Sammy Tassone is mum to a rambunctious toddler and has worked in schools for over ten years. Knowing how quickly things can accumulate, since becoming a mum Sammy has taken a keen interest in focusing on more sustainable play for her family and is excited to share any insights that she gathers along the way.
Buying toys for a baby within their first year can be such an overwhelming experience due to the vast number of options out there. This can be a wonderful opportunity to look for some toys that are going to last a bit further past the one year mark. Here are some options that our family loved, and still love today:
Finger Puppets
My daughter was first given her finger puppets one Christmas and I wasn’t sure how much she would get out of them but my goodness how wrong I was! We use them to tell stories and now that she is a bit older, she will now do roleplaying activities with them. With them being made out of fabrics and in some cases wood, parts can either easily be repurposed or repaired.
Some great sets can be found at: IKEA, Little Earth Nest, Bambino Eco Toys and Wondertivity.
Instruments
Babies and making noise go hand in hand, right? We have been using instruments in our play for as long as I can remember and my daughter still loves all her different noisemakers. Because at this age babies are still teething and chewing everything, I’d recommend instruments that don’t have bells or little balls that are going into their mouth unless you have the confidence they are not going to come off. I was a little bit anxious about that happening and just avoided these types of instruments until she was a little bit older, but only you know your child so do what you feel is works for your family. Shakers are a great place to start.
Some great instruments can be found at: Bambino Eco Toys, Hello Charlie and Little Earth Nest. Kmart also have some budget friendly, wooden options too.
Vehicles
A car journey would not be the same without my daughter yelling “Bus!” or “Train” a handful of times. Seeing a “Police Car!” or “Excavator” is like we have won the lottery. Kids just love vehicles. I don’t know what it is about them they just love them. Luckily for parents, there are so many options to choose from. There are so many great wooden options too that are great to repair or clean up when needed. You can also now get great wooden accessories like tracks and garages.
Wooden vehicles can be found at: IKEA, Little Earth Nest and Hello Charlie. Vehicles are toys that are super easy to find second-hand and still in good condition – don’t forget to check out your local second-hand shops too!
Magnetic Tiles
I would personally say that our family has so far had a longer love affair with connecting magnetic tiles than we have with wooden building blocks or toddler Lego substitutes. With this being the case, as well as the longevity I predict we are going to get out of these, I would recommend these a little bit more than other building objects. While these are made predominately from plastic, I think the amount of use over time that your family will get from these makes up for that. These tiles clean up easy and we are yet to experience any broken items; we have just had to keep an eye out for smaller blocks that we have kept from the rotation for now.
Magnetic Tiles can be found at: Kmart and Hello Charlie.
I hope this post has been helpful. I’d love to hear if you have any ideas for this age range in the comments below.
Featured Image by Vladimir Srajber on Pexels.