The Wise Baby
The Wise Baby - The Definitive Baby Blog
As we are nearing our twins’ second birthday, I’ve been thinking about all of the toys that we have used (and loved) this past year and those that really haven’t ended up being favorites. Some have really surprised me. Here’s our list of the top 8 gifts for ages 1-2:
Anywhere Chairs: More than just cute chairs, these durable chairs also became gymnastic equipment half of the time. It’s also how my children learned how to safely walk down stairs. I don’t know how some less-expensive brands hold up, but the ones from Pottery Barn Kids are fantastic for us.
Melissa and Doug Crayons: It was hard to decide if I wanted to put the crayons or the Magnadoodle as our top pick, but the crayons won out because they also helped our children learn colors as we we playing and doodling with them. Pair this gift with a little notebook and it will be a favorite. While it’s not appropriate for a 12 month old, it’s a gift that the child will grow into.
Play Kitchen: This was another toy that our children did not use right away when they turned 1 year, but it is now used daily as they imitate Mommy and Daddy in the kitchen, making all sorts of rather creative concoctions. Fun Fact: Did you know that the IKEA play kitchen has risers that can be removed for shorter chefs?
Play Tent and Tunnel: This was on our must-have list, and we actually have to hide it from our kids because we don’t have the room in our playroom to keep it there every day. 100 balls doesn’t truly fill the ball pit, so I would suggest getting a set of 100 more. Need to clean them? Put them in a mesh laundry bag and run them through the washing machine!
Mega Bloks: While our twins have only recently started to actually build with these, they have loved putting the two Anywhere Chairs together, piling in all of our blocks, and then sitting in them, shuffling them around enjoying the sounds and sensory experience.
Train Table: Most people would claim that a one-year-old is too young to have a train table and trains, but my twins’ love of trains started at 14 months after we received a set of Thomas and Friends books for their birthday. From there, we found/were gifted several Thomas trains, tracks, and even a train table with storage. If you have a true train fanatic, we would recommend investing in (or making) a train table with a permanent top and track attached. It will save you several hours/days/months of your life in reassembling “broken” train tracks.
Books: For almost this whole year, I would suggest sticking to board books, although with a longer attention span, you can actually have shorter stories. Just know that your child will have 1 or 2 favorites that you will have memorized within days because of their love of that book (or even just 1 page, as was our case with “Hop on Pop”).
Gift Certificates: There are three things that we don’t think about when our children turn 1: pictures, more groceries, and more clothes. We think to take a bunch of pictures when our babies are in their first year, but to have a certificate to take family pictures sometime within that year would be such a wonderful gift. In addition, a 1-year-old will be eating more, so the grocery budget goes up. Help out the parents with a gift card to their favorite grocery store. Finally, we had a friend give us a very generous gift card to Gap, and it was perfect. I love the Gap Kids style, but I hardly ever shop there because I have to dress two quickly-growing children. However, their growth slows down a lot in that 1-2 age range, and this is the perfect time to stock up on adorable clothes. While you can certainly pick out clothes, a gift card is a great choice so that Mom and Dad can pick out clothes and sizes that fit their needs.
You can read more about some of these products in the following posts:
2014 Holiday Gift Guide: 1 Year Old Twins
Less Mess Drawing Supplies
Our Favorite 1 Year Old Presents
Dory