Do you have a hard time figuring out how to have an active role in educating your child at home? My family loves to explore the world and I find it easy to have engaging conversations with my oldest. However, on the days we are laying low at home, I'm tempted to rely on screen time to fill the hours. That's where Learning Resources has helped me out. At Learning Resources, they make toys that help kids have fun while they are learning. My preschooler was stoked to receive a huge box filled with Learning Resources' best sellers and favorite educational toys!

Letter Blocks

I've been working a bit with my 3.5-year-old about the alphabet. We've been singing the ABCs for the past year. Now we're starting to connect the names of the letters to written letters. So, this toy came at the perfect time! Not only were we able to talk about the different letters, but they are stack-able! Yes, we were able to build towers while talking about letters. I love when learning is hands-on! We brought them out a few days later and he stamped the letters into play dough.

Counting Dino-Sorters Math Activity Set

This activity set kept my son entertained far longer than I imagined. First, we talked about the numbers on each egg. Then, he poured out all the little dinosaurs and sorted them by color. Finally, we counted each pile of dinosaurs and matched to the corresponding egg. The real fun occurred when all the eggs were filled and he "had" to break each one open to release the dinosaurs. He likes to fill the eggs and load up his shopping basket from the Smart Market and take the eggs all over the house!

Smart Market

We have a really awesome play kitchen that has encouraged my preschooler to cook me pretend food. I love it because it's so sweet. I figured I'd help him with his pretend play by making a bunch of play food for him to cook with. This mainly consisted of me taping up empty food boxes. However, the boxes of food provided in this Smart Market are so well made! They are different shapes and they are sturdy enough to stack. Plus they have numbers on them. And this set also comes with a shopping list with pictures and names of each item. My favorite part are the coupons! I love using them to teach thriftiness! The final item is a plastic shopping basket, which is essential for any pretend shopping play.

Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register

Along with the Smart Market, this Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register is ideal for pretend play. I actually wrote a separate review about it here. We've seen this cash register used at some of our favorite local indoor play spaces, so we already knew it was durable. Since we also have a baby, I laminated the paper money so he wouldn't shred them. In our world of debit/credit cards and online banking, it's been helpful to talk to our son about money using this set. However, his favorite part of this cash register is pushing the buttons and opening the tray.

Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set

I was a little intimidated by this toy, at first. I'd been planning to get my son a toy that teaches coding because it's all the rage right now. This one is geared for kids ages 5 and up. Fortunately, my husband is a computer programmer, so I had him take the lead helping our son with the Code & Go Mouse Activity Set. I'd say they both had an equally fun time with it! Once my husband read the directions, he was able to easily explain to our son what to do. It took a few tries, but then our son was able to program it himself. I'd recommend setting up the tiles on a hard surface.

Gears! Gears! Gears! Cycle Gears

As soon as we opened our box, my son was determined to build this motorcycle. When we looked at the directions, we say three different variations. My son picked his favorite and we built it. Then he took it apart and tried to do the other two. What's cool about this set is that we already had the Spinning Space Gears Building Kit. So, after we built the motorcycle, he was able to add on extra gears to see what would happen.

Learning Resources Learning Minutes Calendar

Learning Resources has developed an online toolkit of learning activities. It features printable activities, 'smarts and crafts' ideas, a playlist of learning songs, and an online version of this Learning Minutes Calendar! The calendar makes it easy for parents and kids to do a simple and fun learning activity every day in just minutes. You can even earn points toward chances to win free toys!

I received these Learning Resources toys for review purposes. All opinions are my own.