Encouraging toddlers to learn as they play // AD

*Advertorial Feature with Wicked Uncle*

As toddlers grow, they become more and more interested in the world around them. Everyday objects become exciting and all of a sudden, they become fascinated with discovering new things to see and touch. We have recently been gifted some educational toys for Freddie, our two year old, from the online toy store Wicked Uncle and they’ve quickly become his latest obsession and here’s why.

Wicked Uncle are a UK online toy store that sell a wide range of gifts for children. They stock a brilliant selection of gifts for all ages and have done the hard work for us and broken down the huge number of gift ideas for children by age. This allows the customer to see what toys are age appropriate for the child.

We have been sent a couple of toys from Wicked Uncle to try out and having had them in our house for just a week, they are currently amongst the most popular toys ever! We were sent My First Safari Animals – Smartmax and Rainbow Wooden Jigsaw and Playset. Both toys are brilliantly colourful and something that Freddie has reached for straight away.

My First Safari Animals – Smartmax

I have never come across these types of toys before but they’re such a clever idea. The set contains 18 bright and colourful pieces of click together magnetics. They’re an introduction to STEM toys which encourage learning from a young age. Not only can little ones learn their colours but they can learn to recognise safari animals too. As well as learning the obvious six different colours and names of the popular safari animals, the toys are very hands on. They encourage little ones to touch them and pull them apart, mix and match the pieces and create a whole new variety of animal.

Freddie has been fascinated by these safari animal toys, they’re brilliant to play with. We’ve been using them to learn colours, as well as different shapes and sizes. I’ve pulled all the animals apart into their individual pieces and Freddie has been reassembling them by colour. Kids coloring pages also help us to learn colours and and have fun.

The toys are brilliant to reinforce what toddlers already know and can build upon information they are yet to discover and learn. Freddie has quickly learned this week that you can’t put some magnets together as they repel rather than attract, he doesn’t need to know the scientific reason why, he’ll learn that when he has more understanding with age.

The pieces are big, chunky, and durable. Ideal for little fingers to play with and encourage fine motor skills when connecting the parts together in play.

The My First Safari – Smartmax retail at £21.95 and would make a brilliant gift for a budding builder or animal lover.

Rainbow Wooden Jigsaw and Playset

I love toys that can keep my boys hands busy. The Rainbow Wooden Jigsaw and Play set does just that and it’s brilliant. Featuring a bright and colourful rainbow with familiar animals, the play set is brilliant for little hands. The jigsaw comes with a cotton bag to keep all the parts safely together and this is a well thought out product making the puzzle accessible for its target audience.

We have been encouraging Freddie to put the rainbow puzzle together on his own but he’s not comfortable in doing so currently. Instead we’re learning popular everyday colours and I’ve been asking Freddie to pick up various colours as we try and put the puzzle together.

The addition of the wooden animals is also a great feature as it encourages discussion about animal names and sounds. Freddie has been having so much fun putting the pieces together, he’s not noticed he’s learning and that’s one of the best ways to encourage learning in toddlers. Make it fun!

The Rainbow Wooden Jigsaw and Playset retail at £21.95 and would make a brilliant gift for a toddler who likes to keep their hands busy.

A varied selection of STEM toys available

I love that these toys from Wicked Uncle are ones that I haven’t seen before. If you’re looking for a gift for a child’s birthday this year that’s going to add to their development, head over to Wicked Uncle to see their range of gift and toys. The range is brilliant and would make a lovely gift for an inquisitive toddler / child.