As your child turns one, they develop a natural curiosity about things around them. This is a critical period of learning for them, as this is when they start to develop creativity, sociability, and behaviour. It is important then that they are supported in every way possible. One such way is by giving them the toys that can help optimise their development.
In this article, we give you the basics of choosing the best toys in the UK for your one year old, then we give you a detailed discussion of each of our top recommendations.
If you prefer to go straight to our top recommendations, here’s a quick view for you:
Table of Contents
Best Toys for 1 Year Olds UK
Hape Early Pound And Tap Bench with Sliding Xylophone
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Hape is a known brand of toys that are developed to enhance a child’s developmental skills. This particular one, the Hape Early Pound and Tap Bench with Sliding Xylophone will surely delight your one-year-old profoundly, but also quite importantly, this teaches them the concept of cause-and-effect. As your child pounds on the bench, the balls go tinkling over the xylophone, giving a nice sound. The xylophone can also be slidden out for a quieter version of the game. The toy has a bright-colored finish, making it quite appealing to your one-year-olds whose vision is just starting to develop.
Pros
- Develops an understanding of the concept of cause-and-effect
- Develops children’s auditory and musical skills
Cons
- None reported
VTech Pull and Sing Puppy
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This is a fun way to help develop your one-year old’s gross motor and fine motor skills. As your kiddo pulls or pushes the toy, its music gets activated, which provides instant positive reinforcement for the behaviour. As the toy puppy is pulled around, its legs move and keys swing, further fascinating your little one. The toy also has three colourful buttons for fine motor skills development. The 60+ songs and sounds that the toy produces introduce colours, letters, and numbers for the kid’s language development.
Pros
- Addresses both the fine and gross motor skills of the child (music that activates with pushing and pulling for gross motor skills development; whilst three colourful push buttons for specific functions develop fine motor skills)
- Develops language skills with songs, melodies, sounds, and phrases
Cons
- Weighs 376 g which may be a little heavy for many one-year-olds
LeapFrog Shapes & Sharing Picnic Basket
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This picnic playset for two is perfect for developing one-year old’s early social skills, allowing sharing and parallel play for two kids. It features 15 brightly-coloured play pieces including plates, forks, cups, foods, and tablecloths. When your child successfully matches the shape of the pieces with the interactive shape sorter, the basket will recognise the item, naming it and identifying its shape and colour. It also has a butterfly button which when pressed will play music and give polite snack requests. If the correct food is fed into it, the basket will give rewarding responses. The toy’s interactive and rewarding nature makes it highly enjoyable for kids.
Pros
- Can be shared between two kids
- Three play modes available: music, shapes & colours, and picnic time
Cons
- No manufacturer warranty included
Fisher-Price FFC84 Baby’s First Blocks
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Stacking and/or nesting toys such as the Fisher-Price FFC84 Baby’s First Blocks are very helpful in developing a one-year old’s hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills, whilst introducing colours and shapes to your child, besides of course the enormous amount of fun that it can give your child. The set includes 10 colourful blocks which can be sorted and dropped into the bucket through the blocks in the lid. This game is intrinsically designed to feed your child’s curiosity and sense of wonder. They will also exercise their problem-solving skills as they figure out how to sort and drop the blocks in the correct spots. Furthermore, their dexterity is improved as they grasp and put the blocks in the right place.
Pros
- Addresses your child’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity
- Feeds your child’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder
Cons
- Lid may be a little loose (meant for your child to easily get off) but may also let your child put all blocks into the bucket this way instead of the slots)
Fisher-Price FKD78 Little People Caring for Animals Farm Activity
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The playset teaches the important value of caring for someone else to kids at an age as early as one year. The toy is basically a story with four characters: Jed the farmer who works very hard and takes care of his four farm animals: a pig, a chicken, a horse, and a cow with its calf. The toy has discovery buttons which when pressed produce sounds, phrases, and lights. This helps develop a one-year old’s basic concept of cause-and-effect. It also has some fun farm-related functions such as rotating the crop, signaling that it’s dinnertime, hatching the eggs, or opening up the hayloft. The colours, songs, and sounds are sensory-stimulating which encourage kids to explore.
Pros
- Introduces kids to the basic concepts of story plot and cause-and-effect
- Cool things that make kids feel they’re taking care of their animals: they can tuck in their kids to sleep, feed them, etc.
Cons
- Package does not include the AA batteries required for the toys to work
Plan Toys Submarine Bath Toy
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Bath times can be quite boring and uninteresting to some kids, but this toy provides an excellent way to coax a one-year old to a bath, especially when they are too distracted to do so. This wooden submarine toy also comes with a removable diver which your kid can play with separately. Besides submerging this in water, the toy can also be played out of it.
Pros
- A great way to coax your child into an activity as interesting to them as taking a bath
- Made of rubber wood which is environmentally sustainable
Cons
- None
Chomp & Clack Alligator Push
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This toy has been proven to promote self-confidence, social and cognitive skills, resilience, and more skills that are essential in the kid’s personal fulfillment and success in adulthood, designed by couple Melissa and Doug, real-life couple who are passionate about the power of play. The toy has a number of cool features. The three wooden alligators take turns chomping their mouths opening and shutting as the toy is pushed along, which encourages kids to practice their newfound walking skills. It also features butterfly and ladybug wooden beads that slide and spin. All these features contribute to the development of the kids’ gross motor skills.
Pros
- Perfect for kids who have just learned to walk as the three alligators take turns chomping as the toy is pushed around, developing the kids’ gross motor skills
Cons
- Wheels’s speed is not adjustable so this is not to be used as a walker
Fatbrain 50020 Fat Brain Toy Tobbles
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This toy addresses a one-year old’s sensory exploration, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual-spatial awareness. The set has six uniquely weighted Tobbles pieces. Your one-year old’s goal then is to carefully balance, nest, recklessly spin and tower these pieces. This is a dual-coloured and dual-textured set which adds even more to the fun of play. Each piece is made of plastic and silicone which help in ensuring that they stack properly and do not slip off. The bright colours of the pieces make them quite attractive and appealing to your one-year old.
Pros
- Promotes creativity and innovative play while enhancing your child’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination
Cons
- None reported
Manhattan Toy Skwish Colour Burst Rattle and Teether Grasping Activity Toy
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This is a toy that addresses a very important reflex that kids must learn: clutching and grasping, ultimately addressing the gross motor skills of one-year-olds. This toy is easy to grab with one-year-olds’ little hands the beads slide back and forth, all the while producing a pleasing rattle, teaching your kid to explore sound and the basic concept of cause and effect. The toy has elastic ties that let the rattle and teether flatten or skwish and return to their original size.
The toy is made of wood, with a non-toxic, water-based finish. So you can be sure that it’s completely safe for your kid to toy with.
Pros
- Develops kids’ understanding of cause and effect
- Wooden and non-toxic, with a water-based finish
Cons
- None reported
Indigo Jamm Colin Camper Van
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This British-designed and manufactured toy vehicle is something that children can learn from as they learn. Its push-along design encourages the practice of gross motor skills. This vehicle is designed with smooth curves and painted birch plywood which is quite visually appealing especially to kids.
The toy is designed with a story too, which kids can appreciate. It has removable peg passengers which encourage imagination. The characters compose a family: Mum, Dad, 2 children and their wooden pet dog who can be matched to their seats through colour. The use of these characters helps children develop their recognition skills. These peg characters can also fit into any Indigo Jamm vehicles that come with peg people. The roof of the vehicle can be removed too for your kid’s small hands to easily access the pieces.
Lastly, you can be sure about this toy’s ethicality and safety, as it is produced at ethical factories using high quality and sustainable materials.
Pros
- Excellent wooden materials which are of high quality and safe for kids
- It includes family characters for simple recognition skills
Cons
- None reported
Choosing Toys for your One Year Olds
Colours and Visual Appeal
One of the things that your one-year old develops at this stage is their vision. This is not to say that they start distinguishing colours this early, but what they can make a distinction of at this point is bright versus pastel colours, and they tend to get attracted more to the former. By giving them toys of such colours, we help reinforce that elementary skill.
Physical Activity/Mobility
It is right around the age of one that babies start to learn to walk a little bit. Encourage them to practice their newfound mobility with toys that they can push, pull, or move around with them. Stringed toys are made for this purpose, and it would be good to get your child one of those.
Coordination and Problem-Solving
Kids at this age have the propensity to get their hands on anything. In addition, they also tend to put things in their mouths. While this is natural, it pays to encourage them to divert their attention to activities that develop their basic motor, coordination, and problem-solving skills. Toys that do this include stacking/nesting toys, building blocks, and basic puzzles.
Parallel Play
Lastly, one-year olds are at a very early stage of their social development. Hence, they do not interact much with other kids yet. But one way to encourage being around other kids is by introducing games for sharing and parallel play. Parallel play is a form of play in which children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another’s behavior. Toys of this kind come in sets that can be shared with other kids (like a multi-pack of toy cars.