16 Best Building Toys for Kids, According to Toy Experts (2024)

LEGO bricks are a tremendous developmental tool, whether kids are working on spatial recognition and order-following with the directions or going rogue and using their creativity to develop worlds all their own.

This classic 484-piece set is designed with 35 colors, plus windows, tires, wheel rims and more for unlimited imaginative play. And, of course, it's compatible with other LEGO sets.

As a parent, watching my kids improve their problem-solving skills while using LEGO bricks has been awe-inspiring. I've seen them develop social skills like resilience and perseverance when they can't quite figure something out right away. Once their designs are constructed, they engage in role playing using the scenes they've built.

I've found LEGO bricks are a great resource for developing fine motor skills, and a way to relax and calm down after a busy school day. And being a proud LEGO builder myself for as long as I can remember, I still find comfort and wonder in building alongside my kids. Ages 4+

Designed as a new-fangled approach to open-ended building, Clixo sets are comprised of uniquely shaped and flexible magnetic pieces that can be clicked together to form cool 3D creations. They are dishwasher-safe, lightweight and largely stackable, making them a very travel-friendly toy.

Kids can follow guides for creations or enjoy making up their own creatures, flexible wearables or whatever their imagination dreams up. Clixo, in this way, affords a child to experiment with much greater flexibility and freedom, both in material and ideation.

This particular set has 42 pieces with all the various colors and shapes the brand offers, including a spinner. Given the novel design, kids are encouraged to try new things, helping to foster creative thinking, spatial awareness and persistence. Ages: 4+

One of the original magnetic construction toy companies, Magna-Tiles are a staple of many playrooms and schools for good reason.

The premise is seemingly simple, various colors of translucent geometric shapes that magnetically connect. Children often begin building Magna-Tiles flat on a surface, and as their motor planning and cognitive skills progress, they start to build upward and outward to create more involved three-dimensional shapes.

Watching my own children's continued evolution interacting with Magna-Tiles over the years has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. We've gone from line-building and sorting to complex made-up play environments (and the occasional tall tower build, and crash model thrown in between for good measure) that help my kids develop frustration tolerance and critical thinking skills.

The brand provides helpful free resources to support development of various skills you may want to focus on (e.g. line tracing, sorting, numbers, etc.). This set is comprised of 100 of the classic pieces, though over the years the brand has added new systems that can be layered with the basic tiles, including roadways and character pieces.

While the Institute team has long loved Magna-Tiles, there are a host of Magna-Tiles alternatives we recommend you check out, too. Ages: 3+

This early-learning set of 10 soft blocks features numbers, animals and shapes. Since they are bright and highly textured, they create an engaging tactile experience that is easily grippable by little hands. It comes in a reusable fabric bag that you can stash in your diaper bag or under-stroller carriage.

In my hands-on experience with these blocks, I've found them to be readily stackable, squeezable and even chewable (they meet industry BPA and phthalate regulations). The set can be combined with the brand's Elemenosqueeze, a 26-piece architectural building block set, for more play opportunities. Ages 6 months+

Year-round, the Good Housekeeping Institute team is testing toys for kids of all ages and stages. Each holiday season, our testing culminates with our Best Toy Awards. From the robust testing we do in our Lab and in consumer homes, we know what it takes to be a solid toy that will pique the interest of kids and caregivers alike.

For every toy, we ensure each is adherent to the latest required safety standards. We then perform an in-Lab check on ease of unpackaging (and the potential delight of the unboxing experience!), ease and speed for assembly and construction quality. Our most important testers are our kid testers though — they thoroughly evaluate and provide feedback (with parental support as needed) on how fun the toy is and whether they'd play with it again.

Then parents weigh in on their perceived evaluation of the toy. Ultimately, we look for toys that will provide developmental support (such as fine and gross motor skills, social skills, creativity boosters and educational skills) and that are well constructed, safe and deliver on the fun factor.

Always check the toy's recommended age range and take your child's developmental profile into consideration, but in general you can start introducing an appropriate building toy from birth on. In many homes, the building sets are some of the most used toys.

What's great about them is that kids won't quickly age out of them because they can adapt to whatever stage children are at. A toddler may start to stack a few blocks or place a few magnetic tiles together flat on a surface. But over time, as their skills and imagination develop, that child can create bigger, more robust structures and designs.

That's why building toys are such a great investment — they can be used for many years, with multiple children, and often the pieces you have can be extended with more sets as needed.

Play, in all of its wonderful forms, can provide children with a safe environment to experiment and problem solve. In general, building toys can help promote:

✔️ Problem solving and critical thinking: Ingraining in children from a young age that they can be problem solvers is akin to harnessing them with a superpower for life. As mini scientists, they can learn to question, experiment and ultimately solve problems through play. Therefore, all the toys on this list are excellent STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning tools.

✔️ Creativity and curiosity: Kids can take their concepts from abstraction to tangible reality with building toys. While some of the sets provide guides, open-ended projects allow kids to use the expanse of their imagination to build anything they dream up.

✔️ Social-emotional skills: There are a host of ways building can support social-emotional learning (SEL), from conflict resolution if they disagree with a friend on how to build to perseverance as they work really hard on a challenging build. Manipulating building pieces may help with emotional self-regulation for some children. Building out playscapes with building pieces can also allow for role play, opening up opportunities for communication and empathy.

✔️ Physical development: All the sets on this list are helpful for motor skill development. Some focus more acutely on fine motor, some on gross motor, while most of them offer a combination of the two.

✔️ Confidence and resilience: Children will encounter failure in life, and play provides an environment where they can learn from the experience. If a child attempts to build something and it doesn't quite go as planned, breaks or all-out fails, there is an opportunity for the child to work through (with a caregiver as appropriate) on how to handle that. I’ve worked hard on allowing my children to experiment and “fail” because through that, I know they are building resilience, cause and effect and so much more.

✔️ Sequencing and patterning: Many of the sets include pieces of assorted shapes and colors, so they provide the perfect backdrop for early-learning activities such as sorting, sequencing and patterning.

✔️ Sensory exploration: The various textures provide different opportunities for tactile exploration, and the way some snap or click together can create a novel auditory experience as well.