lou's favourite toys at 18 months old

Time and time again on the Facebook groups I’m on and on Instagram, I see people asking for advice on what toys to buy for their one year olds’ birthday and what toys are popular with 12, 18 and 24 month olds. Louis is now 18 months old, so I thought it might be useful to do a round up of his favourite toys. He’s played with the majority of these for a while, and the way he plays has changed as he’s developed.

When buying toys, I try to buy from ethical brands that are environmentally conscious and transparent about their working conditions and how they treat their workers. Obviously it’s time consuming to research every single toy, so I tend to buy from companies like Babipur and Little Goat Gruff who have done all the legwork already and only sell brands that hold these morals. 

We do still have plastic toys, mainly bought by family. Although I will buy them if it’s something that I think Louis will love and if it’s well made. I also try to find things second hand before buying new. I read a post the other day that said that every plastic toy ever made in the whole world still exists. I can’t even imagine how many toys are sat in landfill, and it’s for this reason that I try to buy responsibly.

Wooden Animals

I first started buying these Lanka Kade animals when Lou was about 6 months old. They’re really chunky so easy for little, chubby hands to grab, and robust enough to withstand a good gumming from the most enthusiastic of teething babas. In the last few months, he’s started to enjoy stacking them, first while they were laid flat and now stood up. They’ve also really helped to teach him different animals, so much so that our health visitor was stunned that he could recognise about 30 different animals at his 15 month check.

They’re really affordable (roughly £2-3 each) so it’s easy to build a stash up, I usually chuck a few in to make an order up to free postage.

Grimm’s Blocks

Grimm’s Wooden Toys have a bit of a cult following amongst the eco parenting brigade, and for good reason, they’re amazingly colourful, beautifully hand-crafted, open-ended toys.
For Lou’s first birthday I bought him a 12 piece rainbow and a set of pastel blocks. The rainbow has been played with (i.e pulled apart and thrown across the room at any given chance) but the blocks hold his attention much more.
We like these as they are quite grippy, meaning Lou can stack loads of them on top of each other, I think his current record is 9. They’re also quite light too so don’t hurt too much when used as a weapon during a toddler tantrum!

All The Cars

My kid is car mad! I think if he was ever going to be marooned on a desert island and was only allowed one toy it would be his Lanka Kade fire engine. But oh would he miss the 15 other cars, lorries and tractors he has. He loves lining them all up and will spend quite a while making sure they’re perfect. If we’re going out, I usually chuck one of the Lanka Kade vehicles (pictured above) in my bag, Lou loves driving them on walls or in the mud wherever we’re playing.

Grimm’s Balls

These are one of the most versatile toys we own and Louis comes up with all sorts of ways to play 

with them. At 12 months, he enjoyed taking them out of one bowl and putting them into another (they make a nice clunking noise), and now he likes to roll them off surfaces and down his Wobbel board. 

Bear in mind though, you’ll find them EVERYWHERE. They get thrown down the stairs, rolled behind the tv and hidden in the laundry basket (I always go through it now before putting the washing in the machine). 

As he gets older, I’m excited to make some ball runs with them, there are so many amazing ideas on Instagram.

Books

I've always made sure to keep books readily available, as I really want to encourage a love of books in him, especially as his dad and I both enjoy reading. To be honest he wasn't really that fussed until he was about 14 months old, but now he's wild about them!
His favourite is probably the First 100 numbers book on the left, this is a Welsh copy of it that he had for his birthday but it comes in loads of languages. He loves to go through it and point out the fire engines- there's 3, the animals, and the tractor. It's really good for teaching him everyday objects and things.
He also loves the "That's not my..." books, although let's be honest, what toddler doesn't?? That's Not My Tractor gets read about 369302 times a day, to the point that I could recite it in my sleep!
And of course no toddlers' book case is complete without a few lift the flap books. Although they don't half get wrecked!

Doll

I'm firmly in the "toys have no gender" camp, and happily bought this Rubens Barn Doll for Christmas last year. It's quite big, and a smaller toddler might struggle to lift it until they're a bit older, but my child is part giant so manages quite well.

He showed hardly any interest in it until the last month really, I was starting to worry that it had been a waste of money, but now he plays with it so adorably. He loves to cuddle and kiss his baba and every now and then he'll insist on bringing him into bed with him for his nap, which of course makes my ovaries explode with broodiness!

(If you're as Scandi obsessed as I am, a Rubens baby wears a size 56 zipsuit 😝)

Elmer

And of course, no post about Louis and toys would be complete without mentioning his one true love, Elmer.

His love for him has only grown as he's got older. He now refuses to leave the house without one, sleeps with two and won't stop crying until he can bury his face into him. I think he'll be taking him to uni with him at this rate!

When I was pregnant, I knew that Louis would be growing up staying in 2 houses as his dad and I weren't together, so I made the decision to try and get him attached to a comforter so that he'd have something familiar with him all the time. It obviously worked and it's genuinely the cutest thing to watch.

Other toys that he enjoys at this age are Mega Blocks, balls, the rubber duck in the bath and pretty much anything that isn't a toy, like my phone, the th