Guest Post…Fun and Educational Toddler Toys (via Lindsey from The Wise Baby)

               

2- wood blocks. Not just your average wood blocks, the Bucket-o-Blocks from Land of Nod – are fun, educational and safe in case Carson gets her little fingers on them too. I love that these actually allow your little one to create something instead of just stack them – a tad more fun and imaginative than your traditional old blocks (which are great too).
3 – reusable sticker books. It is no secret that kids love stickers and these reusable sticker books are all sorts of awesome. The pages are sturdy plastic and the stickers stick securely to the pages. But when Caroline is ready for a change, the stickers easily peel off and restick somewhere new in the book! I picked the Puffy Sticker Dress Up play set and the traditional Dress Up play set for Caroline but there are several other, equally as fun varieties.
4 – music! Musical instruments are great for developing rhythm and melody as well as lots of fun. We actually own this Boikido Wooden Percussion table and I love it. Bokidio is a French company that makes all natural, eco friendly products decorated with water based paints. One of my favorite things about this table is that while it makes music, thought was put in to the instruments to ensure the “music” is not obnoxious too loud. Especially great for those times Carson is napping and Caroline is playing her tunes!
5 – imaginative play. Imaginative play is in full force at this stage. Anything from playing house with baby dolls to dress up to cooking a meal in their kitchen imaginative play is great for developing minds and can often times be endless entertainment for mom and toddler. While it is an investment, I love the idea of this cute as can be retro kitchen (maybe someday Caroline will teach Carson to cook?). This model is actually more compact than some of the others out there which is great since some of these can be the size of a real kitchen! Dress up is another fun form of imaginative play that will likely become more entertaining to Caroline in the next several months. A great spot to find cute dress up clothes is LittleDressUpShop.com.
6 – creative play. In the same sense that imaginative play is good developmentally so is creative play. What better way than with play doh? This set of Eco Dough is made with dye from fruits and vegetables (think beets, spinach, carrots and so on) and proudly made right here in the U.S.A which, to me, is pretty important. Afterall, there is a good chance that some of this dough may end up in the mouth…!
7 – books. Natasha has recently mentioned that Caroline is really starting to take an interest in books and all of these are educational, entertaining and perfect for little ones Caroline’s age – Hide and Seek Elmer, Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, Eating the Alphabet and Big Little (this whole series is really cute). The YoYo Books are also a favorite at our house (the Animals is a big hit). They have thick cardboard pages – perfect for little fingers to turn. The pages have one-two words and a picture which are perfect short attention spans!

There are a ton of other great options at this age but hopefully Caroline enjoys has fun with everything we talked about today! And thanks again to Natasha for having me! xoxo