What to Expect During the Second Year of your Baby’s Life
By Barbara Greenspan, OT, Pediatric Occupational Therapist
The time between the 1st and 2nd year of life is quite an amazing trip! These "little explorers" are so curious. Many of them are on the move all the time! They’ve got legs and they know how to use them! This time period is marked by curiousity and playing to learn about cause-and-effect.
Barbara’s Milestone-Basics: During this time frame from 1-2 years old, babies become toddlers...
- The great adventure of walking and talking begins!
- They begin to point to objects
- Say words
- Make animal sounds
- Play with balls and blocks and sort objects by shape and color!
Barbara’s Favorite Toys for 1 Year-Olds:
There are several toys for one year olds available to help achieve these developmental milestones.
Here are some of my personal favorite toys for toddlers between the ages of 1 and 2:
- Snap beads – I love Snap Beads, being the OT that I am. Fundamentally, this developmental toy works on hand and arm strength. Also, Snap Beads teach the basics of learning to take a toy apart and put it back together again!
- Jumbo Shape Sorter Elephant – Your little one will learn circles, squares and more. These introductory puzzle skills help toddlers learn to solve problems - a great educational toy.
- Classic Walker Wagon – Pushing the wagon while walking will help new walkers get stronger and perfect their new skill. It has a ‘clicking’ mechanism to slow the toy’s wheels down. This minimizes the ‘spills’ when your little one leans forward – keeping the toy and your child at the same speed. Also, when they have mastered the art of walking, this classic toy will still be one of their favorites as it will be a storage container for their blocks, dolls, cars and more.
- Rody Horse – This adorable climb on toy comes in almost every color of the rainbow. More important than how cute this toy is, is how great Rody is for balance, developing core muscles and his ‘squishy feel’ is good for tactile development. The Rody will also grow with your little one... it’s basic balance in the beginning and will graduate to using Rody as a fun "hopping" toy.
If you liked this article, you may also want to read our other developmental articles:
