Educational Toys for preschool age children at The Savvy Source for Parents.

Today's Featured Educational Toy

Time to Learn Preschool

by Fisher Price

For ages 2-5 years

View Time to Learn Preschool on Amazon.com >

This little preschool play scene is a well-loved favorite among some of our Savvy kiddies, and we would be willing to bet that they've barely even noticed all the counting they've learned in between all the regular old fun they've been having with this toy. Each of the ten Little People figures gathered around this little red schoolhouse and its playground is holding a different number, and the touch-activated mat quizzes your very own little person about numbers, as well as colors and shapes. The abacus counts, and so does the sidewalk as the figures walk along. Even with the sound off, it's a fun little imagination scene where your little one can play school. And the pretend playground with its slide and swings and teeter totter may just be the answer for how your little one gets to go park on an otherwise inclement winter day!

FEATURED ABCs TOYS

View Alphabet Blocks on Amazon.com >

Alphabet Blocks

by Mudpuppy

For ages 1 to 3 years

Perhaps you are ready for just some good old fashioned building or puzzle play. Not so much direct teaching of the alphabet or phonics, but just play, and so much the better if the alphabet happens to appear in beautiful and engaging paintings on the toy itself. Mudpuppy knows what you need. These blocks are mostly just wonderful building tools, except when they are also pieces to a puzzle (or really six different puzzles, depending on which sides you place facing up). Oh, and they happen to be yet another way to inspire you and your child about the alphabet - M is for moon and G is for grasshopper and H is for hummingbird. The illustrations are truly grand, and the toy delights. (Note: The Nature's Alphabet 2-Piece Puzzles have the same great illustrations, and they give a different fine-motor-skill angle to the fun of playing with the alphabet.)

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FEATURED MUSIC TOYS

View Library of Children's Song Classics on Amazon.com >

Library of Children's Song Classics

by Amy Appleby

For ages all ages

All parents have been through this: you start humming a favorite tune from your childhood, maybe you manage to recall a couple of verses, but then your mind goes blank. Meanwhile, your little one is clamoring for you to "keep singing!" Amy Appleby comes to the rescue with her amazing compendium of lyrics and music to every children's song you've ever heard of, and many more (200 selections are included). With its simple arrangements, this volume may even move you to break out your guitar, or dust off your piano and play some of these beloved tunes for your kids.

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FEATURED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY TOYS

View Twist Trike on Amazon.com >

Twist Trike

by Radio Flyer

For ages 2 to 6 years

Think a tricycle is just a tricycle? Think again! This award-winning trike from Radio Flyer converts from a traditional tricycle to a hip big wheel chopper in one easy flipping motion. The seat is also height adjustable, so this is toy that will keep up not only with your child's changing tastes, but also his or her physical growth. The trike is sturdily built, lightweight and easy to ride, and - here's the clincher - it also comes in pink! We Savvy parents and kids do expect a bit more from our toys, and this one does not disappoint.

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FEATURED SCIENCE AND PHYSICAL WORLD TOYS

View Wee Enchanted Garden on Amazon.com >

Wee Enchanted Garden

by Creativity for Kids

For ages 3+ years

We didn't know before we were parents how much we could love a bean plant. Truly. Madly. Deeply. And why, you ask? Because a little old bean seed and some dirt and water is an age-old recipe for sheer childhood delight! The look on a little one's face as that tiny beanstalk grows and grows … well, we don't need reminding that beanstalks are magic. So, it turns out are basic grass seeds. Every preschool windowsill is full of these little cups of greenery, proudly tended by the tiniest green thumbs we know. And now yours at home can be too, only with a charming, hand-painted and custom-designed fairy-sized garden to hold the greenery. This set of a plastic planter, soil and grass and bean seads comes also with paints to decorate the planter and a collection of little figures, rocks, gravel, bark and a cottage for your pint-sized Frederick Law Olmstead to plan pathways and open spaces in his very own garden. (The manufacturer recommended ages start at 7, but we think that as long as you aren't looking for technical precision in the landscaping or the painting, even much younger children will enjoy it.)

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FEATURED TIME AND SPACE TOYS

View Explorer Globe on Amazon.com >

Explorer Globe

by Leap Frog

For ages 3+ years

This globe is one of those all-too-rare toys that truly works for absolutely all ages. We haven't met anyone yet, little person or grown-up, who isn't engaged by its tricks and educated by its trivia. The most advanced features of this globe won't be reveal themselves until your little one is a grade-schooler, but don't let this gather dust in the top of a closet until your child is .ready.. Even the littlest preschooler is ready to whirl the globe, tap the interactive pen on a chosen spot and hear what the world has to tell him about itself. Given the price tag, this is a special occasion present for sure, but it is also a gift that will delight for a decade (at least). A modern version of the beautiful mounted globe in the drawing room, and just as useful in plotting wild adventures in unknown parts, pirate launches on the open seas, and all sorts of trips to far off lands. This is a true treasure. (And this version is a much wiser purchase than the more constrained, much less informative Junior Explorer edition. The world is a big place and we don't think you should limit yourself, or your little one.)

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FEATURED VISUAL ARTS TOYS

View Play-Doh Creativity Center on Amazon.com >

Play-Doh Creativity Center

by Hasbro

For ages 2+ years

Now that your drawing materials are so neat and tidy, you'll want the same treatment for your child's modeling clay materials. The Play-Doh Creativity Center gives you all the necessary tools for an entire childhood's worth of Play-Doh fun. The table and lid (shaped like a breakfast in bed tray - you can have coffee on yours while the little sculptor has bright green Play-Doh on hers) hold a mini-extruder tool (think Play-Doh chia pet), dozens of cutters and rollers and molds and scissors, five mini cans of Play-Doh and a fabulous tool that can only be described as a Play-Doh garlic press. It's literally endless fun for your child, and then it all piles back inside with the lid snapped on and - ta-da! - clean-up time is finished!

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