing. I am always on the look out for toys that are more than just toys and can have my kids learn while playing.
[Reply]
These look like some fun toys.I’m sure we would have some fun with them.
[Reply]
These toys are wonderful. They’re so colorful. They really grab your eye. That’s super important for kids, especially when you want to get them interested.
[Reply]
I love toys that teach while the kids are playing. I have a few kids to buy Christmas gifts for this year. Any of these toys would be great.
[Reply]
Oh my… we had those measure up cups and playful patterns for the kids and loved them. Discovery Kids are great toys… Thanks for sharing.
[Reply]
All of these Discovery Toys are great! Kids and parents love them equally 🙂
[Reply]
I LOVE these! The body amazing is really cool. Toys that entertain and encourage learning are always great.
[Reply]
Oh I love those Playful Patterns! I need to grab some of those for my kids this year.
[Reply]
What great choices, as a homeschool mom these items are perfect for little ones while I homeschool my older children. I so am going to check these out!
[Reply]