Children's Toys: Readers' Recommendations

by Lucinda Graves

With just a month to go, you may be wondering what to get your little ones for Christmas. We asked some NCT members for their thoughts on their children’s favourite toys.  It became quite clear from the comments received that different children like different toys but we thought this may help you when thinking about Christmas presents!  This is what they said. 

Babies

A baby gym is great for little babies. Even tiny ones love to lie under the toys. Some have lights and noise but they’re not necessary to entertain the baby for ages. Having played with some at friends' houses, I'd avoid the plush cushion type ones as they make it hard to do tummy time; stick to a flat mat – it's more versatile, especially if the gym bit can be removed later and the mat just used to play on when they are older.

We got a bouncy chair for our son as a baby. He went in it a lot for the first few months and our daughter used it a lot too but they do outgrow it by 5 months or so and I'm really glad we didn't spend loads on a self-rocking/swinging lights/sounds one. Ours did vibrations or a sort of gentle rock and that was fine and it cost about £30.

I found having somewhere safe and easy to put my baby down was really useful. For my son, we had an inflatable doughnut nest (from a NNS!) that he would happily lie in for a while under a heap of toys.

My daughter loved the Jumperoo and would bounce away for ages while I cooked or washed up.

My only recommendation for a small baby would be some form of entertainer (where you stick the child into a seat and they can get at toys attached to a 'tray' all the way round them). Mine was bought cheaply from a NCT sale and I wasn't sure that it would last long. However, it worked from 3 months all the way up to walking and provided great value particularly when my kids wanted to be able to play with things but didn't have enough coordination to sit or get to toys unaided.

My children have both loved the LeapFrog Spin & Sing Alphabet Zoo Ball, which covered quite a big age range - our son just loved the fact he could make it make a noise, whereas my daughter eventually taught herself the alphabet by playing with it.

Lamaze toys: they do a range and I think all are attractive to most children of this age due to the black and white contrasting and the different crinkly/rattle noises that they make.     

Rattles: my daughter had an elephant rattle that spun round and round inside a square bit that she could hold (Mothercare I think). She also liked a simple round rattle with balls inside, which was actually part of a big play gym - she was more interested in this part of it than anything else.

Books, especially books with simple pictures and limited black text on white background, e.g. B is for Bear by Dick Bruna, and touchy-feely cloth books.

 

1-2 years

Duplo lego is good for 1yr+ as it helps hand eye coordination and encourages creativity in older children. My 2yr old boy loves his and though they do get everywhere he has a big megabloks truck that they all go into. At the moment he likes the plain bricks rather than the farm/castle playsets (from a NNS).

I bought a playskool busy ball popper from an NCT sale for my daughter when she was just 1 year old. It entertained all her cousins (aged 1-12) and was a firm favourite for a long time in our house. Well worth the money.

At 15 months old, our son got a Vtech phone that lights up and talks to you and has numbers/shapes modes. He loved it and now our daughter does too. It's been great for entertaining them in the car!

My son got an alphabet puzzle (pull out pieces on a board) for his 1st birthday and even by 18M he could do it on his own and it helped him learn all his letters.

I bought a scramblebug ride on for my daughter for her first birthday and she loves riding it round. If I were buying it for a slightly older child though (18M+) I'd buy the three wheeled scuttlebug instead.

My 18 month old has loved her Fisher Price ride on fire engine, which makes lots of noise!

One of the biggest hits in our house has been a wooden pushalong pig - I would never have chosen it in a million years but my mother-in-law took our daughter to a toy shop when she was quite small and let her choose something and this was what she chose. She's played with it for nearly 3 years now, and now our son (1) loves it too, whether they're pushing it along, using it as a golf club, or unscrewing the stick and playing with the pig or just using the stick to hit things. In fact, that's made me think I might stock up for nieces and nephews for Christmas!

An ELC steering wheel and other buttons (with clips for attaching to e.g. a buggy, but they fell off pretty fast) has kept them both entertained in the car for many (cumulative) hours :)

Plastic animals provide hours of play and are great in the bath too.

The stacking cups from ELC have probably been the most used gift. We've gone through a few sets but they love them and still play with them in the bath (my oldest is 7). We also have the stacking alphabet/number cardboard boxes. They like lining them up like a road, stacking them, putting toys into them, making towers. Unfortunately the dog likes eating them, so we are on our third set.

We have enjoyed Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks, although some of my kids have taken to them more than others. The Incrediblock was definitely well worth it.

The early learning centre wooden post box was a big hit as was the Early Learning Centre Noah's ark.

2+ years

Let's pretend toys e.g. Kitchen, washing machine, toy pram etc. (although my daughter plays just as happily with her cardboard oven/hob that we made for her as she would have done with a plastic or wooden one).

Wooden play cooker - we have a small one by Le Toy Van. It's great as it takes up very little space unlike some of the toy cookers which are almost as big as the real thing! It has had hours and hours of play constantly. To go with the these, we have plenty of wooden food, plates, knives etc.

Tea sets: they never get bored of them! We have a plastic ELC one. They also love the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn singing teapot. At our group's 2nd b'day we did secret Santa presents for the kids &, once unwrapped, half of them dropped everything to go for the cups, plates & cutlery!

Happy Land - fantastic for all ages, babies can chew the figures safely (!) but goes across all ages - my 2 year old loves it and my 6 year old still plays with it. There is a huge variety of sets to choose from so they can role play whatever they are most interested in - schools, zoos, transport, shops...and you can gradually build up a village which is great fun (even Mum and Dad have been on their hands and knees joining in!) You can also use it to put little minds at rest - using the doctors’ surgery we were able to explain about injections resulting in a very easy trip to the real doctor!

We like Fisher Price Little People. There are so many sets, you can get one for every season and interest. Storage can become a problem if you get too many sets.

For slightly older children I recommend playmobil. It does seem really expensive but I have been really impressed at how versatile and durable it is. It also grows well with a child and allows them to play differently as their play develops. It also holds its value well so is good to resell at NCT sales or on eBay.

The vtech reading pen and books are really good, particularly for car journeys/restaurants. These really helped with early reading and helping with a love of books. The pen can read the page or the individual words and there are games in each book as well. There is a good choice of books for girls and boys; the only complaint would be that you can only load a certain number of books on the pen so have to swap around regularly using the computer, but a great educational toy.

A toy pushchair (my daughter will walk much further around town if she's pushing her little pushchair with a teddy in it than she normally would).

One for toddlers that I have liked is the Aqua draw mats - either the large ones that go on the floor and can be drawn on with water (the mat then dries and you can start again) or the smaller mini mats which have a picture that can be uncovered with water. Once dried they can be used again and again and again!

Simple coloured pencils and crayons are well loved and my son loves ‘colouring in’ my artistic offerings.

Anything with wheels is loved by our little boy.  This started with simple ELC emergency vehicles and a Happyland Tractor and has now progressed to vehicles which you can puts lots of people or animals in (like the Happyland Bus).  He also loves his Thomas the Tank engine trains and can spend hours playing with them.

A micro scooter. I spent ages debating because of the money but it was well worth the expense and is better than the alternative/similar/cheaper versions on the market. It takes a little perseverance before your child learns the 'tilt to steer' technique but that was worth it too. The micro scooter is now on its second child and I expect it will do at least a third.

Our purchase of an ELC wooden trike and trailer at an NCT sale was a brilliant buy and it is used on a daily basis.

Lifelong favourites have definitely been Brio (and compatible) wooden train sets. My 8 year old has only just outgrown it, but my eldest would still play with it at her grandparents' when she was 12. Even adults sometimes like to get down on the floor and help with assembling tracks.

We have a Little Tykes playhouse that was given to us when my son was 18 months old. It was second hand then but is still going strong 4 years later and has been well loved by all children. My son loved opening and closing the door and shutters early on and it has then developed into more imaginative play. My daughter loves the doorbell (which had initially been broken but we were able to replace from Little Tykes).

We've recently invested in a big outdoors slide and swing set (the Buckingham by Little Tikes) and it's been very well loved so far.

One year we invested in a swing and slide 'fort' as we didn't go on holiday and that is used all the time.

We bought space hoppers-the Science Museum ones from Iwantoneofthose (sold in Argos too), and they've been fab. The children love them and get loads of exercise. I also bought a small ELC one for pre-schoolers, so no one is left out.

I recently bought kerplunk, which is such a visual game, full of suspense and quite young children,5+ can join in.

Dolls house - we got our eldest daughter one to celebrate the arrival of her sister and it gets loads of play, now from the toddler as well.

Dress up doll foam stickers for the bath. They were a present for my daughter’s 2nd birthday and are still loved!

Dressing up clothes from age 3ish. A girl can never have too many princess outfits! A favourite for playdates.

Do you have any toy recommendations? What are you getting your children this Christmas? Let us know by commenting below...

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