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Recommended Toys for Toddlers

1 to 2 Years Old

Most of the toys that I have linked to from this page are the result of lots of internet browsing I've done for the best quality, best price and best value - enjoy.

Quality not quantity is my philosophy. Kids are rough with toys - if it's not good quality, it will break and your money is wasted. The less toys in the house, the less toys to clean up.

Leave room for the imagination. Kids actually get bored quicker with toys that are too detailed or do everything for them making them a passive observer. Especially at this young age when their imagination and creativity is so strong, children should play with simple toys that leave room for their creativity and imagination to roam wild. A simple wooden block can be a cell phone, a building, a bridge, a piece of food, an animal or person. A piece of fabric can be a cape, a castle, a baby - you get the idea.

Accessibility and Orderliness: It is important that the child's toys are at a height which is easy for them to access. This includes some safe art supplies such as: Crayola Color Wonder markers and Color Wonder paper. The toys should be neatly arranged on low shelves accessible to the child. Toys should never be thrown into a basket or box. It is hard to find what you are looking for and the toys are more easily damaged. Each toy should have a permanent home so that the child will know where to return it during clean-up time. It is important to begin at this young age to teach children to put away their own toys. You may need to help them and regularly remind them of the proper spot for each toy but this investment of time will be worth it for many years to come. The child should also have a child-size table and chair. My cheap alternative to the expensive wood sets out there was to buy an Ikea Lack Side Table and an Ikea plastic child-size stackable lawn chair. The total for both was under $20 US. A nice solid wood set would also be a good investment - my seven year old son still uses this child-size table and chair for drawing and school work.

Toddlers: Now your baby is starting to walk. Fine motor skills are developing quickly. Pretend play is important at this stage. Toddlers love to stack wooden blocks and knock them down. They like to put things in bags or containers - empty and fill and transport them around (blocks, play food, animals, fabric pillows and stuffed animals are all good for this purpose). Toddlers love sand and water play.

Building Blocks: This is an investment which you should purchase carefully. Not all blocks are created equal. Your child will use this toy from preschool until they are in their teens. It is currently my 7 year old sons favourite toy. Beka makes the highest quality blocks of solid maple that are cut
to mathematical proportions (all blocks are
based on a standard unit of measure). These blocks will teach babies about balance, precision and control. They will teach older children about proportion, mathematical relationships, and architecture. These blocks are available from Peapods. The Deluxe 68 piece set costs $149 US. The Starter 30 piece set costs $50 US. I recommend the Deluxe - remember - it's an investment. I also recommend in conjunction with this, the
Kapla blocks 200 piece set for $64.95 US
(but don't buy it until you have seen your child show interest in blocks and here the "I don't
have enough pieces Mom!"). They are only
one size rectangles but this is precisely what
my son complains he doesn't have enough of - it's the most useful building block shape and
size and there are millions of possibilities to
building with this. Don't buy painted coloured
blocks - it's not healthy (babies will chew on these) and the paint wears off with use (sometimes leaving marks on floors and walls where kids have played with them).

Duplo: My husband believes that the only toys children need is some pencil crayons, plain white paper, a pencil and eraser, and some Lego. Drawing and building. I don't recommend Primo Lego. You can't do much with it. Start straight into Duplo. And eventually move on to Lego. Children will continue to play with their Duplo even when they are 8 years old. It's a good building toy. Available at Mastermind Toys for $30 Cdn.

Tea Set: This is one toy that needs to be plastic. We keep ours in the bathtub. One teapot, two cups, two saucers and two spoons are all you need - anything more is just more toys to clean up. This is a good toy to teach fine motor skills and practice pouring. I would choose a tea set that is a good size and sturdy, the spoons should also be a good size and sturdy (otherwise children will bend them and break them like my children did with the first cheap set that I bought - save yourself time and money - buy the good quality durable set the first time). My children have used their tea set every day during bath time for more than 4 years. Take the time to find one that will last and is of good quality. Don't buy themed sets with Barbie etc. on it. Sticker decorations will just make a sticky mess that is hard to wash off completely. Buy one that looks as real and as simple as possible. The one shown here is from Kidstock for $11.95 US.

Pots and Pans: Optional. Real metal kitchen pots are just as much
fun but this kids size version can be
an investment for years of pretend kitchen play and is a must if you later invest in a toy stove. A great toy for
your toddler to play with while you prepare meals. Put a couple of
pieces of cereal in the pot. This is a
toy that will be played with for years. Again, try to stay away from plastic -
not only are they toxic, but they break easily. I recommend Alex Toys 10 piece stainless steel set available at SensoryEdge for $18.95 US.

Play Food: This is another investment to plan carefully. You can choose to buy the large cheap sets at Toys"R"Us. Or a few choice items of higher quality such as: plastic food that is the same size as real food and looks realistic or wooden food that is non-toxic or fabric food. These will be played with a lot over the course of your babies childhood.
The wooden sets I recommend are not
as realistic as some high quality plastic sets but I'd prefer to stay away from the
chemicals. Three Sisters Toys offers a good selection of small wooden fruits
and vegetables by Haba at good
prices. Haba has a wonderful variety
of play food including tin cans full of bits
of food. NurtureMama also sells a good
variety of Haba play food. If you want larger
size play food, I recommend Melissa and
Doug's fruit and vegetable baskets from SensoryEdge. They are $19.95 US each.
Or if you want to buy more detailed wooden
food for a little more money look at Koukla.
I also recommend either the Cutting Food
Box or Sandwich Set both by Melissa and
Doug available at SensoryEdge for
$19.99 US each. We chose the Sandwich
Set because it provided new pieces (bread,
meat, cheese) in addition to the cool velcro
and slicing apple and bread. There is also
a set that has cartons and cans made by
Melissa and Doug available at Nurture Mama
for $19.95 US. (Haba also sells these
types of play food individually). And when your
child is older, you might want to invest
in a metal egg that you can crack
open to pour out a fabric fried egg.
This toy is made by Haba and is
available at Three Sisters Toys for
$4.99 US each. All-in-all it's a lot of food, but it's a lot of fun. Buy a few
pieces at a time slowly over time as
your child shows interest.

Animal Figures: This is something to think carefully about, research and invest in. You
could just buy cheap collections at Toys "R" Us or Walmart. You could buy Holztiger quality wooden figures. You could buy Schleich
high quality detailed plastic models.
Most important: make sure that their
sizes are relatively proportional. It may be
confusing to a child if they have never seen these animals in real life and have spent years playing with a toy elephant that is the same size as their toy pig.
I chose Schliech (be sure to get a catalogue, Mastermind Toys
can special order figures for you
that are not carried in the store). We choose plastic for animal figures
because they also make good bath toys. Choose which animals you buy wisely (because they are costly). Buy several common farm animals, wild animals, birds, sea animals. Make sure you have several mammals, insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish. And buy animals from several different habitats (arctic,
rainforest, forest, mountain, ocean, etc.) You can view my working list of useful animal figures to have. We keep our water animals in the bathtub all the time. Our land and sky animals stay in a basket and are used daily. Don't buy a farm - use wooden blocks to build a barn and stalls instead. You can buy Schleich animal figures at Mastermind Toys (the cow shown here is 5" in length and costs $5.99 US). You can buy Holztiger wooden animals at Rosie Hippo (the wooden cow shown here is 4 1/4 in. x 3 1/2 in. and costs $8.95 US).

Knob Puzzles: The first puzzle to introduce to children is a puzzle with large shapes that have a knob to hold. I recommend just getting one or two of high quality. I recommend either Melissa and Doug or Ravensburger.
NurtureMama offers (in my order of
preference) a 3-pack that includes a
stand which is useful for storage for
$22.49 US or a shape puzzle for
$8.95 US or larger puzzles of various themes for $14.90 US each.

Touch: To refine their sense of touch, I recommend either a shapes puzzle where each shape is covered in a different texture (this puzzle also teaches shapes and colours) or fabric pillows which you can make yourself by cutting and sewing different fabrics (terry cloth, satin, denim, velvet and a kitchen scrubby pad) into 2" x 4" pillows stuffed with cotton batting. I used clothes I was planning on giving to Goodwill. I made two of each to use as a sorting game. Toddlers love dumping these out of the basket and then putting them back in again.

Doll: To have one doll whether
you're a boy or a girl is important. It develops nurturing and it allows the
child to project their own emotions and work through them. Waldorf dolls are made of only natural materials. They
are stuffed with wool which warms up while the child snuggles the doll. They have neutral faces so that the child
can project their own emotions onto it.
I recommend starting with a smaller, simpler cheaper doll and if your child
shows lots of interest, you can eventually
invest in a larger, more detailed doll. Make
sure the doll has a place to sleep (shoebox
with blanket, basket, wagon/stroller or with
your child). It is important to treat the doll with respect, even when it is not played with. The first doll (wearing a yellow non-removable jumpsuit) is 12" tall , comes from Three Sisters Toys and costs $25 US. The second doll is
organic, 14" tall and comes with a pant and shirt set of clothing as
well making it look like a boy. It is available from Waldorf Treasures
for $44 US. If you're ready to invest in a high quality doll, this last doll
by Evi is available in a number of skin, hair and eye colours with removable clothing and hair you can braid or put in a pony tail. It is 16" tall and costs $105 US at Waldorf Treasures.

Musical Instruments: You can now introduce some simple instruments to teach your child rhythm. Maracas, tamborines, cymbols, and drums are all good. You can also use these instruments to play along as you sing the alphabet song or other children's songs and encourage your toddler to dance. Band in a Box by Melissa and Doug is available at Nurture Mama for $19.95 US. It includes two colorful maracas, a tamborine, a triangle, hand cymbals, a wooden clacker, and a percussion stick. The set comes in a convenient wooden box for easy clean up and storage.

Arts and Crafts: Your child is now ready to practice fine motor skills in preparation for writing. Arts and crafts is also an excellent cause and effect discovery tool.

Finger Paints: Highly sensorial. Kids love the feel of the paint between their fingers. It is also a great way to start learning about mixing colours - it's like magic. Here is a safe, non-toxic, environmentally friendly brand available at Kid Bean for $24 US for a six bottle set.

Play Dough: I've always made my own play dough. Never buy play dough. It is expensive, more messy (crumbles to bits), dries out quicker and is unhealthy. Here is a cheap, easy play dough recipe I once found in a parenting magazine: Boil 1 cup of water. Add ½ cup of salt and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat and dump in 1 cup of flour, 1 tbsp. each of oil, cream of tartar (a preservative) and food colouring (it is preferable to omit the food colouring). When the mixture is cool enough to handle, knead until it's smooth.Give your child a children's wooden
rolling pin and some
real metal cookie cutters (3 maximum) and a play knife. You can use play dishes as well. The wooden rolling pin is available at Kidstock for $5 US.

Crayons: My kids have never been very interested in crayons. They much prefer pencil crayons
or markers. But there are a few
that I recommend. Stockmar high quality beeswax crayons. Stores recommend the block crayons for younger children and the stick
crayons for older children who
aren't as inclined to break them.
So far, the best price I've found is
at Peapods. 8 crayons for $11 US.
I also like Crayola Eraseable Crayons which are good for using
in preschool workbooks are practicing colouring within the
lines. If your child ever colours in a book they should not - it's eraseable.

Markers: Markers can get messy at this age. For that reason, I recommend Crayola Color Wonder markers that only show up on special Crayola Color Wonder paper (not on skin and not on furniture or clothing). It takes a few seconds for the colour to show up on the paper. The delay can be confusing to such a small child. But it's still preferable to the damage that can be done with regular markers.

Pencil Crayons: My father-in-law is a professor of fine arts and an accomplished artist. When I ask him for advice on teaching my children art, he says the most important thing is to use high quality materials. We use the largest box of Prismacolour pencil crayons - so that there is a wide variety of colour options. We use normal 81/2" x 11" paper at this young age when they can easily go through 50 pages in one day. When they are older and spend more time on one picture - I recommend artist quality notebooks and sketchpads.

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