Top Developmentally Appropriate Toys for Your 1-Year-Old: A Guide for New Parents

The process of selecting the appropriate toys for your one-year-old child is a very exciting but sometimes challenging one. During this stage, your child learns how to walk, run, pinch, grasp, move the head from side to side as well as start to see and hear. For these vital areas of development, children should play with toys that are not only enjoyable but educational as well. Below are some of the most suitable brain development toys that kids of this age should engage with:

1. Sensory Cloth Books

Sensory cloth books are perhaps one of the best methods that you can use to familiarise your baby with the surrounding environment. These books are commonly constructed from soft wearing material and usually comprise such components as noisy and crunchy pages, toys or things with rough to touch surface.

Another benefit of touching is as your baby rubs or touches its hands on the different textures they are able to understand about the sensation of touch which is part of the sensory development.

Furthermore, many of the sensory cloth books might come with simple stories or pictures of animals, fruits or even objects within a household so that you can introduce your baby to more words as you go through the book and say out loud what is being depicted in some pictures.

2. Silicone Stacking Toys

Stacking toys made of silicone are perfect for exercising fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination in your 1-year-old child. These toys are usually made up of soft and brightly coloured rings or blocks, which can be stacked on one another. While playing with the cubes, your child will notice that the cubes have to be arranged in a specific manner and require a lot of hand energy in doing so; this assists in the development of their hand grip, balancing and manipulation skills.

Also, stacking toys can help develop ideas of size, sequence, and colours at the beginning of play. This is an excellent opportunity for the parent to teach their child how to stack rings or blocks starting from the largest to the smallest or even coloured ones. This is probably one of the best brain development toys.

3. High Contrast Flash Cards for Infants

High contrast flash cards can make the task easier since the baby will have no choice but to focus on the card before him/her. At one year a baby is still developing their visual abilities and therefore has a better appreciation of pictures that are black and white and those with a high contrast.

These flashcards are designed in simple and large outline images of shapes, animals, or objects seen in our day to day life. When you present these cards to your baby and tell them the names of the pictures, you are teaching them new vocabulary and helping them to develop an ability to remember what they have seen.

4. Pull-Along Toys

Pull-along toys are ideal for use while playing with your one-year-old since they will encourage them to practise walking. Often, these toys are designed in a way that comes with a string through which your child can pull the toys as he or she g.junit Just pulling a toy enhances their gross motor skills, balance, and coordination in this stage of their childhood.

Pull-along toys can also promote the spirit of autonomy, as children are able to independently manoeuvre the toy. Promoting cognitive and problem solving: This kind of play entertains the child and helps him or her to learn the cause and effect relationship when pulling the string in order to be able to make the toy follow it.

Skillmatics’ Educational Toys

Not every toy is designed with a motive to make the kids learn. But Skillmatics is one such brand whose entire concept is to make toys that would help kids pick up necessary skills and learn as they grow up. Their brain development toys like sensory books, flashcards, pull-along toys, and more are perfect for the infants at your house. There is an elaborate thought process behind every toy to ensure the kids benefit from them.

Choosing toys for your 1-year-old child is another crucial process that helps to shape their further development and growth. Sensory cloth books, silicone stacking toys and toys with bright contrast, pull along toys and animals on wheels, and wooden animal toys are some popular toys that are highly recommended by parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators for a child growing up. The toys are not only fun but also useful to help your child embark on a new phase of their learning process.