B-day present ideas for a 1 year old?

[lotusblossom9]

DS will be turning 1 at the end of July. For Christmas, he got mostly stuffed animals for toys. Can anyone suggest what Montessori materials would be appropriate for a 1 year old? I was thinking about making a wishlist for people so he can receive something other than stuffed animals.

Thanks for your ideas!

[Flor]

Have you seen the website www.forsmallhands.com ?
They are the parent/family portion of the company Montessori Services. They have Montessori-inspired toys, books, gardening, art, cooking and cleaning materials. I'm sure you'll find a lot of ideas there.

Off the top of my head:
blocks, books, stacking toys, something for pouring (they have cute little metal watering cans), musical items.
I think ds was mostly collecting wooden spoons at that age.

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by lotusblossom9

DS will be turning 1 at the end of July. For Christmas, he got mostly stuffed animals for toys. Can anyone suggest what Montessori materials would be appropriate for a 1 year old? I was thinking about making a wishlist for people so he can receive something other than stuffed animals.

Thanks for your ideas!

There are a few things on this page that are age appropriate:

http://astore.amazon.com/monteblog-20?node=27&page=2

[Mum2JocelynAngus]

The absolute best 1st birthday present that my kids received was a "walking wagon" - big enough to load lots of blocks, etc. in, with extra resistance on the wheels so that it didn't slide away from them as they learned to walk, and a sturdy, rigid handle at just the right height for a toddler to lean on & push. Almost 3 years later that wagon still gets daily use.

[nkm1968]

The best present DD2 got for her first birthday was one of those bicycle trailers that hooks onto the back of an adult bike--and also charmingly we discovered easily hooked onto the back of her big sister's bike (9 years old at the time).

HABA also makes a great line of blocks (not unit blocks, smaller and colorful but easily integrated into a unti block set you might consider at age 2 or 3). PLAN toys has some very nice pounding and sorting toys. And I usually give a 1 year old a set of plastic animals (Schleich? not sure of spelling) with adult/baby pairings of 3 or 4 different farm animals. Which can be incorporated with a unit block set later!

[Koloe]

I'm inclined to second the sturdy pushing toy. Legos Quatro Blocks appealed to my child, closer to 1.5 years-old and she still likes them at 3.5 years-old. Riding toys are also popular. Board Books are good too - something you can really sink your teeth into. Large Cardboard or Foam blocks - easy to build with and relatively harmless and not so noisy when kicked down. Need to be careful with foam though, as small children can bit chunks out of them.