Choosing quality toddler toys

When your child is a toddler his/her brain is running on high-octane energy and your child is learning new things at almost an alarming rate. This is also the age in which children typically learn to walk and suddenly develop the urge to be independent. The child you used to pull onto your lap for story time now jumps down and says: 'I can read that myself!'

There are many quality toddler toys that encourage learning and development. The trick is to choose the ones that aren't just bells and whistles and actually provide the toddler with a reason to use his/her brain.

You will want to look for toys that will help your child learn hand-eye co-ordination that is probably not very good just yet. Toys that involve any kind of stacking, building or taking things apart are always well received. Blocks are especially popular as they have so many uses. With blocks your toddler can learn to count, can learn the shapes, the colours and both how to build something and take it apart again.

Other popular toys are toys that encourage movement. Toys that your kids can climb on are always well received. Toddlers love to climb and explore, so those kid tunnels and simple jungle gyms are always fun.

Toddler toys should also encourage social interaction. Toddlerhood is a great time to teach your child about sharing and playing with others and simple games are a great way to do this. Toys that are also good for social development are stuffed animals or dolls that the toddler then gets to take care of, which helps to teach the child that it is always good to care for others.

Toddler toys are almost all designed with learning in mind and toddlers love to learn. This is an age in which they want to explore new things and learn about the world they live in and toys that teach them new skills are always wildly popular.

Gary is a father of two and experienced buyer of toddler toys he is the owner of Monkeyshine a UK retailer of unique toddler toys and more.