Welcome to part 2 of my 'recommended toys and products for toddlers' blog
Part 1 touched on some of the things that we have in our own home that we found useful. And now that my not-so-little baby has flourished into a crazy active toddler I wanted to carry on with the recommendations based on this new age group
We all get sucked into buying lots of things for our children - whether it be to fill up their Christmas / birthday list, or because they fell in love with it at a friend's house, or just simply won over by an advert - not all toys end up being used as much as we would like them to be
This is why I have written this blog, because we too have had plenty of wasted toys in our house and I wish I had found a blog like this before buying.
With that being said please bare in mind that all children are different, learn differently and have different interests, so this is just based on what worked well for my little girl
Play Shop Till from www.adsa.com
This play till is fantastic for roll play and imagination building. With fake money, food and paper bags my little one loves playing the roll of ‘shop keeper’ and using the scanner
Grow clock from www.amazon.co.uk
This is a great tool for getting your baby / toddler used to staying in their bed until the morning. Acting as a night light with the moon for night time and the sun for the morning it is great for sleep training and retraining them to know day/night
Baby Annabell from www.smythstoys.com
This is definitely one of those toys that will depend on your child’s age, but is a great doll for them to play with and it comes with plenty of accessories which are also great gift ideas. Baby Annabell allows them to roll play and grow their imagination
Flash cards from www.ebay.co.uk
I may have mentioned this one before, but even at the age of two these still get used most days. They can help improve speech and can also be used to play other games with, such as a memory game where you turn them over and see if your little one can remember which picture is under which card
4 in 1 easel from kindly.co.uk
This was a BIG hit for our daughters 2nd birthday. She is very creative and loves to paint and draw, so this 4 in 1 easel allows her to do just that. With a white board on one side that is also magnetic, and a paper roll for painting, then a chalk board on the other side this item has lots of great uses. It’s also foldable which is great for storage and you can adjust the height so it will grow with them
Aqua mat from www.argos.co.uk
A quick and fun, easy to set up activity. With different accessories for water paining - mess free
Playdough from www.argos.co.uk
You can buy playdough in most toy shops or online, and there are tonnes of accessories to match. This is great for eye / hand development and even as an adult I love to join in too… plus it’s quite therapeutic!
Helpers step stool from www.amazon.co.uk
An easy way to get involved with cooking and baking, learning general life skills. We couldn’t find a foldable one that looked safe enough so this is the only downside if you have limited space, but as it gets used every day it’s worth it. We get lots of use out of this - from bathing dolls in the sink, helping with the washing up, and helping to cook and bake, this item comes highly recommended
And there we have it, our top recommended baby / toddler toys and products. We hope you have found this blog useful!
Author: Annie Allen
Professional Photographer specialising in maternity, newborn, baby, birthday and family photography
Aldershot Hampshire based (covering Guildford, Farnham, Camberley, Woking, Reading, Basingstoke and Bracknell areas)
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