20 Best Toys for 1-Year-Old Boys 2024

1-year olds love plush toys. They are cuddly and huggable “pet" for little ones to take care of. This octopus plushy (or Octoplush) from Baby Einstein adds something special to a usual plush toy. When you squeeze its head, it doesn’t just give you cuddliness: it brings you music in the form of classical melodies. It even has volume control so you can make the sounds as quiet or as loud as you want.

What’s even more special are its tentacles. Its tentacles have eight different colors on them. When they’re squeezed, the color name is spoken so your little boy can associate the color with its name. Not just that, it can also say the color name in Spanish and French, which will make him a smart little budding linguist.

One of the best building blocks of a little girl’s early development is, well, building blocks. The National Association for the Education of Young Children lists a variety of benefits of building blocks for child development including problem-solving, self-expression, mathematics, and creativity, among others.

This bag of blocks is good value for money as it comes with a good number of blocks at a relatively lower price than other brands, while still being of good quality. This particular set comes with stereotypically feminine colors, but there are other color variants available as well. They are fully compatible with all other Mega Bloks products, so you can add these to an existing collection if you like.

The bag packaging itself is of good quality and is an excellent way to store the blocks, which we might not be able to say about the other brands.

This award-winning toy is a perfect introduction to music for your little boy. The set is a combination of a xylophone and a hammer. The xylophone can be played in multiple ways. The keys can be hit normally, but the unique effect is achieved by pounding on the balls at the top, which leads to them falling on the xylophone and creating a flowing sound as it rolls across the keys.

The xylophone might not be a perfectly tuned instrument, but it does a good job for its purpose. It has good, durable build quality, with rounded edges and non-toxic paints. It’s made to withstand a lot of hammering, which little boys are known to do a lot of.

The toy develops hand dexterity and coordination. It also stimulates understanding causality, all in a unique instrument.

While your little boy is still too small to ride a proper bike, this baby bike from Avenor will help him develop the balance, coordination, and confidence that he will need.

The bike has a modular design and will require very little assembly with zero tools needed. It’s very compact and will easily fit in the trunk of a car so you can easily bring it to the park.

The bike is well-made, using lightweight, sturdy, non-toxic materials that will withstand all-day usage and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Avenor gives a generous 2-year warranty and will replace the product if any problems arise.

Introducing little boys to sports early gives them a boost to developing their motor skills, and this set is an excellent choice for small toddlers to start with.

This sports center has both a basketball hoop and a soccer goal, both of which will greatly help them develop coordination and balance. The LED scoreboard counts baskets and makes cheers and whistle sounds as they shoot, which helps them learn about cause and effect, as well as counting to 10. The scoreboard also has interactive buttons in different shapes that play sounds and animations.

The set contains the goal, hoop, and scoreboard in one unit, as well as a toddler-sized soccer ball and basketball. It needs 3 AA batteries, which it doesn’t come with, unfortunately.

Put a baby in front of a mirror and they will usually give out a little smile as they see their reflection. Looking at a mirror helps your little boy recognize faces, especially his own. It also helps with visual tracking. Make faces in the mirror and watch him mimic your expressions! Another fun exercise is to point at different parts of his face while saying their names. This will help start-up his vocabulary!

The set comes with flashcards with high contrast patterns as well, which will help your baby recognize patterns and colors. It can be propped up by itself, which makes it perfect for high chairs or playmats, making it usable wherever your baby likes to be.

Right around a little boy’s first birthday is when he will start to walk, and this walker from VTech will help him reach that milestone sooner rather than later. The walker comes with multiple activities that also help with a baby’s development. There are shape sorters, buttons that play musical notes, and spinning rollers.

As you might guess from the name, the walker can be adjusted for sitting or for standing. In its flat form, a baby can do the activities while sitting down. Once it is propped up, it can be used as a walker, with handlebars specifically designed with a 1-year old in mind. The whole activity panel is removable as well if you want to use it strictly as a walker.

It also comes with two different speeds which you can adjust depending on the surface you plan to use it in. If you’re using it on hard flooring, you’ll want to use the slower speed setting. If you’re on a carpeted surface, you’ll want to use the faster setting. It requires 2 AA batteries, which are included in the purchase.

This Car Tent is a perfect play area for little boys. It gives them their own little personal space in the house. Its enclosed design makes it a versatile area as it can easily be transformed into a play area by filling it with toys, a sleeping area by filling it with pillows and blankets, and more. It can even be filled with plastic balls and used as a ball pit.

The tent can fit two to three toddlers inside, with dimensions of 26” x 47” x 24” so kids can invite a friend or two inside their own little tent. It comes with mesh windows on all sides for breathability and entrances on both sides for easy accessibility.

The tent can be assembled or disassembled in seconds by just popping it up or folding it down. It can fit in small carry bags and can easily be taken to the beach, on your next camping trip, or even just the backyard. It can easily last years, and kids as old as 6 should still find it interesting.

Babies love mimicking the adults and older children they see around them, and if your little boy lives in a household of gamers then playing with this controller will make him feel just like one of the older people in the house. The controller has various clickers, switches, and buttons that light up and make sounds. This helps develop his fine motor skills. The sounds and buttons also introduce shapes, colors, numbers, and letters.

The controller looks like it was modeled after an Xbox controller, so if you own an Xbox, your little boy can “play” right alongside you during your gaming sessions. It requires 3 AA batteries, which are already included.

Bonus Protip: Input the Konami code and it will play a special sound!

These stacking cups come in different bright colors and are a versatile toy. Your little boy can develop problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills by stacking them. They can be nested. They can be used drums. When your child gets a little older, he can learn about numbers since there are big numbers embossed on the bottom of each cup, in order according to size.

They’re also a fun toy to bring to the tub during bath time. They can be used to pour water, and each cup has differently shaped holes at the bottom for different looking mini-waterfalls.

The cups are BPA-free, lead-free, and phthalate-free, so they are safe for teething little boys to bite and chew on, which they will probably do.

Boys will enjoy crawling through these brightly colored tunnels as they develop their gross motor and sensory processing skills. It also encourages imaginative play as toddlers can play pretend while crawling inside. If you have pets, they will love crawling around inside these tunnels too. The tunnels are large enough to fit multiple kids in, but make sure they don’t crawl too fast or they might bump into each other.

The tunnels are made from see-through mesh polyester material so you can always keep an eye on any kids inside. The tunnels are easily foldable and packable for easy storage and portability.

You can set them up indoors or outdoors, but we recommend setting them up on softer surfaces since the material is quite thin.

This slide playset comes with a slide, a rock wall to climb, and a crawl tunnel underneath. It provides excellent motor skills development for little boys. Climbing the rock wall improves their arm strength, while the act of sliding down improves both their confidence and their balance.

The slide has a gentle slope great for young toddlers, and all the edges are smooth and rounded out, which is particularly important in slide sets.

This slide provides an alternative to a trip to the playground, which is especially useful since a lot of us are currently staying at home. It can be set up both indoors and outdoors.

Storytime is a good bonding activity with your little one, as it prepares him for literacy and develops his vocabulary as you identify new words to him. These plush toys will be a great addition to your stories as it includes four different animals (monkey, elephant, lion, and seal) and a circus prop which also doubles as a carrier for the set.

The animals are squeezable, and they will make their own animal sounds as your little one squeezes them. There are other variants available as well, such as a jungle and a woodland friends set. We like the Circus set the best, though, as we prefer the mix of animals and the well-designed circus tent carrier.

This unique toy from Fat Brain is like a giant-sized, multi-color set of bubble wrap designed for kids. Your little boy can push the bubbles back and forth through both sides, which develops his fine motor skills. The different bright colors provide him with visual sensory stimulation. The simple action of the bubble moving from one side to another as he pushes it teaches him causation as well.

The bubbles are made from 100% food-grade, BPA-free silicone, so he can bite them if he’s tired of pushing them as well. It’s an ideal, easy to bring toy when riding the car since it’s very compact, yet keeps an infant’s attention effectively.

Little boys enjoy mimicking parents. For a fitness conscious household, this gym set will make your little boy feel right at home and enable him to join in on home workout sessions. We’re thoroughly impressed with the design of each piece of the set. The barbell has a perfectly sized handle for 1-year olds, and will pump up his motor skills as he mimics your presses and curls. The protein shake bottle doubles as a rattle and will make a fun jingling sound as he shakes it. The kettlebell doubling as a BPA-free teether is genius design. The headband just gives that extra cuteness which we’re sure you’ll love.

Sorting objects by color develops cognitive skills in little boys and helps build visual perception and critical thinking skills. Children can often sort objects into colors before they can name the actual colors.

This farmer themed set contains fruits and veggies from all the colors of the rainbow for your little boy to sort into their respective baskets. In addition to all the benefits of color sorting, children will expand their vocabulary by learning the names of 25 different fruits and vegetables. Interacting with these vegetables makes them more familiar with them, which will also help them become more open to eating them when mealtime comes.

The toys are BPA free, latex-free, lead-free, and allergen-free, so they’re as safe as their real-life counterparts are healthy.

Freddie the Firefly comes from Lamaze with a variety of activities to light up your baby’s day. Clacking rings will stimulate his auditory senses. A ladybug teether is perfect for a 1-year old’s oral growing pains. There’s also a mirror in his wings that helps a baby recognize faces and track images. Different unique textures, high contrast colors and patterns, and jingling sounds will keep a baby’s attention and keep him entertained. It’s an easy-to-bring toy that comes with a clip that makes it ideal for strollers, carriers, or diaper bags.

The toy is BPA and Phthalate free. The toy needs to be hand washed when it gets dirty though, as washing machines might ruin certain parts such as the mirror.

This musical table from LeapFrog comes with everything you will need for your little one to enjoy fun educational music. The set comes with more than seventy songs, including classics like “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and the ABC song, all of which can be played by pushing brightly colored buttons. He can also play individual instrument sounds of the piano, drum, xylophone, trombone, and guitar.

The table has legs that can be removed, which enables it to be used on the floor while sitting down, or while standing. The sounds are bilingual as well and can be switched between Spanish and English, which makes the table perfect for Spanish-speaking or bilingual families.

This car track from Top Bright helps develop hand-eye coordination and attention span as little boys watch the colorful cars race down the track. The back and forth and swinging motions of the cars will keep them engaged and improve their attention span. Picking up the cars and putting them at the start of the track will develop their motor skills as well. There are also numbers on the cars, which helps little ones get a head start on learning to count.

The set comes with a brightly colored ramp track and four rolling cars. The pieces are made with high-quality wood and non-toxic materials that adhere to the highest US and European standards. The cars are each one piece and will not fall apart, which makes them safer for younger children to play with.

Most of us have probably read “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish,” and this toy brings them to life with nicely designed plush toys. The set comes with all five titular fish and a soft fishbowl which little boys can put the fish in and out of.

Putting the toys in and out of the bowl develops fine motor skills and causation, while the different colored fish can teach basic colors and numbers. Each fish also makes a unique sound and can either crinkle, rattle, bell, or squeak.

This toy is even better if you use it along with the book, as it brings the story to life and makes storytime even more special. Your little one will be delighted as he’ll be able to identify and interact with characters that he will see and hear from the book.