Top 10 Best Toys & Games For Kids That Promote Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development is a very important concept when we are talking about a child’s development. It is a part of a child’s psychology.

In simpler words, cognitive development means how a child at a particular age is processing whatever information they are getting, how they think about any particular thing, or how curious they are to explore anything and everything.

The complete development of a child is incomplete without cognitive development.

Just like children develop fine and gross motor skills, social skills, emotional skills through playing with different kinds of toys and games, in a similar way they can also develop their cognitive skills.

Cognitive development is directly related to the development of a child’s brain.

It sees how intelligent a kid is, what kind of smart decision they are making in solving a problem, how much knowledge they possess, how logical as well as creative their thinkings are, and how they are looking into the matters in their surrounding environment.

Also, in the case of small kids, it includes language development.

There are many pretend play, board games, puzzles, activity kits, etc to help the kids in their cognitive development.

In the following article, we are going to talk about different toys and games which are appropriate for kids of different ages for improving their cognitive skills.

There are various cognitive milestones that children should achieve at different ages. You can check this article for more information on Cognitive Milestones.

Some of the cognitive skills that children learn through playing with toys are –

• Developing perception and memory,
• Language development, 
• Hand-eye coordination,
• Problem solving skills,
• Promotes logical thinking and creativity.

Now let’s check some of the age appropriate toys for cognitive development, which you can easily find online for your kids.

List of Toys & Games which helps in Cognitive Development of Kids in India

For 0 To 2 Years

Fisher-Price Newborn to Toddler Play Gym

For newborn babies, there is nothing much that they can do except for laying down and moving their hands and legs. So, for this age, gym mats are really a beneficial invention of the modern age.

Here is a gym mat from Fisher-Price and as in most cases this one also has hanging toys like rattles. The main aim of the gym mat is to promote the body movement as the babies try to reach or grasp the toys which hang from above.

Thus the body movement leads to the development of their body muscles and also makes their neck strong as they try to move their heads. The hanging toys and the sound made by them also exercise their hearing power and eyesight.

However, not only the newborns but toddlers can also enjoy this particular gym mat as there is a put-and-take ball play system on the two stands.

Funskool Link, Stack and Nest Toy Set

While looking for toys that will lead to your child’s development, Funskool is one brand that you should consider. It is also an Indian brand.

Here is a 3 in 1 set from Funskool which contains toys beneficial to babies of 6 months and above.

All of them are fun games for babies. There is a set of linking rings, a set of 4 colorful nesting eggs with a small chick, and a set of stacking drums.

Babies can attach and detach the rings, which will lead to their hand movement.

Parents can sit and play hide and seek using the nesting eggs and the chick which will lead the babies to think.

And the staking drums will also make their body move.

Overall this whole set, all with bright colors and different shapes, slowly develops the recognition skills along with hand-eye coordination, motor skills, sensory skills, grasping abilities, and also the power to think.

Shumee 40 Double Sided Flashcards

By the time babies reach 1 year mostly their senses like eyesight, hearing abilities, touch sensation, etc. are fully developed.

So this is the time to introduce them gradually to other things like colors, shapes, animals, fruits and vegetables, numbers, etc.

This is a stack of 40 double-sided flashcards from Shumee.

They beautifully illustrated each of them with bright colors and pictures of different animals, fruits, vegetables, numbers, alphabets, shapes, transport vehicles, etc. along with their spellings.

So, with the help of these cards, babies can learn about these things.

These cards develop their focus and centration power along with their abilities to recognize these things and the power to distinguish them from each other.

These are suitable for babies of 1 to 3 years.

For 2 To 4 Years

Wooden Magnetic Alphabet Colorful Train

From the age of 2 or 3 years, it’s good to gradually start teaching the toddlers about alphabets and numbers properly.

Here is a fun toy with which parents can easily teach their children all the alphabets. 

This box contains all 26 letters from A to Z, made up of wood, and each of them is placed on trains with 4 gliding wheels. These pieces have magnetic fields with which they can be connected and a long train can be formed.

This colorful train of letters brings curiosity in the minds of the infants, which awakens their exploring nature. Thus, they get interested in learning about the alphabet.

Such trains for numbers are also available.

Wooden Abacus Number Puzzle 

Abacus is a new concept that we have come to know of in the last few years. The whole aim of this concept is to teach basic maths in a way as simple as possible.

Usually, around 3 years of age, parents can use this abacus system for their toddlers.

This is a wooden set of the abacus with colorful beads, which is useful for toddlers of 3 to 5 years. There are 10 stands for 1 to 10 numerical.

You can teach simple maths like addition and subtraction to your kids using the wooden beads.

This stacking game of math is a tool of cognitive development, which encourages children to exercise their brains and use their intelligence for solving problems.

More topics related to this article:

• Best Problem-Solving Toys for Kids
• Top 10 Best STEM Toys & Games for Brain Development of Kids
• Age Appropriate Toys for Babies, Infants, Preschoolers & Kids
• Soft toys for kids

For 4 To 6 Years

Think And Match Puzzle

It is good to provide kids with little puzzles from an early age. There are many different kinds of puzzles available even for the toddlers of 2 or 3 years.

This puzzle is for kids of 4 to 6 years. Basically, it is a matching game where the kids need to use their observation power and find out the matching pair of every picture given.

This type of puzzle improves the concentration power of the kids and also develops their hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills.

The activity kit contains 8 double-sided cards, 14 task sheets along with 2 answer sheets, and a guide. Overall it is a whole package for the early learners.

Check this out: Best Toys for 6 month old children

Frank Tangram Puzzle

Tangram puzzle is a very old Chinese concept, invented as an educational game for the kids. The concept involves creating various structures using geometric shapes.

And each structure will specifically have seven different shapes of triangles, squares, and parallelograms. 

This Tangram puzzle is suitable for kids above 5 years. It has two sets of tangram i.e. 14 pieces and a booklet that contains over 300 shape puzzles along with their solutions.

The main aim of the Tangram puzzle is to enhance creativity and logical thinking. It also requires spatial skills and presence of mind.

It is one of the best cognitive games.

For 7 Years & Above

Frank Solar System Puzzle

Around 7 years kids are now full-fledged school students and they start learning about the solar system. So, this puzzle from Frank is a nice way to learn about it.

Through solving this puzzle, kids can learn about all the planets and their orbits, also their position in relation to the sun and also the earth.

Apart from that at the back of the puzzle box, they have also provided brief descriptions about the whole solar system including the sun and all the planets.

Children gain knowledge from this puzzle.

Skillmatics Mind Challenge

Skillmatics is well known for its various brain activity game kits. Here is one of their mind games suitable for kids above 7 years.

The box comes with 6 double-sided activity mats with 12 repeatable interesting activities.

These activities mainly require smart thinking and problem-solving skills as they involve mental maths, solving equations, application of trial and error methods, and such other activities.

Overall it promotes out of the box thinking and encourages the kids by providing them an achievement certificate.

Games Blokus Fast Fun

This game involves a lot of strategy making and logical thinking. Kids have to use their brain for making out all the possible strategies using which they can win the game.

This kind of board game is suitable for kids of 7 to 9 years. It is surely a great game for cognitive development in kids.

Conclusion

Cognitive development is a very essential part of a child’s growth. So, avoiding it is not the right thing to do for your children.

However, if you were confused about what kind of toys are suitable for serving the purpose of cognitive development, I am sure this list has come to your help.

So don’t wait anymore and get some of these toys which will be perfect for your kids as soon as possible.

Some Commonly Asked Questions