The Best Toys for 1-Year-Olds
Your 12-24-month-old is in prime time to start developing the fine motor and problem-solving skills that will help them learn to play independently (trust me, we all want that!).
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This is every baby’s favorite first birthday/Christmas gift. Each shape rattles, giving baby sensory feedback while they use problem-solving and fine motor skills to manipulate the shapes into place. The sorter has two different knobs on it for baby to explore, which makes this toy more interesting to babies -and last much longer- than a traditional shape sorter.
At 12 months, your toddler is working on taking items out of containers and putting them back in. Littles will spend hours opening the train cars, pulling out animals, putting them back and starting over! Closer to two, your toddler will start to use the keys on the trainset to lock and unlock the train – making it a favorite for older toddlers, too!
3. Melissa & Doug Latch Puzzle
This has every kind of latch that your toddler could ever want to use their fine motor skills and problem-solving to explore. One of the best toys for keeping littles busy, and the latches present different challenge levels that keep this interesting from ages 1-4!
Your 1-year-old is probably well into their climbing era (and there’s no end in sight.) Giving your toddler a safe way to climb (with supervision) gives their brain calming sensory input – and keeps them from climbing other things in your house.
Most parents make the mistake of thinking that their baby is too young for puzzles, but your 12-month-old is starting to work on being able to slide a chunky puzzle piece into place! This is the time to start teaching your toddler to love a good puzzle
6. Melissa & Doug Takealong Barn
This is one of the best toys for language skills in toddlers! So many opportunities here for making animal noises, and modeling words like “in” “out” “up” and “down.” Toddlers love picking up the wooden animals and manipulating the piece into its shape on the barn!
If you’re wondering what to put in a toddler’s stocking – def start here! At 12 months, your toddler is able to create a scribble with a crayon. These crayons are the best for toddlers because they are made of beeswax and food-safe coloring (yeah, we all know they’ll end up getting tasted.)
