Toddler Toys- Ideas For Your Little Ones

The ages between one and three have been proven to be the most important years of a child's life. This toddler stage is what moulds children into what they become in their later years. Research shows that it is during these formative and very impressionable years that a child is most explorative and is always experimenting. This is how they learn and begin to form opinions of the world around them, and play is perhaps the most important window to this experience. Therefore in order to provide a toddler with a wholesome and varied experience, a lot of thought needs to be given to the kind of playthings that toddlers have access to. Below are some of the broad categories of 'safe' toddler toys one could explore:

Art Materials

Between the ages of one and three all toddlers start expressing their creativity and the best way to help them get started is by encouraging them. A large variety of non toxic art materials are now available in the form of modelling clay and crayons. Markers and paint can be introduced at a later stage once the child has picked up the concept of using colouring material. You might also want to ensure the availability of an adequate amount of paper along with these materials.

Large Playing Blocks

Probably one of the most important and loved amongst toddler toys is playing blocks. This very basic type of play helps in the development of a child in numerous ways. The most common kinds of blocks that are available for toddlers are large and are made of various non toxic materials like soft plastic, rubber, lightwood and even cardboard. Blocks of various types, shapes and colours are a must as toddler toys.

Push and pull toys

Push and pull toddler toys are equally important in a child's play area. While these toys might seem simple they do help the toddler develop skills like walking and pushing. Ideally push toys need to be lightweight so that the toddler can handle it with ease. Smalltime Child has a variety of push and push toddler toys that will bring any child hours of delight. One could check out the 'heirloom wooden waddling duck', the 'pushing car wooden walker', the 'Miss Toby pull toy' and 'Toby the dog pull toy'

Activity and puzzle sets

Activity and puzzle sets are an integral part to a child's development of its fine motor skills. While all of the above toddler toys definitely do their job in helping with a child's growth, activity and puzzle sets encourage skills like hand and mind coordination, imagination etc. It is important for a child to have access to large and simple puzzle (these can be in the form of various shapes, colours, maybe even pictures of animals or the alphabet and numbering), large pegs and boards, interlocking objects, maracas etc.

Toddlers also need exposure to various types of textures and this is why playing with sterilised sand and water is important. Buckets, shovels, floating objects, spoons etc make excellent toddler toys for this purpose.