The Best Gifts For 1 Year Old Boys That Will Keep Them Active

Guide to Gift Buying for a 1 Year Old boy

You will want to know exactly what your little one will be gaining when you hand them a brand new toy, because nothing is better than giving your child a head start while they have fun at the same time. Whether you’re looking to help your child improve their fine motor skills by playing with a popper toy or develop their core muscles on a swing, you can be assured that we’ve got what you need. Below we’ve tackled some of the common questions that you might be asking yourself about these toys right now.

Which gifts are good for a 1 year old?

Good gifts for a 1 year old are things that they can get their hands on, something that they can really interact with and make their own. Buying DVDs or passive toys at this age is not only a bad idea, it could slow your child’s development as they feel less motivated to be active in learning from their environment. There are quite a few types of toys on the market, so here are how we’ve broken them down for easy understanding:

Physical Play: these toys include sports equipment like bats and balls, swings and other basic toddler ‘gym’ equipment that you can find on the market. These toys will help to develop core strength and coordination, fitness and will give your child a place to use up their energy in a way that other toys simply cannot do.

Tactile Play: this category includes toys which get your toddler close up with the elements, for example sandboxes or water toys. These toys allow your child to explore different sensory experiences hands-on, and learn from them. Cheap ways to have your toddler interact with tactile play is to allow them to get messy with some jelly or any squishy food on a sanitized table. You could even use shaving foam as long as you make sure that your child doesn’t eat any of it.

Pull / Push: These toys are very straight-forward, and they include the likes of toy cars, strollers and / or walkers, and often toy pets like dogs or cats. Nothing motivates a little crawling toddler like a puppy that needs to be taken on a walk! These toys help with gross motor skills as well as motivation for movement and eventually walking.

Sorters: these toys work nicely to help your child distinguish colours, shapes, and work on their motor skills at the same time. The item we’ve chosen for our best sorter toy is the Melissa and Doug Shape Sorter & Pounding Bench, which has quality wooden blocks and also functions as a stress relief toy. Other sorters can be different by organising their set via colour and size too, such as ring sorters.

Poppers: these are toys that have buttons, switches, and other fine motor components. Usually there will be a type of reward for the toddler when they are able to operate a popper toy, like a fun sound or flashing lights. There are various poppers on the Little Tikes Light ‘n Go Activity Garden Treehouse, and also on the stroller we have chosen.

Musical Instruments: the noisier the better, these toys are great for helping your child to learn basic rhythm, mathematics (counting), auditory discrimination and hand-eye coordination. This also allows children to express their creative side by making up their own songs, or combining different sounds that they find interesting.

No matter which toys you choose, you can be assured that every single one on our list has been carefully chosen for their educational advantages as well as their high quality finish.

How do I tell if a toy is safe for a 1 year old?

While all of these toys are age appropriate for 12 months upward, it is always a good idea to have parental supervision during play time. None of the products uses toxic materials or sharp metals, so the likelihood of your child sustaining injury from the toys is minimal, but if something is broken or there is a manufacturing fault minor injuries are always a possibility. Each of these toys is made to the highest quality standards, and the buyer reviews they receive confirm their durability and safety.

We recommend checking the exterior of the toy from time to time to make sure that everything is in place: not only can some plastic toys crack from being thrown around (remember, these are toddlers we’re talking about!), but smaller pieces could be dislodged and become choking hazards if they are not removed. Adult supervision is key to making sure that your child uses the toys appropriately and is not at any risk, and when in doubt you can always ask your child’s teachers or other parents if they have any advice. Take a look at this advice from Safe Kids to know everything there is to know about toy safety.

Can older children also use these toys?

Yes, these toys are suitable for 12 months and upward, and some are even suitable for children as old as 3 years. This will depend on the child’s particular interests and needs, so you may experience different results trying to extend the lifetime of a toy with a child who starts to enjoy language based activities more, when compared to a child that enjoys physical activities more. Get to know the temperament of the child you’re buying the gift for, and when in doubt, ask the parents!

If you really want to make sure that you are buying a long lasting gift for a child, go for a toy that has multiple benefits and areas of interest. Choosing a toy that only works on a single developmental area will definitely reach the back of the cupboard before a toy that always has more than one benefit for your child. Something like the sandbox is a great example of a toy that will work well for older children as you can introduce activities such as sand-castle building or fantasy-play with other toys into the mix, but a sorter will soon become old news to a toddler who masters it and needs to move on to bigger, better things.