Best toys for 1-year-olds: Otto's favorite toys at 15 months!

Best toys for 1-year-olds: Otto's favorite toys at 15 months!

• 7.29.2019

We have done a pretty good job of keeping our toys, books, and other baby stuff from getting out of hand. We keep most of it in the living room but it's not hard to store, and we have plenty of toys for Otto without letting them take over our house! We are all about avoiding purchasing more-more-more for ourselves or Otto, but definitely want him to have lots of options of things to be creative with. And, we can see which types of things he really, really enjoys and keeps playing with--so he helps inform our future toy purchases!

So, I thought I'd share the toys Otto has been getting the most use out of lately! In case you're shopping for a 1-year-old or just want some new toy ideas... here are our faves!

Best toys for 1-year-olds: Otto's favorite toys at 15 months!

First, the cardboard blocks. My mother-in-law got us these and they were a HIT immediately. Otto delicately stacks them on their ends on top of each other, but also enjoys knocking them down. You can build walls, towers, walls with openings, hide behind them... a lot of fun! They came all flat and I assembled about 75% of them and stored the rest in a closet for in case any of these get destroyed.

We store them in this large fabric laundry basket I got at HomeGoods just for this purpose--it holds all of the ones we built and fits perfectly under our console table. (Here is my favorite online source for finding something similar.)

Grippies Builders set! My mother-in-law also found these. She gave them to us last Christmas when Otto was only 8 months, and they do say 18 months plus so I think he will enjoy them even more going forward. But even from the beginning he liked holding (and teething) on them, and nowadays he often goes for the canister of these first when we sit down to play. He also loves the big turquoise lid, and putting the balls in it.

Speaking of putting things in things... the stacking cups. We LOVE the cups over here. We've also had these a while and Otto enjoyed them very early on, but still loooooves them. He puts balls in them, enjoys putting one over his mouth and making funny sounds, enjoys them in the bath pouring water... seemingly endless fun.

My mother-in-law also bought him this larger set of cups and shapes which she brings with her when she babysits to give him something different to play with.

Cups are a must-have!!

Lots more favorites...

• We have this wooden elephant puzzle and Otto doesn't understand putting it together yet but loves playing with the individual shapes.
• More stacking... I definitely recommend a set of stacking rings like this or this!!
• He also loves balls with beads or other things inside like these or these. We have some that came with other toys and he loves them so much and plays with them on their own--like, putting them inside the stacking cups.
• Activity table. This is the exact one we have. I had serious mixed feelings when my dad gave it to him last Christmas (because it is bright plastic and makes a lot of noise). Ha! We used it without the legs for a long time before Otto was stable walking around, then put the legs on and it's a good height for him now. It does keep him occupied, but I am getting pretty tired of hearing the sounds and voices! But Otto looooves it.
• So funny that these are so popular with him, but: cow and pig squirter bath toys that we got when we stayed at a hotel a couple months ago--they gave us baby shampoo and those when we checked in, and he played with them the whole trip, and still loves them! I am actually really glad I found a set of the same ones online so I can buy them again if he loses or destroys the first ones. Funny, he also loves carrying around the rubber ducks we figured would just be for bathtime!

Here's the round-up of all of these!

Hope this is helpful if you're looking for some new toy ideas for a one-year-old!