Toddler Toys
As your baby's play skills develop, they start to change the way they play with familiar toys. Dolls that have simply been toys dragged behind or put into hiding places, now start to come alive, a toddler will start putting the doll or teddy into situations - setting up homes and camps, feeding them, changing nappies even potty training them. These are all play skills to be encouraged.
The co-ordination and manipulative skills of your child will continue to develop - stacking bricks, hammering boards, push and pull toys will all be investigated - to the full. Also you will find the garden filling up with swings, slides and trampolines, push toys, balls, the garage is no longer just for the car!
Artistic Toys
Very soon artistic skills begin to appear, so paint, crayons chalkboards will become necessary, as will the protective painting outfits and aprons (for you as well as them!).
There are a number of soft toys designed to assist your toddler with the skills needed to be able to become independent when getting dressed and undressed. These toys have buttons, zips, poppers and Velcro fastenings, incorporating these into fun games and stories will help introduce these skills into your child's day.
Simple puzzles will start to intrigue, and just watching you solve the problems will encourage the toddler to copy you, soon they will start helping you to sort out the puzzle even before they have the skills to handle the pieces.
Teaching Toys
When playing with toys that have colours, always mention the colour, quite soon your child will start to identify them, and this soon leads on to identifying numbers and letters.
At this stage in your child's development you will be looking for toys that are not only fun but have a teaching quality. A toddler is keen to learn, encourage it.
