Our Favorite First Year Toys

          I’ve been composing this list for quite some time now and now that my friends are now having children, I thought this might be a helpful resource. Please feel free to add your favorite First Year Toys in the comments for those searching for gifts or just for toys for their little ones. I’ve already begun the 2nd year list.

          If these toys are not located at your local toy store (I’m strongly behind supporting local small business in your community first) I suggest www.oompa.com for your alternative toys. They also have great reviews from parents who own the toys.

Wood Toys– my favorite wooden toys are those made by HABA. HABA toys are well constructed and sturdy and great at withstanding multiple falls. They are also colorful which is a plus for little ones. Plan Toys makes great wood toys (wood from rubber trees) and they’re beautifully designed but we’ve had to repair a number already so I’ll say they’re not constructed as well as the HABA toys. Last we had a number of Melissa and Doug toys given to us and we bought a few of their puzzles. They are the most affordable but in terms of endurance, I’d have to give them a B. Their puzzles typically have images that are glued on paper. If your toddler places any part in their mouth or drools on them, forget about having a neat item to pass on to another child or future generations. Most of their toys are made of plywood and there are no specifications as to whether the glue that binds the plywood is also non-toxic.

Schoenhut Toy Piano (18 keys)- We bought this piano for Pelé at six months to encourage him to sit up. He would sit up for a few minutes at a time (initially with a boppy pillow for support) and bang on the keys. It has been nice to see how banging has evolved to fingering now that he is older. When he is frustrated, he has been known to sit and bang on the piano.

Activity Block by Parents- This is a second that we bought at six months to encourage sitting up. This cube has been a treat throughout all of the stages (tummy time, sitting up, kneeling, to standing). And the greatest thing about this toy is that it is one toy that multiple children play with at once (no arguments).

Sticki Blocks by Haba- We bought this around 10 months but he really didn’t start building and stacking them until just after 12 months. They are the equivalent of jumbo wooden Legos.

Kingelring by Haba- This is my greatest early find. It is a wonderful teether. I say wonderful because the wood pieces on one side bend just like knuckles so essentially your teething infant is biting a”fist” that is not his or hers. Just brilliant. As soon as Pelé tries to bite me (typically when he’s teething) I put it in his mouth and he’ll hold on to it for a while but when he was an infant, it was an absolute Godsend!

Walk and Roll by Plan Toys- This a great walking toy. He started playing with it full time at 13 months. Years ago, I was that friend who would buy your child that noisy Fisher Price popcorn push popper. But now the ecologically savvy mom in me opts for the wooden one that despite being noisy, has a pleasant sound as the little wooden balls roll over the planks of wood. I bring it with us to the zoo or anywhere else that I need him to focus on walking straight on the sidewalk and not running towards parked cars or the street. It’s a great distraction on those outings.

Yannik by Haba- This was Pelé’s first doll. Very well made (chenile hair, cloth bodies) and they carry a range of “ethnic and wordly-looking” dolls.

Any generic train set (Landmark Maple/ Brio/ Ikea) In our case it was Landmark Maple letters.

Ball (soccer is the easiest to spot in grass)

Prince Lionheart Wheely bug- I’d say 15 months was when he stopped flipping it over to look and the wheels and actually started to ride this one. Just shy of two (a 3 foot 1 two year old) he’s finally ready to upgrade to a big wheel or trike of some sort– and that’s only because his legs are long, otherwise he still loves the wheely bug!

4×4 Jeep by Plan Toys- beautiful toy but after one fall the seat and the steering wheel (just glued on) fell off. And the screw that keeps the wheels in have already stripped the wood. He loves this jeep despite it only having two wheels for most of his life!

Knob and latch Puzzles by Melissa and Doug- He’s loved this one since 11 months. He initially gravitated toward it at our local library so we decided to get one. Beware, your child will learn how to open and close all sorts of “locked contraptions”. If you have a M & D puzzle shelf though, this will not fit in it.

Shape Sorter Block- we got the Melissa and Doug one. Great toy but they paste a sticker on it and the sticking never comes off the block so we have a block with ripped paper on it.

Circo Pull Toy by Haba- We bought this for his first birthday. Initially he would just remove the dowels and just use this as another “car”. That later evolved to stacking the dowels or rolling them across the room. Now he just loves pulling it and figuring out what order the dowels are supposed to be in.

Magnets (animals and letters) by Melissa and Doug- these are affordable magnets that live on our fridge. My mother also bought a magnet puzzle book by them and he loved identifying all of the animals in it.

Table Top Easel by Land of Nod- Any one would suffice– this one certainly wasn’t worth the money. It doesn’t collapse which is a huge thumbs down so we don’t use it as much as we would like. The magnet board is nice (you can use your animal magnets to tell a story). The chalk board is still not in use as the second we handed him chalk it ended up in his mouth. We use it for paining and it cleans quite well.

Animal and dinosaur figures by Holztiger- He and his play dates love these toys. They are large and fun to play with. Our German friends use them around Christmas time to create their homemade manger– we plan on borrowing this tradition.

Things that We could have done without:

• Baby Gym. We had the Baby Einstein one and yes, the little ADD gold star is worth it’s weight in gold!! While it was great to leave our baby to play alone while I prepared meals, as soon as your baby starts to crawl, the Baby gym honeymoon period is over. It’s one of the only toys that he’s had that was no longer of any use after the first few months. If you do opt to buy one, might I suggest buying used?
• Diaper Champ. We ended up just using a wetbag on the bathroom door know. Diapers needed to be washed every other day. We handwashed them at the end of every day and then we three them into the machine. No Diaper Champ necessary. Also, you can’t fit many cloth diapers in it during the earlier stages when LO is in need of a change every other hour.
• Bottles (coming from a SAHM) I bought dozens. We bought glass and it was my theory that I would pump into these and store them in the freezer instead of wasting plastic. While it did work, I ended up only storing 7 at a time and being a SAHM, that seven lasted me until DH was drinking from a sippy which was 6 months. Needless to say, I can count on one hand the number of times that my child actually drank from a bottle but I realize that that may not be the case for everyone.

Products (non-toy related products) that we loved:

• Euro-Primo bath. Our son is 34 inches and 26 pounds and still bathes in this tub. A number of the review that I read up on were concerned by the size of this tub (it takes up 3/4 of a standard sized tub) but I found with a suction cup with a hooked attached, it can easily stick to the wall of your bath tub and stay out of your way during showers.
• Fisher Price Newborn to Toddler Rocker. One of the things we loved about this chair (which he still sits in to read or just to play with his feet when we’re all seated in the living room) is that takes away the need for a bouncy seat or infant carrier to cradle your baby in those earlier month. It becomes a rocking bassinet sort of when your child is a bit older and then beyond 1-3 years, it is a rocker or just a chair for your little one or their little guest to sit in.

Books:

• Gosling Series
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Series – Your child will appreciate this one when he or she is closer to two.
• Sandra Boynton Series
• DK Photo book Series
• All books by Allison Jay (Gorgeous illustrations and there are multiple stories within those illustrations). I like to ask my son to help me find the various animals or objects on each page.