The toys you choose for your child can have a huge impact on their development and their interpretation of the world around them. That’s why each of our toys is designed with specific development goals in mind.

Cognitive skills play a key part in a child’s development. They are core skills the brain uses to learn, think and pay attention, and are key to success in early life, school and beyond. A lack of development of these hugely important skills can lead to struggles with the demands of everyday life.

Research tells us that toys can aid greatly in both developing and enhancing existing cognitive skills. For example, a study by New York-based special education teacher Gabriel Guyton MA MSEd suggests that blocks, puzzles and even fabric can all have a huge impact in getting to grips with concepts such as cause and effect.

For example, a toddler will soon learn to understand that when building blocks, larger blocks will help stabilise a number of smaller blocks placed on top. If blocks fall, a thought process is required in order to build a taller or more sturdy structure.

Blocks, therefore, provide a simple yet incredibly effective way to encourage problem solving and to help gain an understanding of balance and spatial relationships.Equipped with a basic understanding of how these elements come together to create mini projects, youngsters may go on to build more interesting and complex structures, such as bridges,buildings, excited to utilise their newfound knowledge.

Puzzles are also effective in helping youngsters solve problems – how many times have we seen toddlers lift the lid from a puzzle block to throw the pieces straight in? By stimulating minds with the correct toys from a young age, we can carefully encourage and support them to help solve problems that to us may be simple – as adults with developed cognitive skills – but for youngsters may be one of the most difficult challenges they have faced.

This is where imooore comes in. Our diverse range of wooden block toys are created specifically to help your child learn these key skills that become an essential component of our thought processes.

Unsure what to go for? Here’s our rundown of some of our best toys for cognitive development

Wooden Yellow Portable Toolbox

What better way to encourage problem solving than with a dedicated toolbox for your little one? This scenario and role-play toolbox encourages kids’ creative imagination and promotes their social ability and language development.

Gender-neutral colours make the toy easily shareable between siblings and friends, extending this exciting toy’s usage. Interactive play develops babies’ turn-taking skills as well as boosting and enhancing social interaction. All operations practice little ones’ muscles and train their logical combination and creative ability.

Colourful Giraffe Toy Trio

Three toys in one! Part one is a gorgeous wheeled giraffe equipped with wooden string beads, which help promote kids’ hand-eye coordination as well as the principle of cause and effect as beads rise and fall. The set also includes an intellectual box with a range of geometric shapes, helping little ones boost mathematic learning through play. A stacking tower with a variety of shapes including rings and rectangles can be matched and stacked, further boosting a range of crucial cognitive skills. The beautifully coloured set is the perfect all-rounder to help aid babies’ colour and animal cognition as well as boost their ever-expanding imagination!

Balancing Cactus Toy

This colourful and imaginative cactus encourages young children to understand the principles of balance and cause and effect. It is perfect for help in developing all-important hand-eye coordination and to get stuck in with imaginative play. The cactus’s bright colours enhance colour cognition and motor skills. What else can be created with these brightly coloured circles? The possibilities are endless!

Forest Animal Wooden Puzzle

This stunning puzzle set contains solid wood animal blocks with six different faces, giving your child ample opportunity to build and create! The set’s colourful design helps develop colour recognition and stimulates youngsters’ budding imaginations. Building blocks during the early learning phase helps establish animal cognition and builds confidence, as well as developing hand-eye coordination.