The Best Toys For 18-Month-Olds That Are Actually Fun
As your baby gets older and enters the toddler stage, playtime starts looking a little different. Gone are the days of tummy time and teething toys. This list of toys for 18-month-olds is the perfect mix of toys with a learning or development purpose while still being fun!
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The Best Toys For 18 to 24-Month-Olds
Spike, the Hedgehog
Spike, the Fine Motor Hedgehog, is such a great toy! This toy comes with 12 pegs in four different colors that your little one can push into each hole on the hedgehog.
Why we love this toy:
- It’s great for teaching color sorting and counting
- Putting the pegs into holes helps build hand muscles and hand-eye coordination
Cars
There are so many options when it comes to car toys. One thing you want to be careful of is finding age-appropriate cars. Many car toys have small wheels or other small parts and are meant for older children.
The cars that my son loves the most are these Little People cars. They are big and meant for toddlers, and they come with removable drivers that bring more playing opportunities!
Another great option is this Fisher-Price Garage. This garage has so much imaginary play potential, and there are even additional cars you can buy! Not to mention, the twisty car slide is a big hit!
Why we love these car toys:
- Age-appropriate
- They help teach cause and effect and promote hand-eye coordination
- They support the development of fine motor skills
- Encourages imagination and creativity
Train Set
Trains are another fun toy that can keep kids entertained for a long time!
This train set is so fun, and kiddos love to watch the train go around the track! Another awesome thing about this set is your little one can build the path however they want.
Why we love this toy:
- Promotes problem-solving when putting the track together
- Encourages imagination and creativity
- They help teach cause and effect, promote hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skill development
Shopping Cart
I love Mellisa and Doug toys; they are always well made and overall just beautiful toys! This shopping cart is no exception.
There is no doubt that this cart will be used for years. It’s sturdy, durable, and so much fun for imaginary play.
Why we love this toy:
- Durable and high-quality product
- Encourages imagination and creativity
- Promotes gross motor skill development when pushing the cart
Pretend Play Food
When I was growing up, I had tons of pretend food. I thought it was so fun to pretend to shop or feed my stuffed animals. This food set takes it to another level!
There is such a great variety of foods in this set, not to mention it comes with cookware and dishes! It is the ultimate set to get your little one creating endless hours of fun.
Why we love this toy:
- Encourages imagination and creativity
Chopping Food
In addition to pretend food, these wooden chopping toys are so much fun! In between each slice of food is some velcro holding the pieces together. Your child can take the fake knife and slice the foods apart to hear the satisfying crunch!
Why we love this toy:
- Encourages hand-eye coordination and development of the hand muscles
- Teaches cause and effect
- Encourages imagination
Mega Bloks
If you don’t know what Mega Bloks are, they are an intro to building blocks similar to Legos.
What’s excellent about Mega Bloks is that they are large and easy to hold without the risk of being a choking hazard. They are also pretty easy to build with; my son has been building with them since he was around 12-months-old.
ABC Wooden Blocks
Wooden ABC blocks have so many learning opportunities! They have numbers, letters, colors, and even pictures.
In addition to the different learning aspects, they are also fun for stacking up towers and knocking them down.
Wooden Building Blocks
Wooden building blocks are unique to the other block sets I mentioned because they have many different shapes and sizes.
The variety of blocks makes playtime different because your kiddo has so many opportunities to build something completely different!
Why we love block toys:
- Helps with learning counting, colors, and shapes
- Promotes motor skill development, hand-eye coordination, and cause and effect
- Encourages imagination, creativity, and problem-solving
Pounding Bench
When my son was around nine months old, he loved to hit pots and pans with a wooden spoon; he would sit on the kitchen floor, happy as a clam.
When I saw this pounding bench with its little smiley faces, I knew it would be a hit. And it was!
Plus, it’s not quite as loud as pots and pans. 😉
Another fun option is this Pound A Ball toy. Kids love to watch the balls come rolling down the slides.
Why we love these pounding toys:
- Helps with teaching cause and effect, as well as hand-eye coordination
- Promotes learning numbers and colors
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- The Best Spring Outdoor Activities for Kids
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100 Words Books
You probably know that books are essential for your toddler, especially board books! As your toddler starts trying to say more words, these LeapFrog books will be even more fun for them!
The interactive pages allow your child to touch a word/picture and hear the word in English or Spanish. In the animal book, you can also hear the different animal noises.
These books also have different modes, like reading, fun facts, or music, so there are many different learning experiences.
Music Set
Music sets are so great for teaching your child about cause and effect and starting an interest in how music is made!
This music set is great because it comes with a variety of instruments and a bag to keep everything together. Because it has so many different things included, it’s also a great toy if you have multiple children; they can play music together!
Why we love this toy:
- Promotes hand-eye coordination in addition to cause and effect
- Encourages emotional expression, sharing, and creativity
Bowling
Bowling is such a fun, low-key sport that even younger toddlers can have fun with! Another significant aspect of this bowling set is that you can use it inside or outside.
Why we love this toy:
- Helps with the development of gross motor skills
- Teaches hand-eye coordination
- Encourages active playtime
Play-Doh With Tools
Play-Doh is such a versatile toy; you can make shapes, use playdough mats, or even use different tools to make cut-outs or impressions. If you think your child would love Play-Doh, be sure to always supervise them while playing.
Another fun idea is to make your own playdough. There are so many recipes to make simple playdough, and there are even directions to make it edible!
Why we love this toy:
- Encourages creativity, imagination, and learning
- It’s a fun, sensory activity
- Helps with the development of fine motor skills
Pretend Play Cleaning Toys
If you haven’t already guessed it, toys that encourage your child’s imagination are lovely toys for 18-month-olds!
As your child enters toddlerhood, they love to start copying you. This doesn’t end anytime soon!
When they see you doing simple household chores, they want to join in.
That’s where this cleaning set comes in! My son loves to help me sweep. Even if I’m not sweeping, he still wants to clean the floors. Since this set comes with a broom, mop, and duster, it will entertain your child for a while!
Why we love this toy:
- Encourages gross motor skill development
- Encourages imagination and creativity
- Gives children a sense of pride for helping around the house
Dinosaurs and Jungle Animals
Animal figures are so much fun for make-believe playing. Another benefit of animal figures is teaching your child about different animals and the sounds that they make.
My son absolutely loves these dinosaur figures and these jungle animals. They aren’t too small in size, which helps to keep them from getting lost in the bottom of a toy box or the couch cushions.
Why we love this toy:
- Grasping animal figures encourages fine motor skill development
- Promotes imagination and pretend play
- Helps you teach about different animals
Crayons and Paper (or Cardboard!)
Around 18 months old, my son became obsessed with coloring! We started with egg-shaped, easy-to-hold crayons and a pad of paper but quickly turned to these crayons and cardboard boxes!
If you have larger boxes, like Costco-sized diaper boxes, for example, put your little one in there and let them color away! If you would prefer your kiddo colors on paper, these extra-large pads are great options as well!
Water Doodle Mat
If your kiddo doesn’t really care for crayons, this water doodle mat might be perfect!
The fantastic thing about this doodle mat is that it’s mess-free since the markers fill with water. The drawings on the doodle mat magically appear on the surface and fade away after a little while.
Why we love these toys:
- Promotes creativity and imagination
- Holding crayons and markers helps develop fine motor skills
- Teaches hand-eye coordination and cause and effect
Puzzles
Puzzles are excellent toys for 18-month-olds! Even as an adult, I love working on a good puzzle.
As a toddler, it’s best to have simple puzzles. A wooden puzzle like this one is great because you’re simply matching the pictures.
Another option that my son loves is the puzzles that have little knobs to hold onto. This makes it a little easier for little hands to grab the pieces and place them in the correct spot.
Why we love these toys:
- Encourages problem-solving and fine motor skill development
- It helps teach hand-eye coordination
What to look for in toys for 18-month-olds:
As you start to look into the best toys for your little one, you might find an overwhelming list of options to choose from! But here’s a tip, don’t be fooled by all the singing, flashy toys!
When choosing toys for 18-month-olds, you will want a wide range of variety. Having a combination ensures that your toddler will have something new to keep their attention.
Keep the following suggestions in mind when shopping:
1. Age Appropriate
One of the first things you will want to look at in a new toy is the intended age group. If you are shopping for a 2-year-old, for example, you don’t want to buy a toy labeled for an 8-year-old.
Buying age-appropriate toys are best because they won’t be too complicated for your child, and they won’t have choking hazards.
2. Not Overstimulating
A great toy will undoubtedly stimulate your baby, but you don’t want one that will be too stimulating.
Overstimulation can cause your child to become cranky and start crying. That certainly won’t lead to a fun playtime!
To avoid overstimulation, you will want to make sure you don’t have too many loud and bright toys. As your toddler is growing and getting older, they will start to like these toys more, but you still want to make sure you have a variety, as I mentioned above.
3. Promotes Learning
Every parent wants their kiddo to learn new things! An excellent opportunity to help your child learn is by providing toys that are fun while they teach.
In addition to your child learning the apparent things like colors, animals, shapes, and numbers, they will also need to understand critical things like cause and effect!
You’ll also love: What To Teach Your Toddler
4. Promotes Motor Skill Development
Helping your little ones develop their motor skills is so important. You will want toys that help your child with their fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
When your kiddo is developing their fine motor skills, they utilize the small muscles in their hands.
In the beginning, an example of this would be your baby picking up food pieces to feed themselves. That is their fine motor skills in action!
On the other hand, when your baby utilizes their large muscle groups, that is their gross motor skills. Gross motor skills don’t only include things like walking, but also things like hand-eye coordination.
5. Washable
Having washable toys is so important! There will be times when your toddler wants to take a toy outside or enjoy their toy during snack time. Toys will inevitably get dirty.
Even if you think your kiddo won’t be interested in a particular toy, give it a try anyway! I know, I’ve been surprised by a few toys that my son enjoyed.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these toys don’t suddenly become boring once your child reaches a certain age. Many of these toys will be favorites for a long time. With that in mind, check out this list of toys for one-year-olds!
Before you go, check out these related articles:
- The Best Outdoor Toys For Toddlers
- Mess-Free Finger Painting Activity For Kids
- Toddler Chores That Your Child Will Enjoy Doing!
- How To Discipline Your Toddler (Effectively)
- Potty Training Essentials You Need For Success
What are some 18-month-old toys that your toddler loves? I would love to know in the comments below!
Perfect! You gave us an awesome list for those beautiful little creatures. And your advices are so useful!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you found this article helpful. 🙂
Such great recommendations for toys. Our children have loved so many of these over the years and they truly are classics to always come back to for each toddler.
I’m glad you agree, Evie! These are some great toys!
Great suggestions! A shopping trolley is absolutely perfect at this age when they’ve just started walking and love having something to push. And play dough is always a winner.
Thanks, Carly! I agree; everyone loves playdough!
My daughter has that wooden music set included on this list of toys and she absolutely loves it! At this point, she plays some of the instruments (xylophone) under supervision because of the mallet stick being thin so she doesn’t walk around with it. My toddler enjoys music time so much with this music set!
I also love the train idea. Will definitely get her one soon! Thanks for the great suggestions.
That’s awesome that your daughter loves the music set! It’s so great to introduce music early in our children’s lives. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed these suggestions! 🙂
We have many had many of these. My 4 year old is obsessed with little people
The Little People toys are so great; I love that kids enjoy them for a long time!
This is a wonderful list! My little one had several of these toys and loved them!
These look so fun!! My babies and toddlers would love all of these! (Even my older kids too haha)
That’s one of my favorite aspects of these toys; kids love them for a long time! 🙂
I think we had all of these at one time or another. We’ve only just put away the toy food as small boy turns 6 and the dinosaurs are still going strong as lage boy heads for 10. Not just wonderfully developmentally but also toys that really last for a long time.
That’s awesome! The fact that these toys last for a long time is one of my favorite aspects of them!