5 Educational Gift Ideas for the Soon-to-Be 1 Year Old
Turning one is a major milestone in your infant’s life. Your infant has gone from a bundle of joy in your arms to developing their set of skills. The following infant toys will help them in their development and encourage imaginative play. They are also a great outlet to get rid of any extra energy.
1. Motor Skill Toys
As your child starts to crawl, sit up and walk, they’ll need educational toys that can aid them in this process. Push toys are essential in their movements and toy lawnmowers, scooters and cars can aid in learning to walk. Some of the items are interactive and can talk and teach them skills along the way.
2. Activity Table
The Baby Einstein discovering music activity table is an educational and fun way to introduce music to your child. This feature packed activity table lights up, makes sounds and melodies and demonstrates a variety of instruments such as the piano, drums and guitar. Many of history’s most well-known musicians adopted their fondness for music at an early age by a parent, sibling or grandparent through fun and educational forms of musical expression.
Music also promotes early learning and memorization skills. The Baby Einstein music activity table also allows your child to become familiar with colors, different languages that includes, English, Spanish and French and introduces them to five classical melodies.
3. Imagination Play Toys
Toys such as a cash register, kitchen set, toy car, chalkboard and doll house are play toys that can stimulate a child to use their imagination. This form of creativity allows them to use their minds to set up various scenarios with the tools they are given. You can even purchase costumes such as a superhero cape, hats, suits and vintage dresses.
4. Toys that Promote Reaction
Another integral part in the learning process for a 1 year old includes helping them learn their reactionary skills. CD player toys, activity benches, spinning tops, jack-in-the-boxes are items that you have to push, pull or shake. In order for you to get the toy to do something, you need to cause these things to happen.
5. Books
You should encourage reading early on in a child’s life. This is a great way to unwind at the end of a busy day or take some time to bond after lunch. Books can aid children in comprehending new words and promotes their early reading skills. Too many words to a page cause a 1 year old to lose interest, and you need to choose your reading material wisely for them. Board books are easy for a young child to hold and turn the pages.
You can also find interactive books that encourage participation. While you may be sick of reading a particular book over and over again, you should stay positive and be happy that they enjoy a certain story. You can also purchase other books similar to the one they like to stimulate their love of reading.
Educational items that promote fun and learning can aid in a child’s development. A child turning 1 year of age is constantly changing and developing. You can support their growth and ever changing needs with the above educational toys.
Lisa Coleman shares some fun, engaging and educational gift ideas for the upcoming toddler that will be inspiring for several more years of your new toddler's life. She has found the Baby Einstein discovering music activity table to be among her favorites for her own toddler, keeping him engaged while teaching him the basics of numbers, colors and shapes.
This article about educational gift ideas is just one of many articles that Lisa has written for our website and for the benefit of our readers. . We are honored to have her as a guest author.