At our home I do my best to keep our toys simple and open ended to help stimulate my kids’ imaginations. This means that I try (thanks a lot Grandma) to avoid toys with batteries or noises, and I try and avoid single-purpose toys. Here are some of the toys we love having in our home!
Fisher Price Little People – We love Fisher Price Little People for our kids. The nice chunky size makes them easy to hold, and it’s easy for our kids to imagine stories with them. We own a lot of the vintage sets, but no matter what era they’re from, Little People are a great toy to have.
Fisher Price Loving Family – Similar concept as the Little People but a bit more “grown up” for older toddlers. We got a set of these for my daughter when she was almost two and she just loves them. The dolls often go places with us and she acts out stories with them that mimic our real life family.
Wooden Blocks – Blocks are a great addition to kids’ toys. Build towers, houses, fences, towns, anything their imaginations can dream up! They also can be used along with most of the other toys on this list.
Duplos – Duplos are perfect toddler toys. They can build anything they want, and it will hold together a bit better than blocks. Our set has a few people and train cars with it and my daughter loves building trains and acting out stories with the people. Our Duplos and Little People often exist in the same toddler imaginative world.
Play Kitchen/Food and Play Tools– Play kitchens and tool sets are fantastic because they allow toddlers to imagine themselves doing what they see mom and dad doing. My daughter loves to make supper in her play kitchen and sit me down to eat food with her.
Baby dolls – In my opinion, both girls and boys do great with baby dolls. Especially if they have a younger sibling on the way. It gives them a great opportunity to take care of a baby like mama—including cloth diapering your doll! My 8-month-old son loves the baby dolls in our house just as much as his almost 3 year old sister.
Animal figures – I personally love Schleich animal figures, but there are many brands out there with cute animal figures for kids to play with. Our kids use the animals as an addition to most of the other toys sets listed above and tote them around on their own.
Hopefully these give you some good ideas for babies graduating into busy toddlerhood.
Becca Schwartz is a cloth diapering, baby wearing, semi-crunchy mama to a toddler girl and baby boy. She and her husband have a small mini-farm with a flock of chickens, a few goats, and rabbits, and are making plans to move out west to start a homesteading adventure together!
