7 Superb Shape Sorters to Engage Your Little One

What Makes The Best Shape Sorter Toys + Why

Exciting Shape Sorters
Best Shape Sorter Toys Compared

We all remember our favorite childhood toy or toys. Perhaps it was a telephone with googling eyes or a toy vacuum so you could “help” with chores. We never realized that many of the toys we played with had some educational value as well. These shape sorters are a great toy to allow your child the opportunity to have fun while learning and not even realize it! Each of these seven shape sorters offers something a little different, but all are sure to engage, excite and entertain your little ones.

What Makes The Best Shape Sorter Toys + Why

When you are searching for the best shape sorter toy for your child, there are things to keep in mind. Toys for all ages should be fun and have some educational value. These features are the qualities and characteristics that make a shape sorter toy the best:

Your child’s safety is vital when selecting a shape sorter toy or any other toy. Manufacturers consider the child’s age when developing toys. Check the warnings on the package. For example, if the shape sorting toy has small pieces, the manufacturer should indicate it could be a choking hazard for children younger than three years.

Suitable wooden materials and high-quality plastic shape sorter toys are safe for babies and toddlers. Also, avoid shape sorters with rough edges that can hurt your child; wooden shape sorter toys may have splinters or sharp edges if not made well.

Shape shorter toys for young ages are manufactured from wood or plastic because of their durability, lightweight, and safety features. Wooden shape sorter toys come in cube and rectangular containers and often have more shapes than plastic shape sorters. Platic shape sorting toy containers come with handles, convenient for transport.

Shape sorters strengthen fine motor skills, problem-solving, and other development skills for a specific age. Choose age-appropriate shape sorter toys that stimulate, are educational, and fun, but not too complicated for your child. Fabric and textured materials help with sensory development.

Simplicity in toys stimulates children to use their imagination. A baby’s first blocks or a shape sorter toy for a toddler should be exciting and entertaining; shape sorters shouldn’t be complicated, making it almost impossible to figure out.

Although babies and toddlers enjoy shape sorting toys, the toys do vary for different ages. An 18-months old child could still play with a shape sorter designed for a 1-year old, but it will be boring to a four-year-old. Kids from 12 months to 18 months won’t appreciate playing with the baby’s first blocks or complicated toys designed for older kids.

A shape sorter toy is a development toy for babies and toddlers to learn shapes and colors. Bright colors stimulate sensory development. A colorful shape sorter toy appeals more to kids than having to play with dull blocks.

Stacking and placing different shapes in matching holes help develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and finger dexterity. Some early learning shape sorting toys help teach your child number recognition.

The right size toy should complement the child’s age and stage of development. Babies six to eight months old might be too young to appreciate matching shape sorter toy pieces. The shapes should be comfortable in their hands to throw the blocks in the shape sorter container and tip it over to start again.

From eight months, 12 months, and older, kids start to play, utilizing a shape sorter toy by matching the shape with the hole, identifying colors, and recognizing numbers. The shape sorter piece and hole should be the right size for them to hold the shape and place them in the right hole.

Whether your kids are stacking or just trying to match the shape with the hole, a shape sorter toy is a fun toy with tons of learning value. A simple shape sorter toy features toddlers learning and developing skills:

Recognizing shapes and learning to match them with the holes
Learning about colors with colorful sort shapers
Improving their vocabulary by naming the colors and shapes
Develop numbers and counting skills by recognizing and counting the blocks
Strengthening problem-solving skills when they match a shape with the hole in the shape sorter
Learning about the same and different shapes and colors.

Exciting Shape Sorters

	Melissa & Doug Classic Shape Sorting Cube	Check price at
	DVD Rock ‘N Learn Colors Shapes & Counting Lowest Price	Check price at
	PlayMonster Lauri Shape And Color Sorter Most Popular	Check price at
	Green Toys Shape Sorter	Check price at
	Melissa & Doug K Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter	Check price at
	Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks	Check price at
	KidKraft Noah’s Ark Shape Sorter	Check price at

Best Shape Sorter Toys Compared

Melissa & Doug Classic Shape Sorting Cube

The Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube is one of the best wooden toys for imaginative and engaging play. The classic shape sorting toy includes a wooden cube with matching holes and 12 colorful blocks, the right size for toddlers to grip.

This classic learning activity help toddlers identify shapes and colors and promote problem-solving skills. The twelve chunky-shaped blocks make a delightful sound as they drop inside the natural-finish hardwood cube. A sliding lid keeps the shapes inside the cube until kids are ready to toss the shapes and start over.

Like many Melissa & Doug wooden toys, the construction is sturdy, made to last, an excellent birthday gift for boys and girls. With over 30 years of experience, their award-winning toys meet the highest standard, including the 2018 Best Cleanliness Toy award. If you were looking for a shape sorting toy for a 1-year old, the Melissa & Doug Match And Roll Shape Sorter Classic Wooden Toy is a classic pounding toy with attractively shaped blocks.

Recommended Ages: 2-4-year-old toddlers

DVD Rock ‘N Learn Colors Shapes & Counting

The Rock ‘N Learn Colors Shapes & Counting DVD has won 8 awards and an excellent gift for toddlers to learn colors, shapes, numbers, and counting with catchy tunes; your kids will want to play it over and over. Various rhymes, songs, musical styles, and characters will entertain your toddlers as they discover numbers, count, recognizing colors and shapes.

The sorting toys in our list keep kids occupied in engaging activities, decreasing screentime. The DVD is a fun toy, perfect for when kids beg for some screentime adventure or if it’s cold and wet outside. The program structure starts with basics like shape recognition and counting to five for younger kids; it moves up to more advanced counting to 20 and examining intriguing shapes like pentagons.

PlayMonster Lauri Shape And Color Sorter

The PlayMonster Lauri Shape And Color Sorter toy encourages hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity, and motor skills. Toddlers can have fun with basic pegging games to more intricate sorting by shape and colors. This early learning game comes with five removable pegs, an 11.5-inch Lauri Crepe rubber sorting board, and an activity guide.

Colorful spongy shapes fit easily over the glossy, colorful wooden pegs. Kids can play and learn about circles, squares, hearts, triangles, and stars. With 25 crepe rubber pieces, preschoolers and kindergarten kids can form a 20-inch long train and add passengers by stacking the pieces. They can identify colors and shapes as they sort and stack shapes on the pegs.

These toys are almost indestructible and can withstand toddler enthusiasm; the set exceeds U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission standards but is not made for chewing.

Recommended Ages: 24 months to 5-year-old

Green Toys Shape Sorter

Green Toys Shape Sorter, Green/Blue is a basic yet very effective toy to entertain and educate your little one. It is made of 100% recycled plastic, so you can feel good about leaving less impact on the environment. Your child will love the bright colors and chunky pieces, which make gripping and handling easier. If you want to wash this shape sorter and its pieces, it is entirely dishwasher safe, which means it will also get sterilized along with washed. Your child will learn shapes, colors and practice their hand-eye coordination skills. The price is very affordable for this durable, simple toy, and it is safe for even babies to use since there are no small parts or sharp edges.

Recommended Ages: 6 months to 4 years

Melissa & Doug K Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter

Melissa & Doug K Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter offers a double-sided, multisensory experience for your child. The bag is not only a convenient place to stow away the shapes when not in use, but it also acts as the shape sorter itself. There are crinkly flaps on the opposite side of the take-along bag to lift and explore the colorful shapes and pictures beneath. Parents can use this to play and bond with their child, as they play together. The bag is padded, which means it is safe for your little one to use, and the textured shapes won’t pose a choking hazard. This shape sorter is perfect for both at home and on the go. The price is reasonable, and with the Melissa & Doug brand name, you can expect a quality educational toy.

Recommended Ages: 9 months +

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks are a fun way to introduce your child to the world of shapes and colors. The pieces are super easy to handle and manipulate, which reduces frustration for little ones just learning to use their grasping skills. This set comes with 10 different shapes, ranging in colors, to allow your child to develop hand-eye coordination, color recognition, and shape sorting. The plastic pail holds the shapes and has a removable lid to retrieve them and start all over again! This basic, beginner set is extremely affordable and is a great starting point for your baby or toddler into the world of shape sorters.

Recommended Ages: 6 months to 3 years old

KidKraft Noah’s Ark Shape Sorter

KidKraft Noah’s Ark Shape Sorter is a different twist in shape sorters. It comes with 17 pieces in total, animals, Noah, and his wife. This sorter is a bit more challenging than traditional shapes. Children will love the painted animals and the ark-shaped holder. The wooden construction stands up to older children using this without easily breaking. The roof of the ark is removable to retrieve the shapes and start again. Along with teaching hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and shape matching, children can also learn the story of Noah and the ark with their parents’ help. It is priced moderately for a wooden toy with non-toxic paint and vivid pictures of animals.

Recommended Ages: 2 to 6 years old

Have you a shape sorter at home that your kids love? I bet you have some memories of playing with one when you were young—I know I have! There’s a reason that this toy has been around so long.

Feature image courtesy of Flickr, tompagenet.

One Comment

Laura Walker says:

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I bought no.3 for my daughter and she loves to play with it. I love to see the way she plays with this toy. At first, she will feel frustrated trying to find the right position for the shape. She also has to learn how to rotate the shapes to get in, now she can slam them through. I think this is a toy any kid will love, highly recommended.