My Top 10 + 1 Best Open-ended Toys For Toddlers

Okay, if you are searching for open-ended toys for toddlers for a special occasion or maybe you just need to replace old toys that your child is no longer interested in playing with. I have carefully outlined the best open-ended toys for toddlers that they will have fun playing with.

Most toddlers are so full of energy, they love to run around, copy everything they see adults do, and at this age, they start putting up the ‘I can do it myself attitude 😏’ and cause mischief( at least mine does, 😁), but we love them anyway.

It is never too early to encourage our kids to learn. At this stage in their little lives, learning is all about making new discoveries and having fun through simple activities.

To help you and your toddler get off to a great start, I have outlined some of the best open-ended learning toys.

These toys are fun, educational, and will most likely keep your child entertained for a decent amount of time. You would also find that these toys are open-ended and not electronic.

I find electronic toys very distracting and they also don’t give kids the chance to think for themselves, electronic toys tell kids how to play with it and also leave very little room for imagination or creativity.

This is just my opinion though, we should all get what we feel is best for our kids, after all, we know them better than anyone else.

1. Foldable Indoor Trampoline for Kids

If you have a toddler with sooooo much energy, especially one that won’t stop jumping on the bed, please get this trampoline.

There are so many choices online, they are easy to assemble, foldable, and take up little space so can easily be put away when not in use and most of all your little one will have so much fun jumping on it. 

2. Sand and Water Table

Kids love to play with sand and water, they will even eat sand if you let them.

Sand and water play is a good way to help your child develop their gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and also helps with strengthening their muscles.

They get to scrub, pour, squirt, stir, squeeze and dig. It’s a fun sensory play that all kids should benefit from.

3.  Play Kitchen

Most kids find plates and pans more fun than the most expensive toys, this is because they see us use it all the time and they want to do exactly what we do. Get a play kitchen for your child if they love to watch you cook and do the dishes.

This is also a great toy for pretend play, it’s great at encouraging language and communication, sharing, and your kid will learn also how to organise and put things away after use.

4. Reborn Baby Doll

Dolls help with social skills, they help a child learn how to show empathy and compassion, they learn how to be responsible. Having a doll encourages imagination and improves a child’s language skills.

Your child will get to practice nurturing, caring, and sharing skills. When getting a doll, invest in a doll with real baby-like features so your child can get to feed, dress, change, and put the baby doll to bed.

If you are also finding it hard to explain to your toddler that they’re gonna have a baby sister or brother, getting a doll for them might make the explanation easier.

5. Jigsaw Puzzles

If you want your child to learn shapes and recognise letters, alphabets, and animals then this is for you.

Start with your child’s favorite character; if your child loves Peppa pig, for example, buy your child a Peppa pig puzzle to build his/her interest.

Puzzles will help your child develop problem-solving skills, perseverance, it also helps with improving their cognitive skills.

6.Cleaning Toy Set

Oh yeah, this is one of my favourite open-ended toys for toddlers, it’s so cute😍😍 watching my little one use a mini mop and a hoover.

If your child likes to copy you when you clean please get him or her a cleaning set, there’s no better time than now to teach them to clean up after themselves.

They’ll love playing with the cleaning set and it’ll keep them occupied so you can have a cuppa ☕with very minimum distractions.

7.Work Bench set

This is a great set for pretend play for kids, they look realistic. If your child loves to watch you do some DIY around the house, he/she will love playing with a tool bench and using all the tools. The really good ones have so many accessories to keep your child occupied for hours.

8.Doctor Kit for Toddlers

This is really great for pretend play, it’s a great imaginative and educational toy that helps to build up caregiving and nurturing skills.

Siblings can do role plays with this toy by taking turns being a doctor or a patient😉. You will find some great indoor activities ideas here.

9. Balance Trike

This is more like a must-have, I think every kid should learn how to ride a bike at some point.

So if you haven’t gotten one for your little one yet, this is the right time to get one, the earlier they start practicing how to ride a bike the quicker they’ll get better at it.

They can start with a balance trike, then move on to a bike with stabilisers when they are comfortable and confident using this.

10.  Train set

Most train sets come with a set of a train, figures, and wooden train tracks that link up together.

A train set is fantastic for developing fine motor skills as your child will get to learn how to put the track together, pull the train around, and also avoid obstacles. It encourages creativity and imagination and problem-solving skills.

11.Double-Sided Easel Set 

If your child loves numbers and/or alphabets, this is a good toy to invest in, it’s a toy they get to use for quite a long time as they learn to spell or do simple additions and subtractions.

But for now, your child can learn how to count with the magnetic numbers, learn ABC’s, and also learn how to mix letters and form simple words.

LCD Writing Tablet for Kids

This writing pad is a huge hit in my house, it is absolutely brilliant. The LCD writing tablet is a great open-ended toy for toddlers who love to write and scribble.

This device is very versatile, and it is a good tool to cultivate creativity in kids. It is great for drawing, writing it can also be used by older kids and grown-ups.

Having an LCD writing tablet has saved me from buying loads of paper for kids’ activities. I have also had much less crayon marks to get off my wall.

Please get it, this is one gift item for your kid that you will not regret buying.

Water Drawing Mat

Are tired of your toddler painting on your walls and making a mess? this is the solution to your worry.

This is a favourite open-ended toys for toddlers, it saves you from worrying about cleaning up.

Basically, all you have to do is fill the pen supplied with the mat with water, ‘any type of water’ and let them draw as much as they want.

This brilliant mat can be used for learning alphabets, numbers, different shapes and even sketching.

 It’s even large enough to accommodate more than one child and I highly recommend this educational toy.

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