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A toddler marching off in an oversized sun hat with a set of keys while her grandmother follows with open arms, a shape-sorter cube and a pull-along duck on the floor.

The “Me Do It!” Years

Toddlers: Walking, talking, and “me do it”

By Alison Richardson, MS·Ages 1–2·Last reviewed

What a one- or two-year-old is developmentally working on, what they need from a grandparent, and the toys that match it.

What should I get my 1- or 2-year-old grandchild?

One- and two-year-olds want to do it themselves, so the gifts that land are the ones that let them: stacking, sorting, climbing, filling and dumping, and the first pretend play. Look for something sturdy enough to survive being thrown and open enough that it can be played with a different way next month.

Between the first and third birthdays, a child goes from a few wobbly steps to running, climbing, and kicking a ball. Words go from one or two to short sentences. And a whole personality shows up, complete with opinions, pretend play, and the occasional meltdown.

Here is what is happening, and what it means for the way you play.

Jump to the toysWhat is happening at this age
1–2 years
Toddlers

Pick a different stage

  1. 0–12 monthsInfants
  2. 1–2 yearsToddlers
  3. 3–4 yearsPreschool
  4. 5–7 yearsEarly Elementary
  5. 8–11 yearsPre-Teens
  6. 12–17 yearsTeens
  7. 18–25 yearsYoung Adults

What is happening

What your grandchild is working on

Body and movement

  • By 15 monthsTakes a few steps alone. Feeds herself some foods with her fingers.
  • By 18 monthsWalks without holding on. Scribbles. Drinks from an open cup. Climbs on and off furniture. Tries a spoon.
  • By 2 yearsRuns, kicks a ball, walks up a few stairs, eats with a spoon.
  • By 2½ yearsTwists doorknobs and unscrews lids. Jumps off the ground with both feet. Turns book pages one at a time. Takes off some clothes.

Source: CDC

Thinking

  • By 15 monthsTries to use things the right way: a phone, a cup, a book. Stacks two small objects.
  • By 18 monthsCopies you doing chores. Plays with toys in simple ways, like pushing a toy car.
  • By 2 yearsTries switches, knobs, and buttons. Plays with more than one toy at once. Holds one thing while using the other hand.
  • By 2½ yearsPretends with objects, like feeding a block to a doll. Solves simple problems (stands on a stool to reach). Follows two-step directions. Knows at least one color.

Source: CDC

Words

  • By 15 monthsTries one or two words besides “mama” and “dada.” Points to ask for things. Looks at a familiar object when you name it.
  • By 18 monthsTries three or more words. Follows one-step directions without a gesture.
  • By 2 yearsPuts two words together (“More milk”). Points to things in a book when asked. Points to at least two body parts.
  • By 2½ yearsSays about 50 words. Uses “I,” “me,” and “we.” Names things in a book. Puts an action word with a noun (“Doggie run”).

Source: CDC

Feelings and people

  • By 15 monthsCopies other children at play. Shows you things she likes. Claps when excited. Hugs a stuffed animal. Shows affection.
  • By 18 monthsMoves away from you but checks that you are close. Points to show you interesting things. Helps dress herself by pushing an arm through a sleeve.
  • By 2 yearsNotices when others are hurt or upset. Looks at your face to see how to react in a new situation.
  • By 2½ yearsPlays next to, and sometimes with, other children. Says “Look at me!” Follows simple routines like clean-up time.

Source: CDC

A note on milestones: the ages above come from the CDC and other national sources and mark what most children can do by that age. They are checkpoints, not deadlines. Every child has their own timeline, and neurodivergent children may follow a different path without it saying anything about how much they can love, learn, or bond. If something worries you, mention it gently to the parents as a teammate, and leave the diagnosing to the pediatrician. Source: CDC

Did you know?

Things you will not find on most milestone sites

These come from peer-reviewed studies. They are the kind of detail that changes how you play.

Toddlers want to help. Thank them, do not pay them

Eighteen-month-olds will pick up a dropped clothespin or open a cabinet for a grown-up whose hands are full, with no one asking and no reward. But in a follow-up study, 20-month-olds who were given a toy as a reward for helping helped less afterward than children who were simply thanked. Let them sweep, stir, and fold with you, and say thank you.

Source: Warneken & Tomasello

The four-hundredth reading of the same book is doing real work

Children who heard the same storybook read three times learned and remembered more new words than children who heard three different books containing the same words. When a toddler hands you the same book again, that is not a rut. It is how vocabulary gets built.

Source: Horst

Tantrums have a shape, and there is a right moment to step in

Researchers recorded more than 100 toddler tantrums and found that sad sounds (whimpering, crying) run through the whole thing, with sharp peaks of yelling and screaming on top. During a peak, talking, asking questions, or trying to comfort tends to make it last longer. Once the yelling drops to a whimper, the child will usually accept a hug. Wait for the whimper, then hold.

Source: Green

Live video calls work. Recorded video does not

Children 24 to 30 months old learned new words from a partner on a live video call and failed to learn the same words from a prerecorded video. Younger toddlers did the same, and later preferred the person who had responded to them. What matters is that you react to them in real time. A grandparent on a video call is the real thing.

Sources: Roseberry · Myers

How to connect at this age

  • Expect the visit to be a walking tour of your house. Being able to roam, with you close by, is the activity.
  • “Look at me!” is this age’s love language. Watching, clapping, and naming what they just did goes a long way.
  • Let them do real chores alongside you. Sweeping, stirring, and folding are play to an 18-month-old.
  • Play naming games (“What’s this?”), simple pretend (feed the doll, drive the car), and be patient with big feelings. Wants are outrunning words right now.
  • A calm face is a safety signal. Two-year-olds look at you to decide how to feel about something new.

Sources: CDC · MedlinePlus

So the best toys for a toddler let them push, pull, stack, sort, climb, and pretend, and give them something to show you. That is what the toys below were chosen for.

Gifts & toys

Award-winning toys for toddlers, 1–2 years

Toys for the walking, talking, “me do it” years: this year’s award winners plus a few long-time favorites. Each one is matched to something a toddler is working on right now, from stacking and sorting to pretend play and first words.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, The Gran Life earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. The price range on each card is a general guide from the maker’s list price; current price and availability are on Amazon. How these toys were chosen →
Modular Fine Motor & Logic
Fat Brain Toy Co.

PlayTab Essentials

Named a 2026 Toy of the Year: Infant/Toddler.

Customizable tactile activity tablet that clips together magnetic sensory tiles. Won Toy of the Year for modular innovation.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Pretend Play & Language
VTech

Little CEO Learning Desk Activity Center

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Role-play workstation with laptop, toy phone, and interactive clock. Praised by GH testers for long-duration independent play.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Fine Motor & Creative Stacking
Hape

Hokusai Great Wave Wooden Blocks Set

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Heirloom-grade solid wood building blocks combining fine art aesthetics with open-ended balance and architectural play.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Color Sorting & Early Numeracy
Learning Resources

Counting Crayons Sorting Set

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Chunky crayon tubes with color-coded miniature figurines that build counting, sorting, and fine motor grasp.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Sensory Busy Play & Fine Motor
Bizzikins

Annie the Pet Sitter Soft Activity Doll

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Plush sensory doll incorporating busy-board elements (zippers, buckles, laces, textures) into an empathetic companion.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Language Acquisition & Role Play
Spin Master / Ms. Rachel

My First Learning Farm

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner and 2026 NAPPA Award Winner.

Bilingual learning farm with speech prompts, music, and recognizable characters proven to support toddler verbal milestones.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Early Speech & Social Interaction
Spin Master / Ms. Rachel

Speak & Sing Interactive Plush Doll

Named a 2024 NAPPA Award Winner.

Features phonics-based speech cues, interactive songs, and social-emotional modeling developed by speech educators.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Self-Regulation & Bedtime Routine
Spin Master / Ms. Rachel

Goodnight Frankie Weighted Plush

Named a 2026 NAPPA Award Winner.

Gently weighted calming sensory plush designed to comfort toddlers transitioning into naptime and sleep routines.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Social Pretend & Sharing
Step2

My First Picnic Basket Playset

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Durable outdoor/indoor role-play picnic basket teaching polite table etiquette, food matching, and social turn-taking.

$50 to $100maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Gross Motor Climbing & Balance
Delta Children

7-Piece Foam Fortress Modular Play Set

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

High-density modular foam climber certified non-toxic; helps toddlers practice safe climbing, sliding, and bodily spatial awareness.

Over $100maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Cause & Effect / Storytelling
Fisher-Price

Little People Ultimate Mountain Playset

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Multi-level spiraling track with light, sounds, and figures. Highly rated for captivating toddlers in repeated loop play.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Emotional Comfort & Tactile Softness
GUND

Plumpkins Snuggle Pig

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner and 2026 NAPPA Award Winner.

Specially proportioned rounded plush providing comfort, sensory grounding, and soothing cuddle weight for toddlers.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Spatial Matching & Nature Science
Play+

Puzzle & Play Set: My Little Plants

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Chunky 3D wooden puzzle blocks that stack into potted plants, introducing nature awareness and two-hand coordination.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Sensory Water Play & Physics
Step2

Sunshine Springs Splash Water Table

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Multi-tier water tower with rain shower effect, water wheels, and scoops demonstrating early gravity and fluid dynamics.

Over $100maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Fine Motor Tools & Vehicle Play
VTech

3-in-1 Race & Repair Hauler

Named a Good Housekeeping 2026 Toy Award Winner.

Transforms from vehicle transporter to tool workbench with interactive screws, bolts, and wrench sounds.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Dynamic Sorting & Spatial Logic
Fat Brain Toy Co.

SortAgain Shape & Color Sorter

Named a 2026 ASTRA Play Award Winner (Toddler).

Next-generation sorter with rolling, cascading chutes that challenge toddlers beyond traditional fixed hole sorters.

$25 to $50maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Cooperative Play & Empathy
HABA

My Very First Games: Let's Be Veterinarians

First cooperative board game for age 2+. Promotes gentle animal care, rule comprehension, and shared social turn-taking.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Color Recognition & Dexterity
Ravensburger North America

Colour & Shape Sorter Chameleon

Pull-along chameleon that rolls its eyes and pops out geometric shapes as it moves, connecting motor push/pull with sorting.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Fine Motor Grip & Number Play
Learning Resources

Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog

Named a 2018 NAPPA Award Winner; TNPC Seal (legacy); classic.

Quill-placement hedgehog renowned among occupational therapists for developing pincer grasp and hand muscle tone.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it on Amazon
Bilingual Language & Numeracy
Birdsong Toys

Cuéntale al Sol: Bilingual Counting Tool

Named a 2026 NAPPA Award Winner.

Interactive acoustic and visual wooden peg counter teaching English-Spanish number vocabulary and counting rhythm.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it at the maker’s site

Not sold on Amazon right now. This is not an affiliate link; we just think it is a great toy.

Dual-Language Phonics & Grammar
Birdsong Toys

El Elefante Quiere: Action Verb Learner

Named a 2026 NAPPA Award Winner.

Engaging dual-language spinner toy teaching action verbs, motor mimicry, and sentence formation for early talkers.

Under $25maker’s list price
See it at the maker’s site

Not sold on Amazon right now. This is not an affiliate link; we just think it is a great toy.

Behind the list

How these toys were chosen

We did not pick these toys off a bestseller list. Almost every toy on these pages has won a recent award from an organization that tests toys with children and teens. Confirmed awards are named. Here is who they are and how they decide.

Good Housekeeping Institute

Engineers, product analysts, and child psychologists test toys in the GH labs, then send them home with more than 350 kid and parent testers. They check safety (drop tests, pinch points, small parts), durability, clear instructions, and whether kids keep coming back to play.

The Toy Association, Toy of the Year

The toy industry’s top honor. Retail buyers, journalists, academics, and toy designers judge innovation, design, and play value, and the public gets a vote too.

ASTRA Play Awards

Hundreds of independent neighborhood toy-store owners, early-education teachers, and play specialists. They look for open-ended play, imagination, screen-free engagement, and the kind of quality that turns a toy into an heirloom.

Shop TODAY Best Toy Awards

Editors at TODAY narrow the field, then real kids play-test the finalists and the kids’ favorites win.

NAPPA (National Parenting Product Awards)

Early-childhood educators and pediatric specialists paired with family home testers. They judge how well a toy lines up with real developmental milestones, from tummy time and pincer grip to logic and teen maker skills.

For ages 18 to 25

Toy awards stop at the teen years, so the young-adult gifts come mostly from published gift guides at NBC Select and Grown & Flown, with a few award-winning games for the younger end of the range.

Two things we looked for

Open-ended play. The judges asked whether a toy invites a child to play with it again and again in new ways, or whether it is a toy a child plays with once or twice and forgets. The toys here are the first kind.

Kid-tested. Many of these toys were tested by actual children, not just grown-ups with clipboards. One of the ways that works: put a room full of toys in front of a group of kids and watch which ones they go back to. Not every organization used every method, but taken together, these toys were chosen by experts and by kids who played with them.

A few older favorites carry The National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval. That program closed in 2024, so we say so and do not claim a year for it.

A note from Alison

Where this list is headed

Alison Richardson, MS, founder of The Gran Life

I am just starting that journey, so right now you will see only a few picks marked Gran Life Recommended. The rest earned their place by winning an award, or by being named in the gift guides above. As I test more, that gold badge will show up more often.

Gran Life Recommended — Alison has had this one in her own hands: used it with her grandchildren, or ordered and inspected it herself.

Gran Life Community Recommended — grandparents in The Gran Life Community have used this one and vouch for it.

Why shop through our links? If a toy is exactly right, wonderful. Buying through our link costs you nothing extra and helps keep our free services going, like the Milestone Message texts. And if a toy is close but not quite it, click the brand name on the Amazon page. It takes you straight to that maker’s store, where you may find the one you were looking for.

grandparent with purpose

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, The Gran Life earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The research behind this page

Sources and references

Everything on this page comes from The Gran Life’s developmental reference guide, which draws on the sources below. Milestone ages are from the CDC and mark what most children (75% or more) can do by that age. Links open the original source.