It can be hard to know which toys to get a busy toddler. Obviously you want to choose a toy which is great for their development, but most importantly a toddler toy that they will love to play with.
Over the years I have realized the most expensive toys for 1 year olds are usually not the best. Toddlers often become frustrated when playing with these “1 year old toys” because they are simply too complex! In fact the best 1 year old toys are generally the simpler ones.
Toys to Encourage Fine Motor Development
The toys which are great for your little ones fine motor skills are the ones working on their ability to use their hands. What you will notice is that around 12 months of age children tend to stop mouthing toys so much, and they start to work on fitting toys together, how they fit inside each other and then that precise placement of toys.
So great toys at this age for their fine motor skills are:
- The nesting cups or stacking cups
What these are great for is that initially your little one will start to put the cups inside each other, but they will also use the nesting cup to place one block on top of the other or one circle on top of the other which is that precise placement of toys.
What you will find out is that the circular nesting cups are better than the square ones, that’s simply because a baby who is one to one and a half finds it really difficult to put the square cup inside the other square cup, they are going to be able to succeed with the circular nesting cups, and they won’t be able to do the square ones until they’re around two years of age. so I would recommend a circular nesting cup.
- Ring stackers
Ring stackers are also another great toy at this age. Initially your little one would have just been pulling the ring stackers off, but what we’re wanting is that they will start to put them on. So instead of sucking these toys, what they are doing is actually using it for its purpose, putting the rings on, and then taking them off, and then putting them back on again, they do lots and lots of repetitive play.
- Pop-up toys
Pop-up toys are also another great toy at this age. They’re working on that pointer to activate the button, so that the animal will come up, and then they use that pointer to push it back down. But it’s also working on other types of grips, such as pins that grip to slide, and most importantly at 12 months of age they learn the skill to be able to turn the button, so it will pop the animal up, and that’s a skill in itself which is quite exciting.
- Shape Sorters
Shape Sorters are another great toy at this age. Initially your little ones would have just been putting all the toys in, and then dumping them out. But at 12 months of age, they’ve extended on this skill and they can now use that shape sort of for its purpose, so they put the lid back on and they’ll be able to put the circular shape into that circle hole. It takes them a little while longer to be able to put in the square and the triangle shapes, and that’s simply because those shapes require the little one to turn their wrist to manipulate it and fit through the slot. Whereas the round shapes do not need to be rotated to fit as do the other shapes, they can just pick up the circles and then slot straight into that hole.
- Ball Runs
At this age, the toy Ball Runs works on the precise release, but it’s very much cause and effect. So your little one drops the ball, and then it rotates all the way down, and then they’re watching it come out. That is another great motivator for them to crawl or to walk to go get that ball, then come back and start that game again.
- Inset puzzles with knobs
These ones are fantastic. What you want is an inset puzzle, which is a puzzle piece that slots into a kind of groove, and you also want to have ones that have kind of little knobs on the top so that they can work on their pincer grip. They should be relatively small, so they can work on that precise grip. They would just generally pinch it and then pull that puzzle piece out. But it’s going to be hard for them to put it in, particularly if the puzzle pieces are all these different shapes. But if you can get an inset puzzle which has a circle, a square, and a triangle, then your little one is definitely going to be able to put that circle into that inset puzzle, and then they’ll move on to the other shapes. You can also get inset puzzles which actually make some noise when the little one removes the puzzle piece or puts it in, and that is really good, because at this age the kids are very much in that cause and effect phase, so if they do something, they wonder what’s going to happen next, so it provides some kind of motivation to continue playing.
- Toy Blocks
Your little one will also like playing with blocks at this age. Generally they’re just the smaller size blocks, you could use the ones that come in the shape sorters, or if you’ve got a push trolley that came with blocks then you would use those, and what you’re looking for in modeling to your little one at this point is that they can put one block on top of the other. So just two blocks and you build it up, and that is something they will constantly do. They’ll build up a tower and then they’ll knock it over, and then you can keep playing that game.
- Balls
Kids at this age also like balls, any type of ball. Because they’re going to throw it, they’re going to chase it and they’re going to crawl, or walk after it. It’s really handy, if you can get a ball that makes some noise or has some light, so that when they throw it and it makes contact with the floor then it lights up, and that again provides them with some motivation to keep playing with the toy.
- Banging Toys (including musical toys)
One to one and a half year olds also like playing with any toy that they can bang. So any hammer kind of toy, or musical toys at this age are amazing, particularly the xylophone, but there’s a really handy toy out there that has balls and you bang the balls down and then they run along the xylophone and make some noise, but you can also remove that xylophone so they can play with it.
- Drawing
Children at this age also really enjoy drawing, so generally they will use a fisted grip, but their accuracy isn’t amazing. So what you want to do is ensure that you are getting
- Toxic free material
- Washable markers or crayons
- Mess-free mat
- Crayons, larger size crayons not pencils. That’s simply because when you’re using a pencil, you have to get it on a particular angle, and often that’s too difficult for little ones, and they are unlikely to make a mark with that pencil, so then they’ll stop playing with it. Whereas, they’re going to have more success with large crayons that they can hold.
- Whiteboard, and non-toxic whiteboard markers. Because it’s something that is really easy to clean up when it goes off the whiteboard and onto the table, or the floor.
Books to Stimulate Communication Skills
When you’re looking at books for this age range, what you want to look for are:
- Board books
They are books with really thick pages, and this ensures that when the little one is playing with them, they aren’t going to accidentally rip them.
- Touch and feel board book
Where there’s different types of material, and the little one touches it. It helps the little one to further develop their ability to isolate their index finger and point. What you can do when they’re reading these books or you’re reading to them is start to label what the different material is, so you might say it’s fluffy, it’s smooth, it’s bumpy, and that can help them recognize what those words mean.
- Flap board books
The other type of board books you can get are the ones that have flaps, I tend to really like the ones that have animals, or noises, and that’s purely because when they lift that flap I can label what that animal is, and I can also make that animal noise. Kids at the age start to make the animal noises when they see the picture. So this is a great way to teach them what all the different animals are and what noises they make, so that they can start to communicate that to you.
- Musical Books
You can also get the books which are musical. When you turn the page and they make music, this is something that will help work on your baby’s pincer grips. It will also help to keep them motivated and engaged. There are also generally buttons on there, it plays music which kids at this age really love and they start to bop around when they hear it.
Toys for Pretend Play
When kids are one to one and a half years of age, you can also start to get some toys which are going to promote their pretend play. They’re not really engaging in a whole lot of pretend play or joint play at the moment, they will play beside another peer. But what is amazing is they’ve moved on from just exploring your toy, looking at the texture of it, and the taste, and the look of it, to actually using the toy for its purpose.
So at this age, they really like playing with:
- Vehicles of any sorts
So generally I would prefer to get the larger vehicles that are quite sturdy and quite easy to clean. Little friends have a large variety of options available, and generally there is some part of the toy which you can activate and it would make a noise, so it’s something fun and interactive for the little one.
- Animal toys
Animal toys are also great at this age. Just be a bit wary, there are some animal toys out there that are really heavy. They’re quite high quality, but because of that they’re really really heavy, and they hurt when the little one drops it on themselves, and they are going to do that quite a lot. They’re also going to throw the toy, because that is how they initially play and explore. So if you’re looking at animal toys, do try and get the ones that are a bit lighter weight.
- Stuffed Toys
At this age, you can also give your little one a teddy bear or a doll and a pretend little play kit. Inside it generally has a bottle, some bibs, a plate, a spoon and maybe a blanket. Initially your little one is going to actually use those on themselves, so they’ll start to brush their own hair, they’ll give themselves the bottle, but then they will progress to giving the bottle to the teddy bear, or the doll.
Toys to Encourage Crawling and Walking
At this age toys which encourage a little one to crawl around or stand and walk are fantastic.
- String toys and push walking toys on a stick
String toys are really great at this age. Kids often like pulling them along when they’re crawling up walking.
Some toddlers become frustrated if the toy keeps falling to the side when they pull it along. So if that’s your little one you might want to go towards the toys where they’re on the end of stick, and they just push them along and they make noise as they push along.
- Push and go cars
Push and go cars are also really great at motivating a little one to continue to crawl, get up and walk around.
- Push trolley
Push trolleys are fantastic, because it gives a little one a bit of confidence when they’re not yet walking to move around. Also when they are able to walk, they start to use them as trolleys and place lots of different things in them.