What Do 1 Year Olds Play With?

[nannyde]

nannyde, I really like this! So if you could pick 5 or so of your all time favorite toys what would they be? I just reopened in June and since I didn't know really what ages I was going to get right off I didn't buy tons of stuff so I am always looking. So much out there right now is just junk, I hate it.

I prefer the old school stuff. I have built my collections of toys from older toys and the key pieces in the older toys sets.

For the 1-2 kids I use cloth books, baby toys, and then these:

Duplo blocks: They come in sets but most of the pieces are useless because they are too small. I like the 8 pronged grids. They are usually about 2.50 per brick so pricey.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DUPLO-Lot-2x8-2-X-8-Dot-Bricks-EXTRA-LONG-5-BRICKS-/190409763827?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c554e6bf3

Table Toys Play Table: With DUPLO sized grids: http://global.ebay.com/Lego_Compatib...629400988/item

These aren't made anymore but they used to come in tables with 13 inch legs and then they switched it to 19 inch. The 13 inch ones are better for the 1-2's. Look at the 4th pic in this listing. That's the top of the table. The kids need the duplo grids not the lego grids. The duplo blocks do not stay put on the tiny lego grids. I bought five of these when they were in production for parts and replacement tables and stored them in my garage. A new one comes up on Ebay every once in a while and usually sells around 300 bucks. Totally worth it BUT must have the duplo grids to be worth it.


Primo blocks: Again they come in sets and are too small. I like the 6-8-12 pronged grids. Most of the sets you find are almost all single ones so I have had to buy the bigger ones pretty much one by one. This set has some of the sixers but they used to make them up to 12 so I hunt for the bigger ones and by them one by one. I have bought many sets of these off of ebay just for the bigger ones and then sold off or given away the single and double ones. The collection we have now is about 1/3 singles, 1/3 doubles and then 1/3 6-12 grids. The big 12 grids are the piece you use for the base of what they are building. They can't build off of the smaller ones because they collapse. It's just hard to find the bigger grids because they don't make them anymore:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LEGO-LEGOS-DUPLO-PRIMO-61-PIECES-TODDLER-FUN-/160382387808?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2557890660

These are the cars that go with the Primo's. These are great. http://cgi.ebay.com/Lego-Duplo-Primo...item415149801c

Little people chunky guys and matching chunky cars: These are from the nineties. http://cgi.ebay.com/FISHER-PRICE-CHU...item2c534c9fa4

These are the cars the chunky guys go into: http://cgi.ebay.com/Fisher-Price-Lit...item4150fb14d9

Little Tikes made a series of one handed grooved cars that I can't find pics of. I have maybe eight or so of them. They are one piece of thick plastic and wheels.

Little Tikes Kitchen: Best one ever made. Mine is 17 years old and is flawless. http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Tikes-Chi...item3efc666050

I don't buy any new toys. I have found that the quality of toys has decreased so much. I would rather pay for the older stuff and have it last. I don't throw away five dollars of toys a year. Every piece I buy lives thru years of kids.

I don't have any idea what is on the market now. Maybe some of the ladies here can help you with what you can buy now in the stores.

The one to two toys are the hardest. It's way easier to find collections for the 2-5 group. I have huge collections of old school toys for them. The most recent things I have bought for the older kids are the Mellissa and Doug wooden fake food and kitchen. Don't buy their kitchen. It's a piece of CRAP. Biggest toy mistake I have ever made was this: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Melissa-and-...item58866a489b

[amethyst]

I've found that kids this age love to play with ANYTHING! Maybe they're just tired of the same things and you can rotate the toys more often?

Some suggesstions:

A big bottle of soda/juice/water (tightly closed of course) to roll around on the floor.

I filled a big Poland Springs Water bottle with some sand and added bubbles. You can also just use water and add glitter and seguins. Just make sure it's tightly closed- maybe even seal with hot glue!

A SMALL tub of water (like 2 inches of water) with rubber duckies, plastic boats, pails, whatever---lots of fun! Just closely supervise with the water!

[MarinaVanessa]

i only have one 1yo and he LOVES to play with the pretend household center. His favorite is the kitchen set. It's just a small wooden kitchen set with a fridge, freezer, oven, built in microwave, stove top and sink. It also has it's own wooden phone. I have all of the dishes and pots & pans in a plastic container that they slide in and out of a cubby under the microwave like a drawer and the food just goes in the fridge & freezer. That's his favorite passtime. He also likes to use the small hoover (pretend), mop and broom set, the baby doll stuff (the boy doll) and the little people cars and trucks.

I think at this age they watch the other kiddos and want to play what they play but this kid wants to clean and cook and such. I'm thinking of buying one of those small real vacuumes and letting him have a go at it. Other than that he did love stacking shipping boxes. I went to the post office and took some of the smaller ones home and put them together. He seemed to like those ok and I just threw them in the recycler when they got thrashed. This was a good ides and the other kids liked it alss, plus it was free.

[Francine]

[QUOTE=nannyde;37617]



Little Tikes Kitchen: Best one ever made. Mine is 17 years old and is flawless. http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Tikes-Chi...item3efc666050

I had this kitchen! Sold it at a garage sale for 25 or 50.00 when my daughter outgrew it because I didn't have any room for it in the daycare at the time. I COULD SHOOT MYSELF