Gifts for 1 year old?

[bibiloves]

Hi everyone

My good friend's son is turning 1 next week and I'm trying to think of what to give him for his birthday. I want something useful and thoughtful as his mom is my good friend and our son is exactly 1 week apart. I'm trying to stay away from clothing and I'm thinking of educational toys and books. Does anyone has any rec regarding toys/book? Please share as I would love to start getting books for my son as well. TIA for your help!

 

[Haven]

Hi! My son recently turned one and his favorite gifts were:

A Circa Toys wagon http://circatoys.com/
A Plan Toys drum http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toy-Solid-Wood-Drum/dp/B00009YOQW
A Verneuer push wagon http://thewoodenwagon.com/Merchant2...arch_Begin_Only=&sort=&range_low=&range_high=
A wobbly stacking tower http://thewoodenwagon.com/woodentoy/102/BSH11011.html
Plan Toys water blocks http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toys-552301-Water-Blocks/dp/B0000663QL
Tot tower http://www.amazon.com/eeBoo-Read-Me-Tot-Towers/dp/B001FND36O

We don't keep all of them out at once, obviously. But these are the things that keep his attention for long periods of time. These and the broom, mop, and other common household items, of course.

 

[bibiloves]

Hi Haven,

Thanks for your suggestion. I will definitely check them out. My son loves to play with strings, wires and random household items as well so I haven't even bought a toy for him since he was born. He's helping mama saving money actually I really want to start getting my son books though. Do you have any suggestion on books?

 

[megumic]

I suggest the large fisher price board books with flaps. Like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Little-People-Lift---Flap/dp/0794422764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388112392&sr=8-1&keywords=Fisher+price+zoo+book

C is 16 months and he loves the three like this that he has.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Here are a few book suggestions. This will be random!

Early on, my daughter liked the Big Animal Books: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Animal-Book-Board-Books/dp/0312511078 There are quite a few variations of these books: dinosaurs, trucks, etc. Color or shape books like this too. You can often find these in TJ Maxx type stores. Sometimes it's nice to see them in person.

I agree any kind of lift the flap book.

We have one of these books, not this exact one: http://www.amazon.com/Does-Baby-Fee...8154908&sr=1-5&keywords=karen+katz+baby+books

Little Golden Books!

Dr. Seuss Books - One fish, two fish was an early favorite here.

You can refer to Caldecott Medal books for age-appropriate suggestions: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal This reminds me that I have to get "A Snowy Day."

And, some of our favorite books:

An early favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Am-Yo-Soy-Eng...F8&qid=1388155060&sr=1-1&keywords=i+am+yo+soy

All time favorites: The Farm Book http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Book-Gol...&qid=1388155242&sr=1-1&keywords=the+farm+book

Little New Kangaroo by Bernard Wiseman. I LOVE reading this book!! I have two copies of the 1973 version. I ordered a second about a month ago in case anything ever happened to the first!!! I really adore it and so does my almost 3 year old. I do think it would be perfect to read to a one year old. I don't recall when I started reading it to her.

The Tortoise and the Hare - I have read this so many times!

I will post more as I think of them. We have tons of books, many of which I keep packed away and then rotate so that they are not overwhelming. Most of my books have been purchased used.

A final thought about reading to little ones. My daughter went through a stage, probably around age 2, where she just had no interest in having me read to her. Not sure if all kids do this, but it was just a phase with her. She loves books and knows them very well. If mommy accidentally skips a page, she will tell me at the end of the book what we missed and then we go back and find what we missed. She can also "read" some of her favorites to me because she has memorized them. I guess this is fairly typical, but it delights me every time she does it. So cute!

Ok, so that last part was not really responsive to your question, but maybe you will find it helpful anyway.

 

[Haven]

B has seemed to love every book we've read together, to be honest. When he was born I started reading the same the bedtime books every night (The Going to Bed Book by Boynton, Goodnight Moon, and On the Night You Were Born) and I still tell him those three stories before bed every night. Now he just turns the pages as I tell the story.

He loves the Usborne Touchy Feely Books--those are the That's Not My Pirate/Monkey/Dragon/etc. etc. books. He loves any touch and feel book, really. And the lift the flap books.

I've been reading to him from my Grimm's Fairy Tale book since he was born, too, and now he likes to explore that book but I have to sit there with him to make sure he isn't going to tear it apart since it's a "regular" book.

He recently received Little Blue Truck Leads the Way and he really likes that one.

We go to the library every week and take out four new books, so I'm not great with recommending specific titles. I think the variety is nice, and I don't want to buy any books for him myself because everyone gives him books as gifts. I'm a reading specialist so I think they think that's what I want most for him.

OH! My mom just gave him a subscription to Highlights and it's fabulous. We've only received one "magazine" thus far, but it is wonderful. There are different sections to it and they are very age appropriate. One section is a story, another is a pointing game, another is a song. I think it's also nice that he'll get mail every month now. I highly recommend this. They aren't books, exactly, but they are baby-safe and indestructible little readers. Really nice.

 

[Haven]

I love A Snowy Day, LV! That was the title for one of the yearly Everyone Read on the Same Day at the Same Time events a few years ago and I just fell in love with it.

bibi--I also wanted to share that in addition to reading to my son I read my own books in front of him every day, usually later in the afternoon while he's playing independently in his room. I think that seeing your parents read is as powerful as being read to for children. Just recently he started to pull his own books out and bring them near me and "read" them (aka flip through the pages and bang them together) while I'm reading. It's very cute.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Haven - First of all, so nice to see you! I trust your little one has been keeping you busy!

Thank you for posting about your weekly trips to the library. We went yesterday! We hadn't been to the library for a while. We used to go for story time, but ours is geared toward younger kids, and I had never taken out a kids book because I seem to have a problem returning books on time. But, if we go weekly . . . problem solved. So, they had a whole table of Caldecott books. I was thrilled. "The Snowy Day" is really sweet. I love the pictures. My little one LOVES "Blueberries for Sal." So, now it's my new favorite too!

bibiloves - Sorry for the threadjack! Have you made progress on your gift idea?