Budget-Friendly Educational Toys Under £20 in the UK

Educational toys don’t have to come with a hefty price tag. Some of the best toys that can boost your child’s cognitive, physical, and social skills can be found under £20.

Whether you’re shopping for a birthday gift, stocking up on screen-free learning games, or simply want to encourage your child’s development, this guide is for you. We’ve scouted some of the best cheap educational toys in the UK for you. They’re high-quality, support screen-free learning, and foster creativity. Let’s dive straight in!

Flashcards

Flashcards are a popular educational tool globally for their ability to improve multiple skills simultaneously, like the following:

Recognition
Retrieval of information
Attention
Memory
Processing speed

What makes it a must-have in your child’s development is the open-ended play it encourages. You can pair these cards with other game ideas to improve your child’s literacy skills as they grow. Here are some suggestions for you:

1. Letters, Numbers, Shapes & Colours

These letter flashcards are designed to help toddlers aged 1 to 4 grasp shapes, colours, letters and numbers, which form the basics of learning. Each card in this kit features realistic imagery that helps your toddlers imagine the authentic appearance of the shapes, colours, numbers and letters.

2. Sticker Stories: Animal Adventures

Transform storytelling into a hands-on adventure! With 16 engaging animal stories, kids can listen, follow along, and bring vibrant scenes to life using fun, reusable stickers. Select a story card and place the corresponding backdrop and sticker book in front of your child. Read the story aloud to them. Then, let them add stickers to bring the scenes to life. After you have finished the story, simply store the stickers back in the book for reuse!

3. Science Snippets: The Human Body

Make learning fun with 70+ colourful, double-sided cards that answer the "how," "what," and "why" about the human body! This educational STEM game fosters the development of essential skills, including reading, critical thinking, mental processing, and reflective thinking.

There are additional variants, such as "All About Space" and "All About Animals."

Puzzles

If your child enjoys overcoming challenges, puzzles are one of the best cheap educational toys you will find. They’re excellent at fostering problem-solving, decision-making, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and logical thinking.

Some of the puzzles you can explore are:

4. Tangram Twist: Amazing Animals

Tangram Twist brings puzzles and stickers together for your little ones! It is a fun and effective way for young children to explore how different pieces fit together to create larger images. Choose a board and pop out the corresponding foam stickers. Sort them by their patterns, then start. Rotate the geometric shapes to fit into place. Once aligned, peel off the backing and stick them onto the board. The best part? There are two variations in this game — Animals and Transport Vehicles.

5. Step By Step Puzzle: Underwater Animals

This set includes 10 colour-coded underwater animal puzzles that progress in complexity. Start with the 3-piece puzzles and progressively work up to 4-piece and finally the 5-piece puzzles. Each type of puzzle is colour-coded, so it's easy for children to sort.

There is also another variant of the step-by-step puzzle centred on wild animals. As young children master their puzzling skills, they'll learn about wild animals and build confidence along the way.

6. World Map Puzzle

Assemble this 96-piece world map puzzle and embark on an educational journey! With 100 country cards included, children can learn about the countries of the world, their capitals, and uncover over 400 fun facts.

The good part? The continents on the map and the corresponding country cards are colour-coded and numbered, making it easy for children to locate and learn about countries and their capitals.

7. Piece & Play

Piece & Play is a giant floor puzzle and a game, all in one! Once your child builds the floor puzzle, they can play two fun Search and Find games! First, match the picture on the Game Tiles to the Puzzle and for more advanced play, read the clues out for your little one to find the matching picture! The Piece & Play comes in 4 amazing variants for you to choose from:

Trivia Cards & Board Games

Trivia cards and board games are fun ways to learn about others and engage with them. They teach social interaction, group play, cooperation, and turn-taking. It also teaches children about turn-taking, an essential social skill that is developed during childhood.

8. Guess in 10

Guess in 10 is a trivia game, ideal for kids above 6 years of age. This multiplayer game can be the life of any play date or birthday party, where up to 6 players can play this guessing game at once.

This trivia game improves their general knowledge but also increases focus, concentration, and retention capacity. What’s more? This game will keep your kids away from screens, giving them hours of screen-free fun. You will be surprised to know the variants of this game. Take a look below:

9. Found It

Found It! is an exciting Search & Find game that turns everyday spaces into a thrilling adventure! With prompts like “Can you find something with a pattern?” or “Something smaller than your palm?”, kids race to spot objects and shout “FOUND IT!” The first player to collect 7 cards wins!

It has multiple variants for you to choose from. Here’s the entire list for you:

10. Memory Match

Match tiles to the picture boards or roll the special picture die and match objects to their colours or shapes. With two fun ways to play, this game grows with your child and builds observational, memory and spatial reasoning skills. Ideal for 2–5 players, this memory-building game takes 5 minutes to learn, and makes for a fantastic gift, especially when you have variants like the following:

11. Scout It Out

Scout It Out is packed with maps, facts, flags and fun! Roll the die to get clues and scout the country out! In this game of rotating clues, you must be the first player to guess the correct country to win the Game Card and a Bonus Token.

12. DIBS

Call "DIBS!" first to claim your shot. The catch? You're going in blind! (You have no clue what the question will be!) Get it right and snag that card! Get it wrong and you might have to sit back and watch others swoop in to steal the show! First to 7 cards, wins!

Write & Wipe Mats

Reusable mats are the ultimate budget-friendly educational toys because they can be used over and over again. This means you can reinforce your child’s learning at regular intervals.

13. Write & Learn

Learn through repetition with reusable cards. The cards are designed to help children learn to write, one step at a time, as they trace patterns, shapes, letters, and numbers!

14. Search & Find

Do you want your little ones to be familiar with scenes from daily life or concepts that typically interest kids? Since children aged 3-6 years old can easily grasp and learn ideas, introducing them to the search, find, write & wipe activity maps is the ideal solution.

It keeps them busy with screen-free games. These reusable activity mats offer endless play opportunities and help children become acquainted with scenes from outer space, under the sea, campsites, farms, medical centres, toy factories, and restaurants.

If your little one is fascinated by the world of animals, Search & Find: World of Animals is a good choice as well. It explores grassland, underwater, rainforest, arctic, and other animals.

15. I Can Write

This is one of the best gifts for preschool kids, specially designed to ignite creativity and a love for learning in young minds. With two skilly billy pens, children trace interesting patterns, count, draw, and learn the alphabet. Skillmatics also has a special I Can Write | Unicorn Edition in this game to keep your kids excited and engaged.

Perfect Gifts for Any Occasion

That wraps up our guide to the best educational toys under £20 in the UK. But the learning doesn’t stop here! Skillmatics offers an entire range of toys that support your child’s development, many well within budget.

What’s best is that educational toys double as excellent gifts for your loved ones. Whether you are celebrating birthdays, milestones, or a simple “just because,” they make excellent presents.

Head to the Skillmatics collection and educational games category, and choose the perfect gift for your little learner. Let’s learn through play!

Product Links:

Letters, Numbers, Shapes & Colours
Sticker Stories: Animal Adventures

Science Snippets: The Human Body

Tangram Twist: Amazing Animals

Step By Step Puzzle: Underwater Animals