What toys should a child have? Checklist by age!

Pyramids

Requirements: wooden (the most environmentally friendly), textile (the safest) or plastic (the lightest), not too high, with a stable base.

How long will it last: up to three years.

For now, we happily take them apart and gnaw on them. Later, the child will learn to string rings onto a pin and assemble them in a certain order. They are suitable for size recognition and comparison (especially if there is more than one pyramid). And there it’s not far from the flowers.

18-24 months: coordination, movement

New interests at this age are associated with the fact that the child begins to not only confidently walk, but also run. The right moment for the development of gross motor skills: football with a soft ball, mini-golf, fishing with magnetic fishing rods would be appropriate here - all those activities in which the baby can show his dexterity. Don't neglect freestyle pillow wrestling and obstacle course travel for the little ones.

Many dads at this age choose radio-controlled toys as a gift for their baby, and then say: “Let me show you how to do it!” — and they take the remote control for themselves forever. This should not be done: radio-controlled vehicles help the child better master speed and space. Everything up, down, right, left should be mastered by the baby, not the dad.

In games, a conditional action appears: when playing with dolls, children begin to feed them with a spoon and lead them by the hand. A teddy bear's cute friend, a doll, can live in the nursery.

Geometric pyramids

Requirements: at least three to four basic shapes: square, circle, triangle. Material: well-processed wood (no chips).

How long will it last : up to six years.

Inserts (geometric pyramids) perfectly develop fine motor skills and also introduce the baby to geometric shapes. After the child begins to easily distinguish a circle from a square, and a triangle from a rectangle, complicate the task: play with him blindly: ask him to recognize the shapes by touch.

Plasticine

Plasticine inspires creativity not only in children, but also in adults. Remember the famous Soviet cartoon “Plasticine Crow” - the magical transformations of some characters into others right before the eyes of the audience have made more than one generation smile. The creation of this cartoon took about 800 kg of plasticine, and due to the faded colors, the “working material” had to be painted with paints.

It’s good that our children don’t need so much plasticine to develop fine motor skills, imagination, and abstract thinking! However, a child simply needs at least one pack of plasticine. Scientists from the Children's Center of Philadelphia (USA), after five years of research, came to the conclusion that the most useful toy for children from 3 to 5 years old (of all those currently existing!) is plasticine. Psychologists also note that plasticine is an excellent means of psychological relief, especially for children who have not yet learned to speak well.

Add paints, pencils, an album, colored paper, glue, clay to the plasticine - and your baby will be happy!

Rolling machine

Requirements: stable, low, with a reliable high back and space for toys under the seat, with rubberized wheels (so that neighbors below do not complain about the rumble).

How long will it last : up to four years.

Don't forget about physical development. Such a rolling machine (an option is a rolling toy) perfectly helps develop coordination and becomes a support for a baby who walks unsteadily.

Of course, it is not suitable for every apartment. But you can play with it well in the summer on the playground, at the same time training the baby’s legs and relieving the mother’s hands. Many rolling machines include a handle for the mother, which can be easily removed if necessary.

Homemade toys - creative and inexpensive

If you don’t have enough money to buy good products, but you are concerned about your child’s development, then you can make simple toys yourself. One of the simplest options is a sorter. To do this, you need to take a small form, divided into several sectors, and label each of them with some color or image. After that, cut paper or cardboard with the corresponding pictures.

The child’s task in this game is to correctly distribute the elements into sectors. It's fun and interesting, but the main thing is that such activities allow you to develop both physical and mental skills.

We hope that the information presented in this article and the list of toys for a child from 1 year old will help you make the right choice, interest your baby and captivate him.

Dolls

Requirements : environmentally friendly and safe, small size, legs and arms securely attached to the body, no small parts.

How long will it last : up to seven years.

We have already told you which doll to choose as a gift for your child. It turns out that dolls are needed for boys too. With their help, the baby learns about the world, uses them in his story games: feeds and drinks, rides on cars, tells fairy tales. And such a toy is a reflection of the child himself, it is his “I”.

Educational cards

Requirements : simple, bright pictures, large letters, printed on thick cardboard.

How long will it last : up to five years.

Educational cards are toys that your child will not get tired of and will be used equally often both at one and three years old. Thanks to them, the child expands his vocabulary, learns facts about the world around him, and learns the alphabet. By the way, you can start early learning of foreign languages ​​with such cards if you buy a set with the alphabet you need.

Useful toys from one to two years

I would like to highlight useful and necessary toys for children aged one year and older. During this period, fine motor skills actively develop, so the child enjoys folding, disassembling, inserting, etc. And toys help him with this.

(ALL PICTURES ARE CLICKABLE)

1.Matryoshka dolls are my favorite toy!!

The first nesting doll appeared at 1.3, my daughter happily took it apart, and I assembled it, and by about 1.6 my daughter herself learned to assemble it according to size. Spent a lot of time with her.

Large selection of nesting dolls in Myshop.

Later, nesting dolls-fairy tales appeared

Not only do children like to take them apart and put them back together, but I also told a fairy tale based on it, and later my daughter began to show her her own fairy tale.

The simplest and most understandable fairy tales and nesting dolls for children:

Turnip Mayshop and in the Labyrinth.

Chicken Ryaba.

2. Pyramids -

there must be
different
shapes, sizes and, most importantly,
connections
. In addition to the standard pyramid, which we remember from our childhood, it is good to have others, then the child will be happy to collect them, because they will be different in completing the task.

or wide columns of different shapes - circle, square, triangle and polygon, the corresponding figures are put on them, the figures are hollow, i.e. only outlines. We had the first one, my daughter often played with it for a long time.

Geometric pyramids are suitable for older children, after 1.5 because they are more difficult to assemble, they have a different number of pins for the corresponding shapes, with them you can learn shapes and colors:

There are pyramids in the form of houses, animals, favorite characters, which are also interesting for kids:

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for lovers of Masha and the Bear, or you can simply collect not just rings, but a dress for a girl, a bear’s fur coat, etc. by colors and find heroes.

You can also play with the cups separately - sort items according to the colors of the cups, hide a smaller glass under a larger one, etc.

Educational nuts - A very cool thing, you can make pyramids of them, sort them by color, pour them in, rearrange them. The nuts themselves are large, easy to hold for the baby, and bright.

3. Sorter -

there are a great variety of them, of different sizes, shapes (cars, houses, cubes, animals, etc.) and cost.

It’s better to start with homemade ones, they are simpler - make a hole in a bucket or box and throw small objects - buttons, coins, balls, pompoms, etc. It’s good to change jars and contents, because... It turns out to be a different toy - for example, for 3-5 days we have a mayonnaise bucket and throw acorns into it, after a week we have a small jar of sour cream, throw coins into it, etc. Gradually make the hole smaller so that the child pushes objects through.

The complexity of purchased sorters is plastic geometric shapes, most often with corners. those. The child needs not only to find the right hole, but also to insert the same square correctly.

At first, I taught how to find the right hole or part and I inserted it myself. When the daughter learned to do this, i.e. I began to teach her how to compare sizes and shapes, and I found the shapes for her myself. The main thing is to teach how to turn your hand so that the figure enters at the desired angle.

Our first purchased “Snail” sorter, which my daughter learned to assemble herself at 1.6 years old.
It has good large shapes - a flower, a star and a triangle with rounded edges, so it is lighter for the child and therefore more loved. also available at My-shop.ru My daughter loved these inexpensive sorter cubes, after 1.5 years she actively played with them, learned all the geometric shapes with them. The parts will fall into the first cube, but they will simply be inserted into the second.

>, Many children also like sorter houses:

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It was also loved and in demand among us; in general, it was a very successful toy!

Firstly, there are holes on top, on the roof, this is the most convenient option for kids. When it is on the side, it is difficult for the child to insert the figures.

Secondly, the corners of both the figures and the holes are rounded, this also makes the task easier for the baby.

Thirdly, this is the price!!

4. Mosaic -

A very useful thing for both fine motor skills and creativity. At first, the child learns to simply take out the chips, then he begins to simply insert them and gradually begins to come up with his own “masterpieces.”

The baby's first mosaic, with very large pieces that are inserted into similar shapes. The working field is not very durable, so it is better to keep it in a box.

the same as the first one, only the chips are convex. Just one is enough.

My daughter really loved putting this mosaic together and taking it apart with her dad for races!!

or Mosaic (100 chips) in a set of chips of 2 diameters, 10 and 15 mm.

We started playing in 1.4. This is only under supervision, but the child learns to hold such small objects. At first, the daughter simply took out the chips, or turned the work field over and pushed them out with her finger.

At 1.6 she started inserting chips!!

We collect “mushrooms” in a basket. We pour chips from glass to glass, transfer chips with a spoon... In general, you can come up with a lot of different things with both mosaics and Chips.

5.
Puzzles
- I wrote a separate post about this, more details here

We love them very much and paid a lot of attention to this

6. Cubes -

There are a huge number of them - plastic, wooden, soft - we have different ones, my daughter doesn’t particularly like them, but sometimes she plays with them. Wooden ones are better, more durable and take up less space than plastic ones.

wooden, small.

7. Constructor -

I started my first attempts to build at 1.4 years old, at first I just dismantled my father’s buildings, by the age of 1.6 I started trying to build myself, construction is a very useful activity for both motor skills and imagination.

or Ozon or Rid.ru - designer Polesie, the parts are quite large, but at the same time they are comfortable to hold with a small hand. At first I bought the Kolobok construction set, but the parts were too big and I gave it away.

Bright beautiful details. they built houses for animals, towers, walls, etc.

or Read.ru Mega Bloks, similar in principle to Polesie, also large parts. They gave it to us, so we play. and one of the 2 is enough.

Wooden construction set fairy tale Tomik is a wonderful wooden set that can be used to play out fairy tales . This is very useful because... the child clearly sees what is happening (a frog walks, sees a house, knocks and asks “who lives in the house?”, etc.). It is very good with the help of such fairy tales to stimulate the child to speak, “here comes the frog, how does he say?? yes kva-kva”, “who did the bun meet in the forest now?” etc. Then the child himself will be able to act out the fairy tale in action (well, of course, as best he can)

It’s good to choose a construction set based on your child’s favorite fairy tale; “Teremok” was our favorite, so I bought the Teremok Construction Set

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8. Frame inserts

— we started dating at
1.4
. just like with sorters, my daughter selects the desired hole, I insert it. then I give the desired figure and she inserts it. At 1.7 Anya began to assemble frames and inserts well. and at 1.10 I could already assemble completely unfamiliar inserts the first time.

Among the variety of inset frames, I would like to highlight the most long-lasting and interesting ones.

- or Three Bears. Read.ru is a family of bears. here you not only need to insert the details correctly, but you can also select clothes according to color, weather, choose the faces of the bears and voice their emotions, voice that this is a family - mom, dad and baby. In general, we started at 1.5, and still enjoy dressing bears!!!

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Fishing is not only an insert frame, but also a plot, you have to catch fish, well if with someone, then whoever is faster or who will catch more. You can count fish, catch big and small. then you can fry the fish, cook and eat the soup, and feed the dolls and animals. In general, the toy is also very long-lasting, we still play it. but if in 1.4 they only learned to catch fish and then put them in place, now it’s more interesting to cook and treat...

, , , There are also on Reed . ru: Fishing 1 ,

Fishing with 2 fishing rods

9. Lacing -

The first lacing is best in the form of beads, with a wooden needle, to make it easier for the child.
We got it at 1.8,
it didn’t work right away, I put it off for a couple of months, and then my daughter learned to string.

— lacing with a wooden needle and at a good price!!

, - lacing in a container, convenient to store and a lot of parts that you can then play with separately (fruits, vegetables - feed toys, just play with animals)

Similar on Reed : Beads or Fruits

But I bought it right away with regular laces, and with a little effort my daughter started collecting beads herself - Beads and laces or Huge beads

or interesting lacing for boys, stringing machines. The girls will string beads and animals and fruits, but the boys also need to be interested, and the topic of transport is their favorite!!

10. A set for the development of fine motor skills - an excellent set, you can lace, tie and insert, in general there are a lot of options for useful games!! The toy is a simple construction kit - plates with holes, nuts of various shapes, screws, string. Using nuts, bolts and string, you can connect the plates in various ways, which helps develop the motor skills of your child’s fingers.

My-shop.ru or Read.ru

11. Animal figurines - about our favorite rubber toys and just cartoon characters, favorite cartoon characters

In general, there is a very wide variety of toys, the main thing is that there are not just a lot of them, but that they are functionally different.

Here are our main toys from a year old, we still play with many of them, many were given to our youngest nephew:

You can also add Lego Duplo to this list, they gave it to us for 2 years, but I think we can start playing and building earlier. I wrote about our experience with Lego here

Speech development, onomatopoeiaCreativity with Play-Doh

Musical instrument

Requirements: pleasant sound, close to the sounds of the original instrument, reliable fastening of parts.

How long will it last : up to three years.

We have a piano, others may have a tambourine or maracas, a drum or a metallophone. The main thing is that the child produces the sound independently, and not just passively press the buttons. And, who knows, maybe a musician will grow up in your family?

You can also buy cars, drawing kits, books, a set of dishes or tools - the same “like mom’s” or “like dad’s.” The most important requirement for toys of this age is simplicity and a reasonable quantity. Simple toys develop a child’s independent creativity, awaken his curiosity and imagination.

6-12 months: manipulative activities, motor skills

By six months, most children have mastered such complex techniques as rolling over onto their stomachs, standing on all fours, and sitting. Accordingly, the child’s horizons expand and visual perception improves. However, to understand an object at this age, it is not enough to glance at it. Children joyfully explore the opened world: they take objects that they found nearby, move them from hand to hand, shake them and invariably try them out.

Toys of different densities and textures will help your child make amazing discoveries and enrich his sensory experience. rustling soft balls, books with thick cardboard pages, a teddy bear performing a song, any objects that can be studied from different angles, like a steering wheel with buttons. The role-playing game of a driver is still a long way off, but an object in the shape of a wheel implies a wealth of possibilities for experimenting with rolling, twisting, and so on.

At this age, the baby assembles the first pyramids incorrectly - not from largest to smallest, but randomly. But if he manages to concentrate enough to put the ring on the stick, that's great.

Of course, close adults should complement the rich impressions of young explorers with rhythmic nursery rhymes, massages and entertaining games of “ladki” and “magpie-crow”. This will be especially useful during the period of teething, when the child’s anxiety will be relieved only thanks to the support of adults and soothing teething toys, like a funny frog.

Very important moments are the moments of bathing. Water is a strong stimulating environment; some children are simply afraid of a noisy tap or unusual sensations. Water procedures will be much easier and more enjoyable in the presence of bright bath toys: they float on the water, sink to the bottom under weight, or release soap suds.

At the same age, children become the owners of high chairs, on which they try their first complementary foods. Sometimes the baby thinks that zucchini puree is an interesting thing that looks great on a bib and table, but not in the mouth. At such moments, toys for high chairs can take the fire and save the environment from impact.