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A boy’s first birthday – it’s a very important occasion. As your child begins to grow up, they’ll also need their first toys.
It’s important to choose the right toys, ones that are age-appropriate and safe. But there are also thousands of choices out there.
Luckily for you, we’ve made this search much easier, and done the research. After aggregating tens of thousands of online reviews, and testing the best choices – we can confidently recommended the best toys for 1 year old boys.
Our Top Pick
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Chair
This great learning toy has over 50 sing-a-long songs, and is a boatload of fun. For learning through the years, you can enter your baby’s age for automatic smart stages, or manually alter the levels with the switch. With over 3,500 positive reviews, this is a perfect learning toy for your 1 year old.
Other Great Picks
Baby Einstein Octoplush Toy
This adorable octopus plush toy will have your 1 year old smiling and laughing – and what’s better than that? With over 2,400 positive ratings, everyone seems to love this friendly little octopus.
Avenor Baby Balance Bike
This cute baby bike has all the features of a real bike – but it’s perfectly sized for your 1 year old. The modular design means this bike is also very easy to assemble, and no tools are required. Get them started on the road early, with this super-cute baby bicycle.
Little Tikes Rocking Horse
The classic rocking horse is still relevant today – kids still can’t get enough. With over 2,500 stellar reviews, this Fisher Price toy has easy grip handles, but will still let your little one rock and roll. Highly recommend, as a first toy.
VTech Rhyme & Discover Book
You can get your little guy started early, by reading with him from this book. With fun rhymes and animal faces, any baby will easily be entertained. And with over 1,800 positive ratings, it is universally well-liked.
LeapFrog AlphaPup Toy
This fun toy is perfect for your little dude, and will keep him entertained for hours. Simply drag the AlphaPup anywhere you like, and enjoy the fun sounds. With over 1,200 stellar reviews, everyone seems to love this one.
Disney Baby Bath Squirt Toys
You probably love Pixar movies as much as your kids – so you’ll love these bath toys as much as they do. There’s Nemo, Dory, and so much more. With over 3,900 great reviews, these toys will have your little guy laughing and happy for hours.
VTech Sit-To-Stand Learning Walker
With over 13,000 amazing ratings, this learning walker is a perfect toy for your tiny dude. He’s love all the shapes and colors – plus he’ll be learning to walk. What’s not to love about that?
Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Game
If you like to have your little guy laugh while he learns – this is the toy for you. With over 4,000 stellar reviews, Fisher Price has done it again with this toy. This is also a great toy for a young girl, if you happen to have a bunch of little ones running around.
Buckle Toys Blu Whale
Help your little guy develop fine motor skills, with this friendly whale. With lots of buckles, a zipper, and more to figure out – they’ll be enthralled for hours. And with over 750 glowing reviews, you can rest easily knowing that you made a great pick.
What Is Considered A Toy For A 1 Year Old Boy?
You might think a one year old boy can make anything a toy. Many infants this age are learning to explore the world around them through all their sensory input — touch, sight, sound, smell, and many parents will tell you, infants are always putting whatever they can into their mouths, trying to figure out that taste.
And while anything can spark a toddler’s imagination, there is certainly an immense difference between a cardboard box and a product designed especially for your son’s cognitive, social and play needs.
Being a year old is sort of like being a teenager: not a baby but not quite a toddler. Many parents might get overwhelmed scrolling through the array of toys available for toddlers. What toy is too advanced? What toy is not interesting for your one year old?
At this stage, one year old boys want tactile toys: items that he can construct, deconstruct, tear around, restore. Children that this age need toys that work their problem-solving skills: how can I build a tower? Which shape fits into the square peg? Additionally, you’ll also want to look for toys that can grow with your child, something that he can return to even after he grows up a little bit.
What Kind Of Toys Does A 1 Year Old Boy Need?
Just like an infant boy is on the cusp of toddlerhood, his toys should also strike that “between-ness” balance: not too complicated, not too simple. A stuffed duck might entertain for an hour or so, but a walker that sings the alphabet could last months and months.
A one year old boy is going to develop a lot in his second year of life — walking, talking, thinking and those are just the big ones! You should seek out toys that encourage these developments. In other words, a puzzle cube can help develop both motor and memory skills; a musical book that can develop interactive reading habits. Additionally, any toy that encourages parent-son time will go a long way.
To be specific, the sort of toys a boy at this stage needs could be comfort items, like a plaid teddy bear. They can also be puzzle toys, such as a stacking cups. Toys that encourage motor development are also in high demand, like a musical table. Many of these toys are dual purpose: they can both get your son moving while also exposing him to new sounds, words, and imaginative worlds.
What Factors Should You Consider When Picking Out Toys For Your 1 Year Old?
A big factor to consider when purchasing toys for your baby son is longevity. Will they solve this puzzle cube in a few days and then move on, rendering that fifty-seven dollar puzzle cube useless? Or will these simple building blocks last beyond their toddlerhood, providing hours of entertainment and growth into their late teens?
While some incredible toys have a limited shelf life, many simple toys can become the building blocks to your son’s toy chest. Toys that are open-ended can last a great deal. Open-ended toys are items that, through a child’s imagination, have many uses. Building blocks that a one-year-old used for stacking becoming castles at age five.
However, it’s also vital to purchase toys that are designed specifically for your son’s stage of development. Sure, a singing book about animals might hold the same imaginative, open-ended heft of a building block, but it will help your son identify farm animals, and learn how to associate different sounds with different creatures.
Another factor when looking at toys is the complexity. Some puzzle toys might have so many moving parts that even an adult might take a few seconds to comprehend. If the puzzle is not accessible, your child will move on quickly.
Safety is another important factor. As mentioned before, toddlers are constantly trying to understand the world around them — and often that involves sticking random objects in their mouths. Choking is a serious hazard for babies and toddlers alike; any small pieces can be a danger, and parents should watch out.
Overall, the biggest factor to consider when collecting toys for your son is what he will gain from playing with the toy. At the age of one, children are learning not only how to walk and talk, but lessons like sharing, skills like creativity and problem-solving.
How Do Toys Help The Social Development Of A 1 Year Old Boy?
At the age of one, most children have a very small social circle, and he is at the very center. Though a one year old is vaguely aware of other people, he has little concern about other’s feelings. Therefore, as one year old boys mature, it is important they solely development social skills such as sharing and helping.
Toys can help your boy’s social development by modeling what it looks like to help. Many toys like an interactive shopping cart, lawn mower, and so on, make chores into a game.
Additionally, toys that depict animals help teach your boy to be gentle towards others. Teaching children how to care for another creature will help them gain empathy.
Many one year old boys have little concept of the term “sharing.” Toys that encourage collaboration like blocks, puzzles, and singing will help your child — probably at the later end of of one year — gain valuable skills like turn-taking and sharing with others. If your toddler is playing with another toddler, be ready to intervene and show your son how to let others play with their things.
How Do Toys Help The Cognitive Development Of A 1 Year Old Boy?
At one, many children are developing critical cognitive skills — logic, problem-solving, early literacy. Playing is a crucial way for children to build these basic skills that they will take with them for the rest of their life. These toys also set your child up for more advanced cognitive development later on in their childhood.
Something as simple as arranging cups from largest to smallest will benefit your son for life. Fitting shapes helps children gain fine motor skills and apprehension of visual-spatial relationships. It also improves their ability to complete small tasks even in the face of a challenge.
Other items like sensory balls can help your son’s brain gain impressive coordination. Something like an activity cube improves your child’s ability to grasp complicated tactile shapes and coordinate them to sound. They will also remember what buttons relate to what sound, improving memory. And as we all know, memory is a key cognitive skill — even much later in life.
Many toys, especially puzzle ones, hinge on one essential principle: cause and effect. Your son presses one button, and there’s a specific output: a sound plays, a cow moos, a car races down the track. The understanding of ‘I do something, and something happens’ is vital to a child’s cognitive development.
How Do Toys Help The Motor Skills Of A 1 Year Old Boy?
In addition to cognition, thinking, children are developing critical motor skills — talking, walking, grabbing, and so on. Motor skills help children interact with the world around them; this includes hand-eye coordination. The better the toy, the more motor skills your child improves as they play.
A walker will help any active boy gain the confidence to walk on his own. Many walkers, additionally, are equipped with music and other trinkets to entice your child to interact with the walker if they’d prefer to crawl.
In addition to advancing your son’s problem-solving, toys that allow him to handle shape-objects helps him practice the motor skills that require precision. And when you’re a one year old baby, even fitting a round peg through a round hole requires immense precision.
Motor skills are important because they help your son interact with the world. The more he handles toys that lift up his abilities, the more he will be able to do.
How Long Should Toys Last For An Infant?
There is no single unit of time that a toy should last. As mentioned previously, many good toys can last for many stages of child development. At the same time, many toys are designed especially for a certain age group in months, like 9-12 or 12-18. However, it should stand the test of one play session.
The challenge is to keep a child’s interest. A good toy should engage your son time and time again. The trick is often in the toy’s finesse: anything bright, loud, and charming will captivate your child. The more tactile the toy, the more your child will keep coming back to it.
If your child cannot figure out your toy or shows little interest, don’t panic. As your son grows, he might return to his previously abandoned playmate when he has matured.
What Sort Of Development Should My Son Go Through From Their 1st To 2nd Year?
All children develop at different paces. What might be easy for one boy is not the same for another. In fact, many children are advanced in one way, but stall in another. In other words, a boy might be speaking his first words, but prefers crawling over walking.
But no matter the pace, any parent will tell you that the difference between the first and second birthday is astronomical. At one, your son might just be learning his first word; on the cusp of two, he might be running around.
In terms of toys, that means any parent should be mindful of their child’s needs as they change from day to day, moment to moment. Toys should be purchased not only thinking of who they are now, but who your son will become.
The Best Toys For 1 Year Old Boys
There it is — our picks for the best toys for a one-year-old boy. Though there is much to consider — social development, cognitive development, motor skills development — there is one final factor to consider.
Ultimately, the best toys are also the toys that you can enjoy with your son. They won’t stay young forever.