Help. First birthday present suggestions wanted

[anobium]

Mrs anobium would like some suggestions as what to buy her first grandson on his first birthday.
I have suggested a collection of empty cardboard boxes or failing that the latest iPod.
She suggested the collection of Beatrix Potter books, but on reflection decided against this, as he would either eat them or tear them to shreds.
Any suggestions will be most welcome as the happy event is only 4 days away.

 

[HERTS P&D]

A cheque for £100/£200/£500 or what ever you can afford to go into a saving account and a bag of ballons to play with on the day, (blown up of course)

Andy

 

[anobium]

A cheque for £100/£200/£500 or what ever you can afford to go into a saving account and a bag of ballons to play with on the day, (blown up of course)

Andy

Already set up the savings account Andy, don't think his mum and dad want anything else that makes a noise.
Thanks anyway

 

[gregers]

if hes started to walk then get a walker with the little wooden blocks,my 3 boys loved that.

 

[anobium]

if hes started to walk then get a walker with the little wooden blocks,my 3 boys loved that.

Believe it or not he's got one of those, that's just the trouble he seems to have everything that somebody of his age needs.
Apart from me and Mrs A he also has 2 other generous grandparents.
Many thanks for your suggestion.
The cardboard boxes idea seems to be favourite and there cheap to boot.

 

[joinerjohn]

Missus's son told us our 2 yr old grandson really wanted a PS3 for Christmas (with CoD Black Ops thrown in) Yeah Right.

 

[gregers]

i can believe that,my eldest asked me for a scalextric at 6 mths old,amazing eh.built the thing and sat him in the middle of it.his head was spinning in all directions watching the cars.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

These three were great successes with my little one:
this
this
But favourite was this which he still plays with now all the time (coming up to 4)

 

[masona]

Definitely not one of them

 

[RigidRaider]

A balance bike, teach him to balance and steer at an early age.

 

[wobs]

Many people joke about getting musical/noisey toys to annoy the parents, but I don't believe the kids get much out of most of them. Pressing a button to get some music all day is hardly developing small minds.

Most played toys in our house:
Stacking cups (most played with)
Alphabet in wooden shapes (we should get a numbers equivilent, as they seem really good)
Spot the Dog books
"That's Not My" touchy feely books
Wibbly Pig books
Jumperoo
A ball
Bath toys
Melissa & Doug range is good. We have the board of latches:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Melissa-Doug-13785-Latches-Board/dp/B0026ZPTYY/ref=pd_sim_k_h_b_cs_1
Rattles made from small pop bottles filled dried pasta inside.

 

[RigidRaider]

I disagree about button-pressing noisy toys; kids love them! A friend gave our son one of these, we scoffed at it secretly until we saw the effect of sitting him down in front of it - he bashed it and stabbed the buttons almost to the point of exhaustion and it remained his favourite toy for many months.

 

[wobs]

I disagree about button-pressing noisy toys; kids love them! A friend gave our son one of these, we scoffed at it secretly until we saw the effect of sitting him down in front of it - he bashed it and stabbed the buttons almost to the point of exhaustion and it remained his favourite toy for many months.

You miss the point. They will press the buttons for hours to get the music to play. And that's all they will do. And then when they break (and they will), they get fustrated.

I'd rather they play with better (and usually cheaper) toys that they actually get something out of.

But don't get the wrong idea, we don't ban such toys, but rather limit the amount we have in the house. At one point we had about 5 on the go, and they were the only things that were played, which was hardly a good play time.

We now have one or two, and the Jumperoo (also plays tunes). One is a laptop with buttons with animals and numbers on. I think it was from Tescos. Its quite good, but most of the others were just variations on "press button, get tune" no matter what they pretended to be. They went into a cupboard, and we feel happier with the toys available now.

Musical books have gone straight to the charity shop.

 

[anobium]

Many thanks to everyone and for your suggestions.
We have decided to buy him some editions of the Beatrix Potter series and we can add to them as he gets older.
Just hope he doesn't rip them to shreds before he learns to read.

 

[masona]

Many people joke about getting musical/noisey toys to annoy the parents, but I don't believe the kids get much out of most of them.

I don't have a problem with most musical but I do find the recorder is not a nice sounds and irritate me, no difference playing with a whistle