Our list of the best toys for 1 year olds are designed to help children aged 1-2 years old learn through play, stimulating their minds and encouraging creativity. From sensory toys to art supplies, there's something for every young learner. With this list of toys, you can help your child develop music, art, and sensory skills.
Please keep in mind that some of the toys listed are towards the higher end of the age group and therefore could present a choking hazard. You are responsible for ensuring that each toy is safe for your child to use.
To jump to a specific category of learning/development, click below:
Fine Motor and Art Toys
Amazon Price: $82.95
How they help in Fine Motor development:
Hand-eye coordination: While stacking blocks on top of each other without knocking other ones down.
Bonus Development:
Creative play: These blocks come in different shapes and sizes which allow children to come up with thousands of variations of structures!
Math Skills: Children can use blocks to learn about the different shapes and sizes of objects!
Amazon Price: $15.95
How they help Fine Motor Development:
Hand - eye Coordination: This toy is great for beginning hand - eye coordination skills! As your child grabs one end of the pull, they can watch the other end move up. (Also great for beginning cause/effect awareness).
Pincer Grasp: The different textures of each pull cord are a great way to encourage your child to want to pull them. The only way to do that is to grab on with their little fingers!
Bonus:
Travel: This toy is perfect for travel and is sure to keep your child entertained long enough for you to at least find the next toy to play with!
Amazon Price: $6.85
How they help fine motor development:
Hand - eye coordination: As children play with the pop it, they must also focus on pressing exactly onto one pop it "bubble," a great way for them to ensure proper hand position.
Bonus development:
Math: With the different shapes, sizes, and colors of pop it mats, the possibilities are endless. Roll a dice to pop that number of bubbles, call out a color and only pop those, the list goes on and on!
How it helps fine motor development:
Hand-eye-coordination: This busy board features so many different things to keep your child busy and building fine motor skills! They can unbuckle a buckle, remove letters of their own name, move beads around and more!
Bonus:
Travel: The board is compact enough to bring along but has so many different ways your child can keep themselves busy.
**Looking to make your own busy box? Check out our blog here!
Hape Price: $118.99 (10% off available)
Check price on Amazon
How it helps fine motor development:
Pincer Grasp: The pieces of this toy are small enough that they encourage pincer grasp but large enough that your child can still easily grab on to them!
Bonus:
Tracking and shapes: This toy will allow your child to practice tracking with their eyes while moving pieces around with their fingers! The shape sorter features on one side is a great way to practice touching and feeling different forms!
Amazon Price: $22.95
How they help fine motor and art:
Pincer Grip: For this age group we like this size crayon because it is easy for little hands to grasp while working on beginning pincer grip skills!
Art: With the variety of colors these crayons come in, your child can easily create artisitic masterpieces!
Bonus:
Strong: These crayons are stronger than most which means less crayon bits laying all over the place!
Sustainable and non toxic: The beeswax is naturally created allowing for "minimal environmental impact." The natural honey smell is also great! (Just make sure your children are not allergic to the ingredient of propolis (from bees) as it is present in the crayons.
Amazon Price: $24.98
How they help art development:
Color experiences: While children use the various colors that come with this kit, they can create new ones as well! They can create whatever comes to mind with these beautiful, non - toxic paints! Sensory: As these paints aren't "traditional" (you have to mix them with water) they have a different texture and smell to them. This is a great way to expose your child to different sensory items!
Bonus!
Totally safe to taste: We aren't saying they taste good but if your little one gives them a try, they are edible! (Just make sure they aren't allergic to any ingredients first)
Gross Motor Toys
Amazon Price: $16.99
How they help gross motor development:
Throwing and catching: These balls are ideal for children of all ages because they are made from soft foam making them less likely to hurt.
Kicking: These balls are lightweight which means that though they are great for practing kicking skills they won't go too far!
Bonus:
Easy to use and safe: These balls are easy to inflate, clean and are made from non-toxic materials making them safe for your little one to use!
Amazon Price: $136.10
How they help gross motor development:
Climbing: These foam blocks are perfect for kids who like to climb! They can be rearranged in many ways to keep things interesting! They also have a non-slip base so they won't move around while playing!
Bonus:
Easy Cleaning: These are covered in vegan leather making them easy to wipe down if something is spilled!
Amazon Prices: $159.99 (coupon available)
How it helps gross motor development:
Climbing: Another great way to encourage children who love to climb! This triangle features a slide that doubles as a "rock wall" so your child can climb or slide to their heart's content!
Amazon Price: $14.99
How they help gross motor development:
Dance: These movement scarves are a great way for children to express their creativity while dancing!
Juggling: Movement scarves are easy to catch making them a great tool for beginning juggling skills!
Haba Price: $199.99
How it helps Gross Motor Development:
Walking: This is a great push toy for children who are beginng to walk! It is sturdy and has a spot to sit down (so you can push them) or to place a stuffed animal!
Bonus:
Adjustable speed: If your child is just beginning to walk, adjust the wheels so they don't move too fast!
Amazon Price: $31.49
How they help gross motor development:
Balance: This scooter is adjustable and will grow with your child! Step one allows them to sit down and propel themselves forward while working on beginning balance! When they are ready, simple adjust the scoot into a scooter!
Language and Music Toys
Amazon Price: $17.99
How they help Language Development:
Reading: These crinkly books are great for beginning your child's love of reading with the added bonus of providing bathtub entertainment!
Vocabulary: These books cover so many different topics and can help your child build up their vocabulary as you teach them new words!
Bonus:
Strong: These are tear resistant so your child can chew on them and read them! They are also easy to clean with dish soap!
Amazon Price: $21.99
How they help Language Development:
Alphabet: These cards are a great early introduction to the alphabet and letter/sounds!
Vocabulary: These books will introduce your child to many different animals.
Bonus:
Strong: Your baby can chew these and you can hand wash them all you want and they will stay in tact!
Amazon Price: $42.95
Amazon Price: $26.59
How they help Language and Pretend Play Development:
Oral Language: You and your child can act out stories together and give each puppet their own personality. Talking through puppets is a great way to build up oral languge skills!
Pretend Play: As stated above the puppets can act out stories your child thinks up, giving them a great way to feed their pretend play talents!
Bonus:
Social/Emotional Learning: At this age children are developing their social/emotional skills and puppets can be a great way to help! Act out scenarios that can be difficult for children to react to. The puppet could: have a toy taken from them, get in a fight with a friend, feel sad about something and more! Work with your child to decide how to react!
How Libro helps Language Development:
Listening: Libro features audiobooks for children (and adults) while also benefitting bookstores. You and your child can listen to stories while on the go or at home! They can close their eyes and envision what is happening in the story or give them the acutal book an they can listen and follow along!
How it helps Language Development:
Reading: Owl Post Books offer three subscription options based on what you would like. Each subscripton comes with one or more new books and an art project. These are great for developing a love of reading!
Price: Free!
How this helps language development: This is a wonderful resource that ships books to children 0-5 all over the United States. You will recieve one book each month along with early literacy tips! To check if it is available in your area click here.
Amazon price: $19.99
How it helps Language and Pretend Play Development:
Vocabulary: Your child can learn the names of different fruits with these cute soft toys!
Pretend Play: Your child can create their very own "recipes" with these cute and realistic fruits!
Haba Price: $34.99
Hape Price: $32.99
Hape Price: $29.99
How they help Language Development:
Musical Learning: These musical instruments are a great way for children to develop their beginning musical skills! Create a concert with your little ones!
Math and Sensory Toys
Amazon Price: $12.00
How they help Math Development:
Problem Solving and Matching: These peg puzzles are a great way for your child to problem solve as they try to figure out which puzzle piece goes where as they work through the three shapes.
Shapes: Children can begin to learn the name and feel of three shapes while using this puzzle.
Bonus Development:
Fine Motor Skills: Your child can work on their pincer grasp as they hold onto the small pegs along with their hand - eye coordination as they make the puzzle pieces fit!
Amazon Price: $24.99
How they help Math Development:
Problem Solving: These large peg puzzle pieces will let your child work on their beginning problem solving skills!
Bonus:
Vocabulary: Your child can learn the names of farm animals in a fun way!
Amazon Price: $13.89
How they help Math Development:
Tracking: Your child can work on their tracking abilities while using this bead maze!
Problem Solving: Your child can work on their problem solving skills while trying to move all of the beads to one side.
Amazon Price: $14.95
How it helps Sensory Development:
Tactile: This hedgehog features 6 different ways for your child to touch and move objects, a great sensory experience!
Bonus:
Fine Motor Development: This toy requires the skill to not only grasp pieces but to move them properly!
Amazon Price: $9.99
How it helps Sensory Development:
Visual, auditory, and tactile: These spinners are fantastic! Your child can spin the spinners, listen to them move and watch at the arms spin around. They suction to hard surfaces which is useful for travel as well!
How it helps Discovery Development:
KiwiCo offers a multitude of subscription boxes and toys/activities in general to get your child asking and answering questions on their own. They are free to learn and discover with all of the fun acitivites KiwiCo has to offer!
That's all for now! Do you have any other toys you enjoy, let us know!
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