toys for a 16 month old...

[katierocket]

Hiya
My little boy doesn't have loads of toys - that sounds awful - he does have some really nice things but we've never bought lots of stuff because he always seemed more interested in household stuff - pans, pots, clothespegs etc. He also loves books which he has lots of.
The thing is I do want to buy him some new toys but I would welcome anyones recommendations on toys that have been really popular with your little ones - its such a waste when you buy stuff and they play with it once. (God I sound like a right scrouge! I'm not, honest, just want to buy him things he'll really enjoy)

Favourites at the moment, and for the last couple of months with my 17 month old DS have been his toy vacuum cleaner, almost anything which has a helter-skelter effect (of which we have several - the wooden click-clack track from ELC, the Tomy Ball bounce and an old favourite we've had for a while the Fisher Price Pull Up ball blast), his football, lego/megablocks, a small ballpit, a toy musical saxophone which actually plays real music rather than the stuff you get on most baby/toddler toys (he loves dancing to Rock around the clock), and giant "punchball" balloons.

Newer ones he's just mastering and plays with regularly now are a wooden truck with various shapes that stack onto the trailer section (about £10 from the Cancer Research shops - I've seen more expensive versions in some of the online wooden toys catalogues) and a wooden ball with 12 magnetic outer mushroom shapes (a bit difficult to describe) which was about £5 from Ikea, who actually do quite a nice range of reasonably priced wooden toys.

Oh and he loves all his outdoor toys - swing, Little Tykes car, 3-wheel scooter, tricycle - although perhaps that's not what you're looking for at this time of year?

My secret for lots of toys and not spending money on things which won't get played with is, in the summer anyway, to get a lot second hand from my local car boot sales, etc. It's surprising how much you can get for 10% or less of the original cost - and DS really doesn't care that things aren't new.

I find it frustrating sometimes as my ds (also 16months) doesn't really play with his toys. His favourites are some tiny hard plastic dogs (like the ones from farm sets) which he probably shouldn't have but loves because he loves dogs. He prefers to climb the stairs and have stories. I buy him very cheap toys from charity shops, take him to the library/friends houses to let him enjoy the novelty of new toys and spend my money on books as he enjoys them most. However, he's just getting to the imaginative stage (gave his cuddly mouse a go on his dummy and a drink this morning) so I think I'll wait a while and see what interests him in a couple of months.

My 18 month ds is a bit like Aloha's, but he does love cars, push-along toys, his indoor trike and books, especially picture or animal books.

My ds is 26 mo. and has only recently started playing with toys as they were designed to be played with. (ie. up until last month, playing with lego consisted of pouring it all on the floor and posting it out the letter box). When he was your ds's age, I would take him to a toy store and see what caught his eye and what he actually played with in the store. It generally worked pretty well. Although there are some real classics that work for most children through the ages (i.e. lego, hot wheels), I think your child's personality can really vary the toys that he/she likes.

thanks for the replies everyone
you know SofiaAmes you are so right - its an obvious observation I know but it took me a while to accept that every single child is completely individual - I realised this in the last 6-10 months in relation to sleep and general personality but I suppose it's the same with play. I was kind of thinking that whatever another child of his age would like, he would too.

Its a good idea to take him into a shop ans ee what he likes.

'Had to' buy dd (15m) a doll and buggy as she kept borrowing other people's whenever we were out - pretty good indication of what she wanted. Have previously bought stuff which I thought was age-appropriate and it's still waiting to be played with. Also have plenty of toys which were presents, but she prefers pushing empty cardboard boxes around the kitchen and empting drawers.

I quite often get out toys he didn't play with when they were 'age appropriate' and he ignored, and he quite likes to play with them for a little bit even though he's 'too old' for them.

My 19 month ds loves his Brio railway, ELC dinner set (which includes teapot etc.), wooden cars, and a box of Tomy eggs!!!

my ds is 14 months and at the moment likes soft toys and anything he can put in and out of anything else - things like buses with people that go in and out, the Tomy eggs, anything stacking or with holes to put things in, any sort of box or container, etc etc. He also make a bee line for a friend's toy kitchen so I think that may be our next purchase. Also pushing cars and trains around. And reading.
I agree that a lot of it is personality related, so its good to try and observe what they play with at other people's houses.