Best toddler toys

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Go online when shopping for the best toddler toys

Sure, there’s always the”toy of the year, the toy of the month, or the toy of the week”, but if you really are looking for the best toddler toys, stick to the old favorites—for a few reasons: they are tried and proven, they are less expensive and you won’t be searching all over for the toy of the minute! And, the best place to look is to go online and let your browser search for the many sites featuring the best toddler toys.

Look for toys such as: • stacking rings • wooden cars and tracks • a ball that you can roll back and forth while sitting on the floor • easy puzzles with cheerful animal pictures • a xylophone

Toddlers love toys that do something when they interact with it! Get some busy boxes and help your child get the knack of how to push and rotate and press the knobs. Make sure you have lots of one-inch building blocks so that your toddler can build a tower, make a farmyard and play pretend games with toy animals. If you are okay with noise, toddlers love to drag a noisy corn popper toy behind them. Through the years, this has always been rated as one of the best toddler toys.

When choosing toys for children, look for items that can be used in more than one way, that have stood the test of time, and that may be enjoyed through many years of childhood. mixed up (provided you don’t allow your child to take out all the call the containers at once) and helps children develop organizational skills.

The following are some of the best toddler toys that help build fine motor skills (many also encourage discovery and interest in the physical world): • beads, nesting toys, spools • blocks, sandbox and sand toys, stacking toys • boxes, shape sorters, water toys • containers, simple wooden jigsaw puzzles Toys that help build gross motor skills: • balls, push toys, slides • pull toys, riding toys, swings ~Toys that stimulate imagination (many also encourage learning about the grown-up world): • books, fake food, stuffed animals • building toys, kitchen accessories, tea sets • doll furniture, puppets, toy cars • dolls, shopping carts, toy telephones • dress-up clothes Toys that stimulate creativity (basic craft supplies): • child-safe scissors, markers, paper • coloring books, paint, playdough • crayons, paintbrushes, sponges • glue Toddlers are very active, so look for the best toddler toys that encourage them to crawl, walk, run, throw and climb. In addition to helping burn off some of that excess energy, these toys help improve gross motor skills, necessary for developing balance and muscle tone. Toddlerhood is also a good time to begin focusing on a child’s relationships with others, so seek out toys that encourage social interaction.

Be it a miniature car or the good old tricycle, there’s nothing like a riding toy to encourage active outdoor play and exercise. For best results, look for ride-ons that are powered by the toddler instead of by an external power source. Riding toys also help develop gross motor skills through pushing off, steering, pedaling and braking. And not all ride-ons have wheels: Rocking horses and sit-and-spins are classic toddler entertainments. Be sure to select toys with sturdy, stable construction, and then let ‘er rip!

Many toddlers love to get dirty, so they enjoy outdoor toys, such as a ball to throw and kick or a pail and shovel to use at the beach or in the sandbox. Select balls made of soft foam that are the right size for little hands. Communal outdoor toys, such as a slide or playhouse to be enjoyed with other children, help promote social interactions like turn-taking and sharing.

After all that outdoor fun, it’s time to get inside and get clean. Some toddlers firmly object to bath time because it usually means the playing is over. Adding special toys can turn bathing into its own fun experience. Look for toys that interact with the water, such as boats, squirt bottles or sponges shaped like favorite characters. Be careful of bubble baths or specialty soaps, which might irritate a toddler’s sensitive skin.

Toddlers enjoy rolling toy cars, trucks and trains around the floor or along tracks. Playing with vehicles helps develop fine motor skills, while imitating the noises they make encourages language development. Having a variety of brightly colored cars can help children start to identify their colors. Be sure to select lightweight vehicles with rounded edges, as toddlers are notorious for flinging toys! Toys that stimulate imagination (many also encourage learning about the grown-up world): • books, fake food, stuffed animals • building toys, kitchen accessories, tea sets • doll furniture, puppets, toy cars • dolls, shopping carts, toy telephones • dress-up clothes Toys that stimulate creativity (basic craft supplies): • child-safe scissors, markers, paper • coloring books, paint, playdough • crayons, paintbrushes, sponges • glue Toddlers are very active, so look for the best toddler toys that encourage them to crawl, walk, run, throw and climb. In addition to helping burn off some of that excess energy, these toys help improve gross motor skills, necessary for developing balance and muscle tone. Toddlerhood is also a good time to begin focusing on a child’s relationships with others, so seek out toys that encourage social interaction.