BabyWhispererForums.com
ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: LŠuren on August 28, 2006, 14:15:38 pm
-
Just wondering what types of toys you have given your 1 year old to play with that keep them amused and works on their development. I think Calum is bored of his toys and needs something to stretch him again.
At the moment he favours chasing a ball rather than his electronic toys, which previously he LOVED!
-
Hi Lauren,
I set up an obstacle course for Nello with baskets of surprises and many things are from around the house. I change it every week to keep it fresh. I made the living room in a circle, so I use chairs to block out openings so he stays in his course. It contains this:
Book area: On our coffee table I put books with flaps or pop ups, he loves opening and closing these flaps. He stands and does this with the books.
Ball area: I put small plastic balls, a semi deflated beach ball, a large rubber ball and a plush ball. Different tactile experiences with balls.
Wheel area: Cars, trains, wheel barrel, small plastic wagon--he loves wheeling these or just playing with the wheels
Basket #1: Lids from yogurt containers, spatula, wooden spoon, an old VCR remote control, an old phone that doesn't work, an empty washed out shampoo bottle, skipping rope, sheer scarves, plastic measuring cups (this weeks play stuff!)
Basket #2: Plush toys, building blocks, plastic numbers and letters, stacking toys, a fisher price doctors kit (he loves this and I highly reccomend it-it has a stethoscope, tweezer, needle, fake plasters etc... all baby proof and nothing to swallow, he mostly just chews them and handles them, but loves crawling/walking around with them for some reason.)
Cruising area: The couch with the lambskin, towels, blankets, pillows on it. He cruises around and loves to pull these things on and off of the couch.
Activity Table: This is an old toy passed down from friends with an older child. It is a play table with various "bells and whistles" things to turn and play, has music etc...I include a pic of him with it below.
He loves the baskets and mostly enjoys, taking things out an putting back in. I get involved and play too or just let him get to it and take advantage of being able to tidy etc...
I made one outside too- A toddler slide and climbing thingy, a wagon that I pull him around with or he mostly plays with the straps and the wheels, my exercise ball, a kiddy pool filled with balls or sometimes I put a wee bit of water -not much and let him have a splash with various sand/water plastic toys I got at Woolies back in June-like a spade, pail, rake etc...
HTH,
Have fun, isn't this age great for play?
Aisling x
-
Wow thats really impressive... Nello is one lucky boy!!!
Youve made some fantastic suggestions there.. I do lots of what you do but in not such a well organised thought out way...
Can William come round and play? lol xxxx
Helen xxx
-
We would love that Helen! Now, if only I could organise my cupboards and closets as well! ::)
You should see the obstacle course once Nello is finished--what a mess! I am shocked I put things back in their exact place at the end of the day, I am not usually that rigid, but it bugs me if I don't. Last week DH threw a Maraca in the wrong basket and I shouted: "That goes in the music basket!" He looked at me and said: "Sweetie, you need to get out more often!" We laughed, he is right!
Glad you liked it, enjoy.
Aisling x
-
Lol xxx
Right.. where do William and I head to? lol xxx
-
My DD got a FP Laugh & Learn Home for her birthday and LOVES LOVES LOVES it. And supposedly it lasts a long time - my friend with 2 year old twins said they still play with their's. She also really likes her FP Stride to Ride walker. And she can spend a good 15-20 minutes looking through her books - I leave them on a bookshelf that is baby proofed and that she can get to.
-
Rachel adores balls, balls, balls and balls. and then she loves boxes which she can put balls into and then take them out of again. she also like noisy toys like maraccas and rainmakers and things. and books, they are always great.
I found this fantastic list of toddler acitivities - I will post it separately
-
Hi lauren, I have the same prob. It is funny Gage loves balls too. He also loves things that make noise when thrown ::) His favorite toys are metal measuring cups and spoons and a big stainless steel bowl to bounce them off of. He chases little tupperware cups and empty milk jugs around the kitchen. Also, I just bought him a tent with tunnels attached. He Looooves throwing his ball in the tunnel and climbing in and out of it. Here is a link http://www.toysrus.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=playhut&origkw=playhut&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2254197. It also folds up really small and is light enough for travel.
-
Hi Lauren,
We have a small box (like a shoebox only sturdier) with a lid, each day we fill it with different bits and pieces from the kitchen (measuring spoons, plastic cookie cutters, napkin rings) and her toy collection. We put a funnel in it yesterday and she spent the next half an hour crawling around the house making trumpet noises through it!
Riley also has her own toy basket of board books and she will spend lots of time taking them all out one by one and flicking through them. We have yet to get her to put anything back!
The only other thing we do to try and prevent boredom is rotate her toys.
-
I recently got that Leap Frog alphabet fridge magnet toy thing, it has all the alphabets in lower case & upper case. Even though it is rated for 2+ yrs, I gave it to her last month (when she was 17 mos), and she figured it out pretty quickly. She can get the letters in the "reader" and push them to hear it sing about the alphabet and how it sounds. I try to spell words on the fridge with the letters.
DD never liked toy versions of adult items. She seems to know that it's a "toy" if it's plastic and very colorful. :-\ She has a toy phone she doesn't like as much as our real phones. We recently got cell phone upgrades, so the old cell phones are now her toys. She figured out how to open it (flip style cell phone), and which button to press & hold to turn it on. We also gave her an old remote to play with. She has her own laptop too (one of our old "retired" laptops that we won't mind if it gets thrashed) ... and has figured out how to turn it on. We installed Webshots, copied a bunch of pictures (mostly of her) so that the wallpaper and screensaver cycles through them.
She has real pots, utensils (spatulas, whisks, ice cream scoopers, bottle brushes, spoons, etc), containers with lids, plastic pitcher, plastic bottles of various sizes, plastic bowls/cups, etc to play with while I'm trying to do stuff in the kitchen. These are not toy items, but the real thing. She likes containers with lids, and has figured out how to put lids on. Yeah, I end up washing a lot of containers, lids, utensils, etc, but I figure she could be finding more dangerous items to "play" with.
-
Wow great ideas. I don't much new to add, just wanted to say that Harrison also likes balls a lot, putting things into boxes and takin them back out, anything that makes noise, and giant stuffed animals (he never was a fan of normal sized ones so not sure why), blocks, and a simple puzzle (3 pieces and they have pegs so easy to pick up).
Aisling - your place sounds so fun, I;d love to see a picture of it!
-
we have asked family not to give DS too many "tech" toys, not because they are annoying, but I just think he enjoys and learns more from a ball or blocks. DS loves wooden alphabet blocks, he has a shape sorter and he figured out his blocks fit in all the shape holes. Fisher price has tons of "little people" that DS likes. He has all the farm animals, as well as a few people. He likes trying to put these in the shape sorter also. He has his own cupboard and drawer in the kitchen with safe items (pans, spoons, towels, etc.) He also has his own drawer in the bathroom with stuff in it that he can play with. The one "tech" toy he has and really enjoys is the Leap Frog that sings the ABC song. This stays in the car and he plays with it on trips and errands. He actually kisses this frog and says "hi" to it. He doesn't even kiss me ::) ::) ::)
-
I understand how you feel about those "tech" toys, they certainly have a lot of them. And oftentimes it's the simplest toys that they enjoy playing with most. Smoething as simple as an empty plastic soda bottle, plastic straws, plastic spoons. A while back I decided to get one of those classic toys, the corn popper. I was surprised to find they had a "tech" version that made noise and had blinky lights. I opted for the old fashioned plain corn popper. She loves it. Not everything has to light up or sing a song! lol.
DD likes to play with her blocks, although it's not necessarly the way I imagined her to play with them. :-\ She also discovered the rolling properties of balls. And she recently figured out how to say "ball" and "bowl" which sound pretty much the same out of her mouth.
She does have her own laptop though. It's one of our old ones, we just reinstalled the OS, installed Webshots, and copied a bunch of pictures (mostly of her). We set the wallpaper and screensaver to cycle through these pictures, and she just loves seeing the pictures change. That's about all she does with the laptop.
-
I will have to post pic of the toys he was given. I agree that there should be a balance of tech toys and blocks, etc - luckily Calum loves both.
-
Fisher price has tons of "little people" that DS likes. He has all the farm animals, as well as a few people.
My DD LOVES those little people too. Our newest one is a boat that goes in the bathtub. As for the tech toys, we've got a few which don't bother me -- and then we've got some more that I never got around to putting the batteries in (on purpose of course) -- oops :)
-
Haven't read all your post so I'm sorry if I repeat anyone!!
Harveys favourite activity at just under and year and still now at 15 months is a cardboard tube (like a pringles tub) and some little balls or bricks... has been none to sit for 45 minutes filling it up, tipping it out, filling it up, tipping it out!! Its all to do with his schema apparently so I'm not saying every child would like it!!
If you look you can see the concentration on his little face!!
-
Catherine loves books i have lots of little card books for her that she will try to read herself or she will bring them to DH and i to read to her. Blocks and Balls are also a big favourite and of course her Fisher Price Piano.
-
Madison is really into books at the moment. All other toys, forget it. She won't let me read them to her, but she really enjoys flipping through the pages and looking on her own. So I went and bought her a bunch of board books that have feely pages. She really likes them!
-
MandyP - you reminded me that DS's favorite toy/book is Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings, it has a color, shape, and texture for each animal, including sticky pink line for frog tongues!! He loves this book and will feel each texture then open the flap himself to reveal the animal. It is by Matthew Van Fleet and I got it on Amazon.com in the bargain/clearance section for like $4. (I needed to add a few more $$ to an order to get free shipping) I have seen some of his other books in bookstores for $20 and up that have textures in them too. Pop up and lift the flap books are great fun for toddlers!!
-
the FP little people are fab for imaginative play and so are the MegaBlox - both are a huge hit with Rachel at the moment.
-
1. Katie likes her dump truck that DH and I load and she empties. She's starting to help us load it.
2. We also have foam blocks that we stack and she knocks down.
3. Books are a favorite.
4. She loves a towel and will play peek-a-boo with us.
5. She loved her tunnel (need to post the YouTube of that).
-
My daughter Sophia is 13 months. Here are a couple of her favorites (some of them she's had for a while but still enjoys):
* Rubber blocks by "Parents" (brand made for Target) it came with a couple cloth books - the blocks are great!! When she'd stack more than two blocks, I would clap - now she claps for herself and gets up to 7 stacked high (it's so cute to see her clap for herself :-)
Rubber inflated balls - about 5 inches - bought at Toys R Us - she loves it when we roll the ball to each other and then sometimes just likes to through the ball and chase after it herself.
Flip Books - her favorites are the Karen Katz lift the flap books - Where is Baby's Bellybutton is a great book for them to learn body parts. (she can now point to my nose, eyes, ears, etc.) You can usually find them for less $$ at stores like TJ Maxx
Also - she loves the Brown, Brown Bear (What do you see) book and other books by that author.
A play Tunnel (it collapses) I got the one at Toys R Us that's about 7 feet long and can attach to a little tent. - she loves to play in that.
Electronic toys:
Leap Frog Learning Table- has had that for many, many months - still loves it.
V-Tech Telephone
I'm looking also for some other toddler-centric toys too.
-
What is MegaBlox?
-
DD is really into climbing in and out of things - toy box, baskets, tub, chairs, etc. If you have a mid-sized cardboard box, he might like to try it!
-
Mega Bloks are a lot like Legos -- building bricks. Mega Bloks are big and easy for LOs to take apart and put together. Here's a link
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2310371&cp=2255957.2269726&cp=2255957&fbn=Brand+Name+Secondary%7CMega+Bloks&f=PAD%2FTRU+Age+Filter%2FBirth-12+Months&f=PAD%2FBrand+Name+Secondary%2FMega+Bloks&fbc=1&categoryId=2269726&parentPage=search
(wow, that's a really long link)
-
Riley had so much fun yesterday playing with pack & toss spoons, about 30 of them , all assorted colors. He had two containers to put them in. Kept him amused for nearly an hour. He is 14 months old.
-
Finally, I get my act together and post the pictures of his 1st brthday gifts, he also received books, soft toys and clothing amd from mummy and daddy a "little touch leappad" ::)
Lauren x
-
more....
-
this is a great post! marking my spot. cade really loves balls. we have a ton of those balls that go in inflatables. you can get 100/$15 in a bag at Target. He loves taking them out of a basket one by one!
-
Hi
My youngest will be 1 tomorrow. His favourite activity seems to be to take things out of drawers then put them back in again. And pulling things out of cupboards. And pulling books off bookshelves...I think there's a general theme going on here!
It seems to be anything the grownups use is what he wants to be checking out, so we tend to go with it and just keep an eye on him to make sure there's nothing he can hurt himself on or destroy! Bits of paper to tear up, pots and pans to bash, mixing bowls to pile inside each other, tupperwear tubs to take the lids on and off, bashing the piano, chasing the cats...
Toys he likes seem to be his brother's megasketcher (he likes to 'draw') his spinning top and any little people that he can carry around or hide in people's shoes!
-
The best gift that we got DS for his 1st birthday was a little plastic shopping basket with little plastic food. Cost about 3 Euros and has played with it all day every day for hours and hours for the past 6 weeks. Taking food out, putting it in the cupboards, putting it in shopping bags, pretending to eat it, putting it back in the basket, dropping it behind the couch and then getting daddy to find it for him, putting it down his top and giggling 3 seconds later when he looks and there it is...and so on. Has been a huge hit!
-
Here is a great article I found:
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/penelopeleach/playtoysandactivities/
Copy pasted here :) enjoy :)
Toddler
Penelope Leach on toddlers
Toys and activities for your toddler
Toys and playthings
Natural materials
Useful toys
Play activities
Written by childcare expert and author Penelope Leach
Toys and playthings
Toddlers will play with whatever is available to them. They need raw material to explore and experiment with, but they do not (yet) care whether it comes from a toyshop, is passed on by a friend or is assembled from junk materials. It is impossible to generalise about which of the thousands of available toys your child should have because it depends what she already has, and chooses to spend time on. But there are various types of plaything that every child will enjoy and learn from in one form or another during this age period.
Natural materials
Advertisement
If your child is to understand the world and how it works, she needs to know which materials are natural and where they come from. If you live in a flat and don't have a garden, your child won't acquire that knowledge automatically. It's up to you to make sure she realises that concrete is artificial and that not all water or milk comes out of taps, bottles or cartons. And it's important to give her different materials to explore, and to tolerate messy play, so she can discover how they behave.
Water play: Play with plain, bubbly, coloured, warm or cold water will teach your toddler that it pours, splashes, runs, soaks and feels cold in the end even if it's warm to start with. If she blows, it bubbles. Some things she puts in it float, some sink and some dissolve. It can be carried in things with no holes, but it leaks through a sieve or cupped hands and seeps through fabrics. The child will play in scale with the quantity you provide, so while a paddling pool is glorious and a bath is obvious, a washing-up bowl on lots of newspaper, with small containers to fill and empty, and extras such as ice cubes, food colouring or a whisk, is good, too.
Earth and clay: Natural versions of these materials are so messy that children are usually given playdoughs, instead. However, part of the unique value of clay lies in its brown messiness. Your child needs to discover -- and be able to enjoy without shuddering -- the way it squidges gloriously in the hands yet can be rolled and pounded, shaped and moulded. Soon she'll realise that more water makes it sticky, less makes it too hard to handle, and drying out changes it into a solid.
Shop-bought or home-made playdough is a superb play material, but children really need to have it as well as, rather than instead of, clay.
Sand play: "Washed" or "silver" (not builders' sand which might contain cement) links water and clay or dough play because wet sand behaves rather like dough but with interesting differences, while dry sand behaves like water but is different again. A solid that is not solid and a liquid-like substance that is not liquid. Again, scale matters more than quantity. A beach is heaven and a sandpit (with a cat-proof lid) is an excellent buy for the garden, but a couple of kilos of sand on a tray in the garage or even in the kitchen can light up a winter day. Failing sand, a kilo of rice is sometimes a worthwhile gift. Provide spoons and containers in scale and encourage play "cooking" -- the first steps towards interest in the real thing.
Stones and leaves: Playing with these won't teach geology or botany; your toddler is not ready for that. But she is ready to observe that shiny stones dull as they dry, green twigs bend but later snap, and the world is full of fascinating shapes, textures and creatures.
Useful toys
Blocks: Building blocks will be part of her play for several years and she needs at least 60. Different colours are fun, but different shapes are more important. They must all be in scale so that tiny ones are quarters and small ones are halves. Tip them and they are higgledy-piggledy; put them end to end and make a line that may be a train or a fence or a pattern; pile them with the smallest underneath and they fall, build on the largest and they stand.
Fitting and stacking toys: Different versions of these help her discover -- and prove to herself -- that round balls will not go into square holes; big things will not fit smaller ones; complex shapes only fit together if the angle is right. There is scope here for making as well as buying. Your child will use a first "post box" made by cutting block-and-ball-sized holes in a cardboard carton, weeks before she can manage the simplest one from a toy shop. Plastic beakers that will build up or fit inside each other as well as being used in the bath are a cheap and easy version of many stacking toys. Many kinds of "play people" that fit into holes on vehicles and playground equipment have a long and varied play life.
Formboards and jigsaw puzzles:You can create first "formboards" by cutting out dough shapes and helping your child put them back in the holes. She will probably also like a first jigsaw where whole figures lift out by a knob. Soon she'll be ready to tackle standard jigsaws with a few large pieces.
Hook-on and threading toys: Any hook and ring will join together; two hooks will too -- but two rings will not. Why? Your toddler may hook a plastic quoit with your umbrella or experiment with a train with simple couplings. Closed rings are fun to thread on anything long and thinner. Threading rings on a rod is fun; so is discovering the threading order that makes them a pyramid. Eventually she will enjoy threading curtain rings or cotton reels onto a piece of wool or a shoelace.
Play activities
Your child has to learn how things work and how to make them work; discover principles that seem obvious to us, and perfect fine manipulations that we don't even have to think about.
Filling and emptying: Filling cups with water or sand, paper bags with oranges or your handbag with small toys, and then emptying them out again, is an early step towards more sophisticated manipulative play. Along with useful manual skills your child learns how much water fills or overflows which cup; how many blocks fit into that box, and what happens when the containers are overturned. She needs lots of interesting objects, varied containers and patience from caring adults.
Sorting and classifying: Noticing the similarities and differences between things and learning to group them in her head, is one of your toddler's most important thinking-tasks. Grouping things with her hands helps her do it with her brain. Watch carefully and you will see your child beginning to identify all her cars as distinct from any other toys; later you will see oranges separated from potatoes. Later still, you may see her considering universal dilemmas, such as whether the apple goes with the ball because they are both round, or with the biscuit because they are both edible. Your child will sort and group whatever comes to hand but it's fun to have large collections of natural objects with less definite differences, such as stones or shells.
Manipulating objects: When your child builds on all those skills and learns to manipulate things, toys really come into their own. They must be well-made, though, so that once she discovers how two objects fit together, they do actually fit.
-
My DD loves stuffed toys! Thanks for ahring everyone