Toys for a One Year Old

Wagons are fun for boys and girls. They can sit in them while you take them for a walk. Or they can bring their toys around the house/yard. This is the age where moving something form one place to another is fun.

I'm into natural toys not made in China too, although it's hard to avoid plastic altogether. Wooden toys are really good, especially the ones made in Europe using safe non-toxic paints. Brands to look for include Haba, Selecta (both German made), Vilac (French made) and Plan Toys (made in Thailand of sustainable wood, some with vegetable based paints). Expect to pay more for these but the quality is excellent. I've seen some wooden toys at Ikea or Toys R Us where the wood wasn't properly sanded down and who knows what kind of paint was used since they came from China. Europe has much higher safety standards for toys so European brands are better in that sense.

Some wooden toys your little one will like:
chunky knob puzzles
shape sorters
wooden blocks
anything that makes noise
pull toys, especially ones that wiggle or waddle when you pull them

Some fun plastic toys:
Fisher Price xylophone
Stacking cups
Playskool Busy Poppin' Pals
We also have the Little Tikes shopping cart that my daughter likes to fill up and push around everywhere. She's 18 months and plays with her stuffed animals a lot now too.

For really cool wood and organic toys, check out www.oompa.com. They tell you where each toy was manufactured, the measurements of the toy and give you safety statements. Some higher end European toy brands are actually made in China, so check out the four I mentioned. Let me know if you have any more questions about this stuff, I'm pretty type A about the products I give my daughter.

I got my son a set of stacking blocks for his first birthday, and he still loves to build "block towers" as he calls them! (He's turning 2 today.) I think I got my set from the Lillian Vernon website, and paid maybe $12.00? They're cardboard, and have numbers and nursery rhyme pics. I know a few websites (babycenter.com) said that stacking blocks and cups are great developmental toys for 1 year olds. Good luck and enjoy!

My daughter loved touch and feel book and the baby einstine movies.

Hi B.,

My son is 16 months old has been playing with Nesting Blocks he just loves them. They are made of cardboard, so he won't hurt himself. They are numbered from 1 to 10 and have abc and animal pictures on them. They had belong to my daugther who is 6 now and she still loves to stacked them. Nesting Blocks and they are really cheap on Amazon.com. ($9.98) I just ordered 2 one for my son and one for his 14 month old cousin for Christmas. :)

lillian vernon kids has some good stuff. check it out.. they have a small playhouse with dogs in it.. my neice loves them.. they have other stuff too... go online..
also wooden spoon, small pots and tuperware.. kids love them..

Don't waste your money on toys. At this age everything is a toy. My daughter loved kitchen utensils (safe ones). Seriously, don't spend money. They are only interested in something while they are discovering it and then they move on to the next object.

Elmo! My son will be 2 soon and he still loves Elmo. I agree with the person who also said books. You can never have too many books and kids love them.

parents magazine makes a wooden activity center... there's one called busy zoo and another with a city theme i think. we got this for our 1-year-old. also those wooden pull toys that others have recommended (or even a wagon) are great for this age.

At this age toys for stacking are good, drums, mini pianos.

Although you don't like the plastic route, I have to say the leap frog toys are wonderful. My son knew his entire alphabet and the sounds the letter made before age 2 because of the little alphabet bus. We bought my daughter the leapfrog drum that teaches the alphabet for this Christmas.

Hi, At one the gifts are really more about you than her. I gave my kids more practical items. Things like sippy cups, finger snacks (gerber), and a cup, bowl and plate set with their favorite character on them. Also, my kids were blanket babies so they got new "snuggle" blankets with their names stiched on them. They also got a nativity set from Little People that they can bring out every year and play with and set up. They get distracted very easily so no more than five things to open. Keep it simple.

Don't forget to take lots of pictures.

Happy Holidays.
D.

My daughter is currently 14 months old. She is a BOOKWORM! Loves loves loves her books, has favorites and all. She especially loves any that have to do with animals (that I can make the corresponding sounds for) or things that are in her everyday world (trees, then I ask her where's the tree? And she'll point to our xmas tree, babies cz I'll ask her what they do- waa, and I'll point out the facial parts and ask her where hers are, etc.). Moreover, one of her all time favorties is a Leap Frog toy- I think my friend got it at Target. It's truly an all-in-one kind of toy that has a "piano," the alphapet letters to press w/sound, different colors and textures of sample material that hangs down, a jack-n-box type frog, so on and so on. The child can either sit or stand to play with it. It also has balls that you send down the chute and make noise. Have to say, one of the best toys we have. Simple one(s), she loves a animal farm magnet toy b/c as you match the animals (divided in two) or press just about any button, it plays music and/or says something. She LOVES music so she just adores that toy. And lately she's been more and more into her stuffed animals, giving "hugs hugs hugs" and imitating their corresponding sounds (monkey says ooo ooo aa, lion says "roaar."). I don't know whether you have a boy or a girl, but either way it's a good time to start introducing sutffed animals in that hugs & kisses kind of way, it's good for their character development. Hope all this helps! -N.

Try "Band in a box" by Melissa&Doug

http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_prod.php?p=488&k=88...

Technically, it's for 3+, but I got it for my daughter when she was 6 months old and she loves all the instruments. It comes with 6 different instruments (symbals, maracas, tambourine, etc) that are lot of fun for the kid (and its parents :) or friends), and it encouarges the child to learn about music. Except for the triangle, all the instruments are safe for littler guys to play with, with no sharp edges or little parts to swallow.
good luck!

My kids were all into the boxes that the gifts came in and forgot about the toys! hahahhaha

All kidding aside - My kids were so into Leapster and all their products - the books, the Frog with all the buttons and talking it did - This was also the time when my kids and I bonded with reading! And let me tell you the result are still showing - my 6 year old has the highest level of reading in her class - I so love the early stages of leapster - because it geared me in the right direction of helping to teach my children how to read - even at 1 years old. Its had not to find a lot of things made out of plastic or out of China - but books are always a great activity and now with all the more technology out there - you could even use dvd and computers to learn to read! Hope this helps!

Have a Great Holiday!

hi,
check out www.oompa.com, http://www.thewoodenwagon.com/ and http://www.rosiehippo.com/

i just ordered our 10 month old daughter an instrument set made by oompa, but bought it on amazon.

i know my niece who is 15 months loves push and pull toys, and a wooden shape sorter from melissa and doug.

little wood people and animals.

you can also look into wooden stacking cups and nesting blocks.

for music, i would suggest the mozart cube- can find it at target or on amazon.

good luck!

Any of the push/pull toys from Melissa & Doug. My daughter still loves the duck push toy I got her.
Play silks. They're expensive on websites, but you could also go to a fabric store and buy some material and just hem off the edges.
Plan Toys instruments.

I am having so much fun buying cool toys for my son- who is turning 1 in two weeks! Right now, he is really into:

-musical instruments (we just got him band in a box!)- tambourines, drums, shakers, etc.

-anything he can push around or ride on/in

-big board books, with really vivid colors

-if you don't have the Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table- GET IT! He's had it for a while now, but he still loooooves it! Seriously, super awesome toy.

-tunnels- he loves to go through tunnels now

-Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube (he fell in love with this at a playdate, so I got it for him for Christmas)

-a big, bouncy ball!

Hope any or all of these help! Congrats on a wonderful first year!

well, this would counter your non plastic catagory, but we had a drawer in the kitchen with measure cups and bowls and cooking utinsels that the child could not get hurt on or put in their mouth and swallow. when mom was baking, they would get thier dishes out and play with them and pretend to be cooking too. They like to mimic mommy and that gives them the ability too. The other thing is to find them the small broom and dustpan set for kids. It will teach them cleaning skills and let them mimic Mommy. This is a things to do catagory in my eyes. I know you said non plastic, but to me wooden spoons can be a hazard for a toy and metal would be a bit dangerous if they decided to cork someone with a stainless steel bowl or pan. T.

My daughters are now preteens, but some of the best toys that I can remember are...

blocks.. I had plastic ones in different colors. At first I would stack them up and she would knock them down. As they grew, they would stack them on their own. I also used them to help teach patterns, and concepts like colors, top, bottom, etc.

a little red wagon ... ours is still in the garage, and still gets used.