Toy ideas for bored 18 mnth old.?

[pipo]

DS has been content(ish) to be left in cot or playpen for short periods with his books and simple toys but has lately begun to de-construct his books! He is bored and needs a toy/s that needs a bit more thought but is still not active (for those quiet moments- I hope). Has anyone got any ideas before I pop to ELC tomorrow?

ds was hugely into vehicles at this age - and not even just the big chunky ones, he also liked the matchbox cars... emergency vehicles and london style double decker buses were big hits.

trains? tesco have the wooden ones like the brio ones only much cheaper

ELCs plastic animals are good too

have you got any of the fisher price little people sets (or ELC happyland stuff). ds loved the train set.

he got one of those scribbler things from elc at about 20 months. what about an aquadraw?

Thanks for the ideas tassis,he hasn't got any toys apart from the 6 to 12 mnth type.He has seemed content with them upto now and I have justleft him to it, mostly as I am not sure what to get as there is so much choice.

Clickclack tracks are great

So are brio type train sets (bt cheaper versions)

A till is fun

so is an etchasketch type thing (with magnets)

Who's Inside? Surprise! from ELC - push, turn, pull chunk buttons and animals pop out

shape sorter - ELC used to do a house one with chunky animals

My daughter is 18 months and loves to play with any Bob the builder toys. Balls, shapesorters, those things where you stacks rings of different sizes are also hugely popular as are stacking cups. She has a chunky dollshouse as well for toddlers which both she and her male friend of the same age likes =)

Sassafrass - where did you get the dollshouse if you don't mind me asking. Ds loves playing with them but is very heavy handed at the moment. Would love one suitable for toddlers for him.

The Happyland thatched cottage (from ELC) would fit the bill. It comes with a family, car and has electronic sounds (doorbell, hob, phone etc). I think you are being optimistic expecting an 18mo to sit happily in a cot/playpen though. Also what about wooden puzzles?

My dd1 is 21 months - I got her a tea set - she now makes a cup of tea.

The best purchase I made was an etch a sketch kind of thingy - got in from Toys R Us - has a 'pen' thing to write on but best of all won't write on anything else - hours of fun for dd.

Another vote for happy land.

Weebles are quite good too.

I'm afraid I don't know where the toyhouse came from as I got it secondhand off freecycle. It's really sturdy plastic with plastic furniture and dolls to go with it. I'll have a look around and see if I can find it anywhere on the net.

bunch of keys

dd just runs round the house trying all the locks