Indoor activity toys for hands-on learning

Interested in providing your children with indoor toys that also help to aid their growth? Hands-on learning activities are an extremely popular and beneficial way to boost your child's development from an early age.Keep on reading our exceptional hands-on learning guide to find out which toys promote hands-on learning the most!

Why is hands-on learning important?

Hands-on learning, sometimes referred to as experimental learning, is where children learn by doing, rather than simply being told.

For example, shape association is better developed by handling 3D shapes and gaining a feel for what each looks like, rather than simply looking at diagrams. Your little one can identify a triangle by feeling that it has three edges and three points, helping them to store this information away more quickly.

The other benefits of hands-on learning include:

• Learning to problem-solve - repeatedly attempting to overcome challenges teaches your little ones that trying again and resilience can lead to success.
• Encouraging creativity - children can use hands-on learning to get imaginative too!
• Enhancing colour and shape recognition.
• Boosting confidence and social skills - such as communication and sharing when they play with friends.
• Strengthening of fine and gross motor skills - the development and use of the small and large muscles, which are essential for grasping, walking, running and jumping, and many more.
• Making education and learning fun!

The 6 best children's activity toys for hands-on learning

To make hands-on learning even more exciting, there is a range of toys that promote it - our experts have produced a guide to the very best below:

Baby gyms

The perfect play apparatus for babies as young as three months, baby gyms are excellent sensory toys that aid development and exploration through a series of hanging elements.

Your little monkeys can engage in educational sensory play, reaching and stretching upwards to feel fuzzy and colourful fruit-shaped elements that rustle or smooth wooden animal-shaped pieces.

By doing so, they're playfully engaging in colour and shape recognition from a young age!

Indoor playgrounds

Even though soft playgrounds are heaps of fun, they also pose a range of interesting problems to be solved - after all, working out how to climb into a colourful ball pit or up a slide is a challenge itself! 

Working out how to use their little foam steps to climb up and over will aid their coordination, balance, navigation and motor skills, as they're actively engaging their larger muscles.

Plus, as kids can play together in an indoor playground, they also develop important emotional and social skills, such as communication, tolerance, and sharing.

Balance boards

Great for younger and older children alike, a wooden balance board is the ideal activity toy for aiding your little munchink's understanding of coordination, reflexes, and balance.

By attempting to stay upright and rocking side to side, your child actively engages the muscles in their core, legs, and arms to simultaneously move and balance. Doing this over and over, your child will learn how to effectively coordinate their movements, and how to react if they fall forward.

Walkers

Smaller children can gain a thorough cognitive and physical understanding thanks to wooden baby walkers. As the name suggests, a baby walker is a toy that encourages and aids walking, with many including fun interactive puzzles on their front.

By having a handle to grip onto, your toddler can safely wander around their environment, working out how to coordinate their steps and remain balanced.

What's more, the puzzles and colourful shapes on the front of the apparatus aid colour recognition and fine motor skill development, as your young one will be using the small muscles in their hands and fingers to move shapes along paths and twist smooth wooden cogs.

Wooden climbing frames

Similarly to indoor playgrounds, a wooden climbing frame is a hands-on way of developing physical strength and helping them build up their muscles.

Climbing, crawling under, and pulling themselves up using the wooden frame are various actions that require their gross motor skills - actions involving their larger muscles, such as those in the legs, arms, and core. 

This is brilliant as the growth of these skills stands them in good stead to begin physical activities outside the home, such as football or ballet.

However, a wooden climbing frame is more than just a physical workout - it also stimulates your child's creative and cognitive sides! Your treasured one must visually map out their plan of action for getting across the frame, which only aids their problem-solving skills.

Additionally, they can turn the frame into anything their imagination desires, such as a medieval castle or jungle tree house.

Foam blocks

Foam blocks for children are excellent and engaging educational tools that also double as sensory toys.

Firstly, your tot must use the cognitive section of their brain to figure out how the pieces can fit together to build creative yet stable structures - counting the elements can also be incorporated into their hands-on learning for a complete educational experience.

Secondly, another fantastic benefit of foam blocks is that they're sensory toys too - children can hold the soft fabric whilst squeezing the plush foam, offering an exploration of different textures and materials.

Activity toys that can be used in a secure indoor environment are a superb way to aid your little one's growth and development, whether it be their physical, cognitive, or motor skills. The advancement of their abilities from a young age will benefit them greatly as they look to start school and become a more independent child.

Children's play equipment you can trust

Here at KiddyMoon, we pride ourselves on stocking a huge range of the most enjoyable activity toys that promote hands-on learning in a safe environment.

All of our activity toys, including our wooden climbing frames, are constructed from sturdy timber with smooth edges to protect your precious one and ensure it lasts for years to come.

Plus, you can rest at ease knowing all of our products undergo rigorous health and safety checks, ensuring that each is perfectly safe for use.

If you have any questions regarding our collection of children's activity toys, please feel free to contact our customer service team today at 08000 705 225 and they can advise you.