What does your 1- or 2-year-old play with for ages?

[snowleopard]

DS (16 months) hasn't had any new toys for a while and I'm a bit stuck with what he needs. Any toy that sems interesting enough for him is always labelled 3 years +. Like all toddlers this age he just wants to pull stuff apart and open things and fiddle with things - he's intrigued by taps, remote controls, computer gear, fire extinguishers etc. Yesterday he found a cabbbage in the shopping we were unpacking and spent literally half an hour peeling bits off and posting them out of the catflap and loving it. Of course I can give him a cabbage to play with but are there any toys that could get his attention and really keep him entertained? He gets bored with bricks and things that go beep and jjust wanderrs off looking for grown-up stuff. I'm thinking of something with loads of bits, things you can open and take apart etc., but for under-3s... would love to hear any ideas.

TBH I don't know anyone who stuck to the under 3 ruling.

puzzles with 2 or 3 pieces

dolls

cars

colouring in (crayons/pencils)

who cares what the box says re age

From about 16 months, I'd say dd was into...
Happy Land stuff, small figures/dolls/animals. Books.
Toy mobile phone.
From about 22 months, add teaset, dollshouse stuff, anything and everything she could role play with.

many of those "over 3" toys are great for toddlers. such as hairdressing kits, doctor's kits. boxes with little fiddly things in (and I can't see that a toddler will actually hurt themselves eating a toy stethoscope).

playdough.
washing up.
duplo. (which is supposed to be suitable for under 3s)
toy kitchens
toy building sets/workbenches.
little tykes garage and cars and people
weebles.

stickle bricks have been a firm favourite in this house

less fiddly than lego

and of course books

Happy People from fisher price DD1 loves these (DD2 loves eating them) she has the Ark, Castle and the Bus, she can spend ages playing with them.

Buggy and dressing up shoes

Tea set

Books

Apart from throwing his building blocks one by one into the fire place, taking books off bookshelf one by one, or emptying ironing basket onto floor?
He loves scribbling - prefers pens to crayons, he has cheap crayons and you have to push sort of hard for them to make a decent mark, tried a crayola one the other day and ooooooh feeeeel the difference!!!

He will play 'catch' with me for ages, chucking the ball across the floor.

Also playing with junk, loo roll tubes, cotton reels etc

emptying the recyling boxes, the shoe racks, the kitchen cupboards...
play doh seems to work for half hour, or pencil crayons soemtimes.

DS is very happy with a pile of washing and putting it in and taking it out of the washing machine! More of a problem when he is taking out the clean clothes and kicking them around the floor!!

DD 17 months will spend AGES playing with my purse, taking all the cards out and putting them back in again...and again...and again.

Also stacking cubes fromn ELC, best £5 I've ever spent

OK we shall go shopping! Thanks. Yes he loves books and we do play and read together, and draw with supervision, but I'm looking for something that's much fun as all the grown-up stuff he likes pulling apart and that he can enjoy on his own for a bit while I do housewoek etc. I like the idea of stickle bricks, garage and cars/figures.

I think the over-3 thing just scares me, like there's some aspect of it that I can't see that will instantly drop off and choke him. But I have been looking longingly at it all so I'll go back and have a closer inspection and see what looks OK...

What about the play food that velcros together. There is a cake that "cuts" into 4 from ELC for £6 which both my children have enjoyed. It comes with candles which you could remove if you were worried about them. Then a teaset so he can bring you a piece on a plate. They love turning the tables and offering you food/drink.

Getting quite excitied now...

god yes making cups of tea with a teaset

hours of fun

Message withdrawn

My 20mnth old DS is really into postman pat. I bought a postman pat van with removable pat and jess. Opening the doors, putting pat in, putting jess in, closing the doors, going for a ride, opening the doors, taking jess out, taking pat out - repeat as necessary for literally HOURS on end.

He loves all things with people going in and out e.g. his toy aeroplane with passengers and passengers bags. I think it is all about making sense of the world. I think anything that encourages imaginative play is great. (I think that is the posh way of saying playing on their own!)

P.S> I ignore the over three thing - and look at the toy myself to see whether I think it is suitable.

dd was given a weeble village for Christmas aged 18 months and she loves it - it goes beep and plays music that she can dance too, and she loves putting the weebles in the car/bed and letting them slide around.

Oh and she loves plastic animals too

My best buy was an aquadraw, all three of mine love it, and they are 15 months, 30months and almost 5. Worth every penny.

oh YES

how could i forget aquadraw

Dd is 2.4 and loves Happyland from ELC, her latest favourite is Playdoh, she will sit on lounge floor with a tray for ages with it!

Lounge? Play doh? DD is only allowed it whilst strapped into her booster chair at the kitchen table with the messy mat on.

Besides flinging laundry about, my ds loves the swiffer and balls of any kind.

Other 1-2 year olds from our playgroup (mainly boys) love:

Mini push chairs or any push along toy
Cars, Trains, Trucks,
Tunnels/ boxes to crawl through
Plastic food. No idea why.

This weeks favourites for Ds (2.3) include:

Fuzzy Felt (or Fizzy Felt as he calls it )
Duplo
Cars, tractors, diggers etc