What are the right toys for 12 to 24 months-old children?
[mme_highlight] When choosing toys for children between 12 and 24 months of age, parents and family members should take into account the preferences and exploratory character of children at these ages. Good toys choices in this age group are: action figures, floating toys for bath, musical instruments, dolls and role play materials. [/mme_highlight]
Play is essential for children, contributing to the cognitive, physical, social development as well as for their emotional and general well-being. The importance of playing for an optimal development children is reflected in the recognition by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights of playing as a right of every child.
Parents and Educators aware and promoting the right of children to play, want to choose the right toys for every age, which can be a challenge. Knowing the main developmental milestones and features of each age may be a great help to choose the most appropriate toys. Thus, when choosing a toy, always ensure it meets the general characteristics of a good toy: safety, durability and suitability for the age group. Beware of toys containing small parts because of its inherent chocking risk.
What are the main developmental milestones between 12 and 24 months?
Between 12 and 24 months major milestones in children development take place. Your child likes to explore the world around in all possible ways: walking, climbing, running. Near completing 24 months, children can kick and catch the ball. You will also notice she/he likes to play with action toys and puzzles.
In this period children are capable of matching similar objects and identify objects by pointing at them. Playing with water and sand makes for a great funny time for your 1 to 2-year-old child. Children at this age also scribble spontaneously and imitate adult’s tasks and housekeeping activities. Another interesting characteristic is that children at this time prefer to play with an adult rather than with another child. They also love to read and learn songs and nursery rhymes.
What kind of toys to prefer between 12 and 24 months?
When choosing toys for children between 12 and 24 months of age, parents and family members should take into account the preferences and exploratory character of children at these ages. They love action toys, especially those which make movements or sounds as a result of child’s action. Between 1 and 2 years of age, children present imitative behavior.
Movement skills develop fast, both at a gross level – by running and climbing – as well as at a fine motor level – they love making constructions.
What toys to buy between 12 and 24 months?
It is exciting for the family members to buy the toys for children, but it can be a bit of a challenge too as the toys not only should be suitable for their kids’ age group, but they also should present specific characteristics that may help their children’s development.
- Action figures
- Doll carriages
- Small Rocking Horses
- Ride on toys
- Gym Equipment
- Swings
- Construction Toys
- Puzzles
- Pop-up toys (mechanism operated by pushing)
- Shape sorters
- Activity boxes (eg., with a dial and key to turn)
- Simple number/counting boards (1 to 5, with large pegs)
- Balls (diameter larger than 44 mm)
- Floating toys for bath
- Musical Instruments
- Crayons and large paper
- Dolls(soft-bodied or all-rubber dolls)
- Simple doll clothes and large accessories
- Puppets
Prefer those which are light and have bright colors and a realistic appearance. Children love figures with special noises and action effects.
From 18 months on.
Prefer those with stout handles and confirm adequate height.
Prefer those with four or more wheels which need to be pulled with feet; avoid pedals. Children love ride-on toys with storage bins and that look like animals.
Choose soft platforms and tunnels for crawling. All this kind of equipment needs adult supervision.
The appropriate swings must have curved seats, a restraining strap and should be made of energy absorbing material.
Before 18 months the interlocking mechanism may be difficult for children. After 18 months, provide 20 to 40 solid wooden blocks. The ideal blocks’ size is between 50 and 100 mm.
Start with 2 to 3 pieces puzzles and then, from around 18 months, you can offer 5 piece puzzles.
Instruments operated by shacking
From 18 months, xylophones, drums, cymbals.
Operated by an adult and, from 18 months, small hand puppets for child’s hand.
Telephone, mirror, household equipment, carriage for dolls.
What toys should be avoided between 12 and 24 months?
Projectile toys and games are not suitable for this age group.
Are there sex differences concerning toy preferences between 12 and 24 months?
Studies have came to the conclusion that sex differences regarding toys preferences can start to be noticeable before 9 months. Jadva V et al. studied toy preferences in toys, in infants at ages 12, 18, and 24 months.
As shown in the box below, girls showed a significant preference for the doll over the car at 12 and 18 months, with the same tendency at 24 months.
The time spent looking at individual toys was analyzed; note that for this experiment, the toys shown to children were colorless, in order to avoid confusion inserted by color.
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Mean proportion of looking time for individual colorless toy by sex and age
| Girls | Boys | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | 18 months | 24 months | 12 months | 18 months | 24 months | |
| Doll | 57.3% | 50.4% | 50.7% | 58.8% | 44.5% | 45.5% |
| Car | 42.7% | 49.6% | 49.3% | 41.2% | 55.5% | 54.5% |
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As shown in the box below, girls showed a significant preference for the doll over the car at 12 and 18 months, with the same tendency at 24 months. Nevertheless, boys also showed a significant preference for the doll over the car at 12months. However, this tendency inverted at 18 and 24months.
[mme_databox]
Mean proportion of composite scores regarding toy preferences by sex and age
| Girls | Boys | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | 18 months | 24 months | 12 months | 18 months | 24 months | |
| Doll | 57.3% | 50.4% | 50.7% | 58.8% | 44.5% | 45.5% |
| Car | 42.7% | 49.6% | 49.3% | 41.2% | 55.5% | 54.5% |
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Summary and Recommendations
- When choosing a toy, always ensure it meets the general characteristics of a good toy: safety, durability and suitability for the age group.
- Between 12 and 24 months, babies love to explore the world around, match objects, scribble and play with water and sand, so choose toys that appeal to these activities.
- Prefer toys with movement and sound resulting from child’s action as well as well as toys that demand construction or allow children to imitate adults.
- Good toys choices in this age group are: action figures, floating toys for bath, musical instruments, dolls and role play materials.
- Studies have suggested that sex differences regarding toys preferences are present since early childhood – in experiments, girls seem to prefer dolls and boys prefer trucks.
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References
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Rights of the Child. General Assembly Resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989.
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Goodson B, Bronson . Which Toy for Which Child: A Consumer’s Guide for Selecting Suitable Toys.
- Jadva V, Hines M, Golombok S. Infants’ preferences for toys, colors, and shapes: sex differences and similarities. Arch Sex Behav. 2010 Dec;39(6):1261-73.
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