Someone please tell me what sort of toys your 12-15 month old really enjoys.

[GiraffeAHolic]

I'm trying to pick a present for DD's first birthday at the end of March but am at a loss.

She has just started toddling and her absolute favourite game is pulling all the dvds off the shelf one by one and them inspecting each one.

I want to get her something that will grow with her (toy kitchen? roleplay type thing?)

So what is interesting your one years olds??

Well - lots really - books, a wooden pull along toy which clatters, a trolley to push which has space for a teddy or bricks, a tea set, a good one is that hammer and ball game where you hit the balls down the holes, a set of plastic animals (mine are boys, and love any carniverous animal, though DS2 even does the growling for the cows and goats..)Have fun choosing. Mine werent impressed with electronic things - the lights just flash, you cant do much with them and they got discarded soon. Best of ALL is a Bumble Bee a sit-on bee that she can grow into. DS1 got one when he was 3 months (WTF) from my mum, weve had is years and its a great toy, though best from the age of 18 months or so when their legs grow a bit.

no one believes me.....but the best toy ever for either of my children has been a beach ball.......they can roll it...lie on it etc etc and it soft enough that no harm comes of them having the occasional throw.

sticklebricks?

no ideas for role play sorry...my children were a bit older when they were into that

some nice things here

at that age my DDs loved their teasets, soft doll (we had the Baby Stella one on the link above), any toy table height they could hold onto for support, indoor trampoline, Tomy Sound and lights activity table.

Dd just had her 1st birthday, we got her a trike with a push handle, which she likes, but by far her favourite present was a Thomas the Tank Engine helium balloon, after 2 boys I's really hoped to be over Thomas!!!

Books and books, anything with Igglepiggle/Upsy Daisy, rocking horses and yes, a Dora beachball bought by MIL

DD1 got a wooden kitchen for Christmas just before her second birthday which i think was about the right time. i'm not sure she would have been able to play with it at 1, but the teasets got absolutely loads of use.

Cars, cars, and more cars here (12mo ds2).

Also balls - soft rugby balls, footballs etc. Throw, giggle, throw, giggle, repeat ad infinitum.

Lift the flap books,

We have a toy kitchen (ds1's Christmas present) but ds1 can't really reach it properly to play with it for any length of time.

Sorry, that's ds2 who can't reach it yet

I got dd2 a ball pit from argos which she absolutely loves her and dd1 crawl in and play together and it becomes a den and allsorts, and you can add on crawling tubes etc to make it more interesting

Mega bricks in our house. Ds is still playing with them and he is now 4 yrs. We have tons which is good as he makes walls & houses and friends can play too what ever their age.

yes to books
stacking cups are great, too - they can be built into towers wither way up, stacked inside one another or used to put other things: my ds2 is nearly 16mo and carries a set of 10 around in one hand a lot of the time, throws them downstairs through the stair gate and spends ages filling them up and emptying them
if you get ones with holes in the bottom they're good in the bath as well

Oh and she's really only (just) strating to role play now at 18 months giving baby a drink or playing with the doctore set, think role play stuff would be better 2 and up but I could be wrong

Thanks for all the responses.

The reason I mentioned a kitchen is because there is one at our baby group that dd loves (but I can't find it in any shops).

She got stacking cups for christmas and loves them but doesn't stack them.

Wondered about a ballpit, possibly a cheap paddling pool and some balls?

Am considering an outdoor swing that has a baby seat then becomes a normal swing as she really enjoys swinging at the park

Keep the great suggestions coming

Ballpit (cheap ELC paddling pool and balls) have been a complete waste of money here. Had then for 2 summers now (when ds1 was 1ish and 2ish) and he has never really played with them. If there's no interest this year they will go (total PITA gathering all the balls up at the end of the day too).

My DS1 loves his Little Tikes bubble car and I've heard they last ages- his cousin who is 4 plays with it too.

Ball pits can be a pain in the ass - you'll spend all your time picking up the 300 balls and putting em back.

Admittedly the bals are a bit of a PITA but the one we have is completely enclosed mesh fabric rather than blow up ( and easily pnctured) so has been up and down most of the winter.

(DD1 (3) was begging to have it out again yesterday .....

This is waht we have so balls are more contained here

DS is 14 mo and loves the hammer and ball thingy which Lux mentionned - although it might be a boy thing cause he loves wacking away with the hammer in a way that DD never did!

He also really likes his sister's scribbler - something similar to this. Would never have thought to buy one for him so young but keeps him amused for ages.

A swing is a great idea - we got a TP one with a deck for DD's 1st birthday and then added a slide on the following year.

vertbaudet does a beautiful wooden kitchen, not cheap though.
and lovely toy saucepans that aren't plastic

ds - 17 months - loves wooden jigsaw puzzles, bag of wooden bricks from elc for making towers, his wheelybug ride on, play doh (easy to make) books books and more books, shape sorters, toy baby, tea set...and did i say books??