What do your 13 month old kiddos like to play with? I find that my son gets bored easily with the toys that I have and is much more fascinated with "real" things, like pots and pans (which is fine) but also lots of things that he shouldn't have (ie: my cell phone, my keys, my glasses, camera, etc..). Or grabbing onto magnets and every cupboard handle we walk by if I am carrying him. I have a three year old daughter and I seem to remember it being a little easier to satisfy her. She always liked me to play with her but if I were there she would sit and play with her shape sorter, puzzles, doll house, kitchen, stroller, etc. My son does to some extent but he is so often on the prowl for things he shouldn't have. I'm not asking for toys that will "keep him busy" while I'm off doing other things... I mean I'll be sitting there with him. I just think it would be nice for him to be happy playing with something instead of constantly roaming around looking for something sharp and pointy, lol. What have you found to be winners with your little ones? thanks much!
Great ideas everyone - I will ramp up the collection of bowls/tupperware/spoons, etc that I make available to him. Having pails and bins in the different rooms for him to "find" is a fun idea. Little People is good too - we do have a couple of those (Noah's Ark and animal train) and he does spend a few minutes playing with them. Jessie L, great suggestions. I will definitely check out Target and those specific things you mentioned (helicopter, X-Rider). Also I have been checking out yard sales and will continue to do so to hopefully find some good deals. thanks much ladies - i very much appeciate your suggestions!!!
What I've always done for my babies, is keep a plastic bin or wicker basket full of household *stuff* that was safe for them to play with in every room: measuring cups and spoons, wooden spoons, baby-safe toys of their big sisters, bottles and soother covers, washclothes....stuff like that. They all LOVED it!
Baby toys are useless.
Little people are popular in our house, many of them make noise, but he also loves putting the people in and out of vehicles. Rubbermaid and water toys including thw hose are also fun. We also gave him an old cell phone with thw battery out, but ours are still better. Books have recently become a lot of.fun too. Our son just turned 15 months
My daughter is 17 now but here are some things we did....
I kept a cabinet full of kitchen stuff, safe toys and my daughter would play forever with things in that cabinet while I was in the kitchen. She loved it and she has become quite a cook!!
We had a plastic table with 4 primary color chairs that she loved and used a lot. She got it for her first bday. It is at my neighbor's house now with their 3 girls.
The lego table was used a lot as well.. My pet sitter's children are using it now.
Enjoy! They grow up WAY too fast.
I've kept aside a couple of tupperware containers and measure cups/spoons for DD to play with. Those do it, most times! :)
Oh it's easy! A plastic bucket, a plastic bowl, a wooden or plastic spoon, an old cell phone, an old set of keys, etc. I don't know why they even make baby toys, lol.
My son is 13 months too and loves all the non-toy stuff, even though we don't allow him to play with cell phones, keys, remotes, cameras, glasses... I have friends with girls and they have a much longer attention span than my son. Have you gone through his toys and gotten rid of the stuff he's had since he was an infant? After you do that, it may be time to get some more big boy toys. A couple (new) cheap toys my son loves is a Step 2 X-Rider bike (Target $25) and a Vtech helicopter (Target $16). We have a little collection of about 5 different vehicles that do something fancy other than roll, like vibrate or its a special trick to make them go. My son is starting to get into stuffed animals, but like you said, he doesn't stay with any toy or any location for more than a few minutes. We have a Vtech toy phone and he likes pushing the buttons on that. One thing that helps my son stay more interested is I (try to) clean up at least once or twice a day. Every toy has a spot, so if he doesn't happen to go to that spot for a day or two, it's a little more exciting when he does. I can't relate to your weather, but going outside is becoming a required activity to wear him out. I try to do a long stroller ride a few days a week and then fit in an hour long park visit when we run errands in town. My son is starting to copy us, so I need to get him toys like a broom and dustpan. Oh, I keep toys stored in various places around the house, so if he hasn't been playing in his room much I might go in there and pull out a bunch of toys he's forgotten about and wa-la, I can sneak away to do the dishes :P I don't think there's anything wrong with kids entertaining themselves, especially if you have important household things to do. You could stroll the aisles at Target and pay attention to the recommended ages for things. Then go thrift saling to buy the used and much cheaper versions. I'm really trying to make more things like sensory bottles for him. Now, he's more apt to try to figure them out anyways.
My son (almost 13 mos) loves plastic rings, we hide them all over and as long as he sees where i put it he'll crawl or walk (yay!) and find them. He also is really into his Little People stuff right now. He has the barn and a truck, the truck makes noise when you put the person in but the barn has never had batteries put in so it's just the old fashioned fun! He'll carry the animals around, put them in the barn and close the door then open the door and pull them out, etc, etc. Basically anything that he can make noise with or open and close are really popular. He likes to play with tuperware putting the lids on (or in) and taking them off. Today he sat for 20 minutes opening the baby gate, crawling through, and closing it. He also LOVES books with flaps, like Where's Spot. We read "Where's my Puppy?" like 20 times a day (spoiler: he's behind the bouncy ball!).
