Recommended toys for 18mth old?

[moominfilly]

My 18 month old daughter has suddenly stopped playing with all her toys.

Does anyone have any recommendations for toys for toddlers around this age?

[Bellenden Belle]

Pot and pans from the kitchen and a wooden spoon. Throw in a few potatoes and some plastic bricks and you have hours of stirring and noisy clanging ahead of you.

Xylophone also a hit.

If you've got a garden try making a sandbox - just a plastic storage box filled with sand (2.99 for 10k I think from Argos. Or give her a grobag of compost and some plastic potting pots and a small hand held shovel.

Or finger painting with home made paint.

I got nearly all these ideas from an amazing website called www.theimaginationtree.com

I think there is more doing and pretending to copy grown ups than playing with toys at this age. And mess. A lot more mess!

[Jo'sEnglish]

Agree with a lot Bellenden Belle says, and also love theimaginationtree.com

My 21 month old also loves his treasure basket (search on the imagination tree website) and is currently a bit obsessed with playdoh, drawing and looking at books. We also have a cupboard with Tupperware, wooden spoons, etc that he can help himself too. Also, peg puzzles and shape sorters, and starting to get into Duplo.

But mostly when the weather is nice he is happiest pottering in the garden looking at flowers, drawing with outdoor chalk, going on his trike and helping water plants.

[Convex]

What BB said, plus mine is really into duplo, building towers, and also playing with a ball.

[moominfilly]

Great suggestions.

Mine has even got bored of her kitchen cupboard and has never been interested in the pots and pans!

We got out to playground or group once a day, but there is always a need for new toys.

We don't have a garden :(

[RenF]

Duplo a massive hit in our house currently also anything you can build towers with such as stacking cups/boxes, also as above anything that isn't really a toy- household items. Cars and trains (anything she can make go). Books with buttons to make noises or other interactive bits. (Repetition is a big thing too- we sometimes read the same story over and over again!)

My 18 month old is also really into 'helping' at the moment, so I let her hand me washing to put on the line, or take dirty washing out of the basket, using a dustpan and brush to sweep up etc etc. Crayons and blank paper (closely supervised or the crayons get eaten, squashed into the floor etc!).

Hide and seek (inside as well as outside).

What about a box of buttons/cotton reels string etc? Similar to the treasure basket idea I guess.

[Righty]

My 18 month old boy can play in the paddling pool for hours, especially if he has cups and bottles in there too. We bought one for ?3 from Tesco Direct. He also loves the little ball pit he has.

[Saffron]

Another vote for lego duplo, plus there's another size up from that. I don't know what it's called, but it stacks higher a bit easier.

Now that my LO is a bit older (3.5), I sometimes put it in the cupboard for months then bring it out on a rainy day. She still loves it.

It's always worth rotating toys. It's like seeing old friends again when you bring them back out!