Best toys for toddlers: 1 and 2-year-olds, and how to keep them busy

What keeps a toddler playing for longer

Toddlers learn by doing the same thing again and again: posting a shape, stacking a ring, pushing a walker across the room. A toy that lets them repeat an action and see what happens usually holds their attention far longer than one that does a single thing when a button is pressed.

Open-ended toys last longest. A set of arches can be a tunnel, a bridge or a tower to knock down, and it still works when the child is ready for something harder. If a toy needs an adult to set it off every time, it will not give you much time.

• Look for an action they can repeat and control.
• Choose toys that can be used in more than one way.
• Skip toys that need an adult to make them work every time.
• Check the manufacturer's age marking before anything else.

Toys for 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds: read the marking first

For a one-year-old, keep to toys the manufacturer marks 12 months+. In this guide that is the Woodland Activity Baby Walker, the PlanToys First Stacking Ring, the Small Foot Rainbow XL arches and the Meadow Bees Gears & Cogs board: something to walk behind, rings and arches to stack, and gears that turn together when one is turned. Our guide to toys for 1-year-olds has ten different ideas for the same year.

From 18 months, the markings add the Counting Wooden Numbers Shape Sorter, the Rainbow Wooden Xylophone and the Pull Along Hopping Bunny Rabbit. They ask for a little more control: fitting each number into its own space, tapping out a rhythm, pulling a toy along behind them.

At two, three picks marked 2+ join them: the Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube, Le Toy Van's GT650 Iconic Cars Gift Set and the Play-Doh Super Colour Pack. None of the picks here is marked for babies under 12 months. For three and up, see our guide to toys for 3–5-year-olds.

The best toys for 2-year-olds in this guide

Looking for the best toys for 2-year-olds? Six of the ten picks here suit that age by their marking, three of them marked 2+ and three marked from 18 months. Two-year-olds want to do things for themselves: post a shape through the right hole, push a car along the floor, squash something soft, make a noise on purpose. The toys that work best at this age are the ones that hand them that control and let them do it again. For ten more, all marked 2+ or younger, see our toys for 2-year-olds.

Three are marked 2+. The Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube has 12 chunky shapes with rounded edges, the Le Toy Van GT650 set gives them six wooden cars to line up and race, and the Play-Doh Super Colour Pack has 20 cans, so there is enough to share. Three more are marked from 18 months and still suit a two-year-old well: the Counting Wooden Numbers Shape Sorter, with nine numbered pieces, the Rainbow Wooden Xylophone and the Pull Along Hopping Bunny.

The toys marked from 12 months, such as the stacking ring and the rainbow arches, keep their place too. A two-year-old builds with the arches in ways a one-year-old cannot, so a toy bought for the first birthday often gets more use in the second year.

• Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube (2+): twelve chunky shapes with rounded edges to post, then tip out and start again.
• Le Toy Van GT650 Iconic Cars Gift Set (2+): six named wooden cars for the age when little stories begin.
• Play-Doh Super Colour Pack (2+): 20 cans, so there is plenty for a long session at a low table. It contains wheat.
• Counting Wooden Numbers Shape Sorter (18 months+): nine numbered pieces, each with its own space, and dots to count underneath.
• Rainbow Wooden Xylophone (18 months+): metal keys and a beater, for the stage when banging turns into tapping.
• Pull Along Hopping Bunny Rabbit (18 months+): a wooden rabbit that hops as it follows them. It is on a cord, so put it away at nap time and bedtime.

Rotate toys rather than buying more

A toddler surrounded by every toy they own often settles with none of them. Leave four to six toys out at a time and put the rest away, and there is less to flit between.

Swap the selection every week or two. Toys that have been out of sight for a while feel new again, which costs nothing. Keep the rest somewhere they cannot see, such as a box under a bed or a cupboard, rather than on a shelf in view.

• Keep four to six toys out at a time.
• Store the rest out of sight.
• Swap on a regular day so it becomes a habit.

Cover a few kinds of play, not dozens of toys

A small mix of kinds of play goes further than a big pile of toys. One or two of each of these is plenty, and every pick in this guide fits at least one.

Pretend play often starts to show around two. A few cars, a toy cup or a small figure can be enough for a child to begin acting out little stories of their own.

• Posting, sorting and tipping out: a shape sorter or a puzzle with chunky pieces.
• Stacking and building: rings, blocks or arches.
• Moving: something to push, pull or walk behind.
• Sound: a xylophone or something else they can tap.
• Making: from two, modelling compound at a low table.

Set up a space they can use without you

Where toys live matters as much as which toys you have. In a deep toy box most toys are out of sight, so a toddler has to dig and soon gives up. Low, open shelves or shallow baskets, with every toy visible, make it more likely they will start playing on their own.

A small, defined play area, even a rug in the corner of a room, gives them somewhere to come back to. If they can see a toy, reach it and put it back, they are more likely to play while you get on with something nearby. Stay within sight and earshot: independent play at this age still needs an adult close by.

Safety checks for 1 and 2-year-olds

Age markings matter most at this age. UK safety guidance says an age restriction can reflect a hazard such as choking, so a toy marked 3+ may have small parts that are not safe for a younger child. Keep older siblings' toys out of reach, and read every warning on the packaging.

Some picks here carry their own notices. Le Toy Van states that the activity walker needs self-assembly, so build it before it is given. The hopping bunny is pulled along on a cord, so put it away at nap time and bedtime. The Play-Doh pack contains wheat. PlanToys states that the stacking ring's centre rod folds, as a safety precaution.

How these toys were chosen

The ten picks come from five makers: Le Toy Van, PlanToys, Small Foot, Melissa & Doug and Play-Doh. Each is here because we could read its age marking and contents on the maker's own site, and because it has a working purchasing route: Awin for Le Toy Van, Amazon UK for the others.

The order runs from the youngest age marking up, so the toys a one-year-old can use come first; it is not a TopTenToys ranking. No commercial relationship decides which toys are included.