Wooden Toys for 1-3 Year Olds

The wooden toys for 1-3 year olds gathered here are chosen for hands that are still learning to grip, stack and post. At this stage a toddler wants to feel weight and cause and effect, so you will find chunky building blocks, stacking stones and pyramids, shape sorting cubes, and simple puzzles with pieces big enough to hold in a fist. Alongside them sit wooden toddler toys for pretend play, like cutting sets of fruit and vegetables and small kitchen play, plus first instruments such as a mini drum and an eight-tone xylophone.

If you are shopping for a first or second birthday, these wooden baby and toddler gifts tend to last longer than the moment they are opened, since a set of blocks gets used differently at eighteen months than at three. Magnetic drawing boards are worth a look for car journeys. Montessori-style boards, activity triangles and counting sticks suit the older end of the band, when sorting, matching and early counting start to click.