gift ideas for 1 year old

Money in her savings account for when she (hopefully) goes to unie!
Have also bought a wooden xylophone properly tuned!
Only prob is DD complains DGD won't let her play with it!

Glammy, no matter what you get for her, she will probably make more use of and have more fun with the box it comes in. My DGS loved his red plastic motorbike from ELS. Little brother inherited it in due course.

Anything musical seems to go down well. My DGDs loved pushing buttons which made a sound or a tune - Mothercare have some good options!

So do Galt elc

I am trying not to advertise here! - but if you google natural wooden toys you will probably find the presents that my GC love. You can get a wooden stacking rainbow, which tinies love and older children use for endless imaginative games - they become bridges over railways and many other things.

Also you can get rainbow wooden dominoes (with no pictures or dots on) which provide hours of endless fun from age 1 onwards. As they get older they make domino runs with them which become more and more complex - the joy of that moment when you tip the first one and they ll come flying down!!!

The lovely thing about these toys is that they "grow" with the child, because they leave scope for imagination rather than limiting them to one activity with them.

Sounds good to me!

Chicco make some lovely musical toys, lots of buttons and things to push, there's also a super "Goodnight Stars Projector" which is a night-light with calming music as well

Any toy that leaves a lot to the imagination is a good long term toy. What I call 'single use' modern toys seem great at first but soon get relegated to back of toy box. These are the over complicated battery operated types that just require a few buttons to be pressed and everything is done for you....they are not good for really thought provoking developmental play. I started buying pretend play things for my GS that he keeps here. He has a wicker basket that has a toy kettle & tea set, wooden cakes with a stand etc etc and he delights in serving us all endless teas. This promted his Mum to buy the Ikea wooden kichen units as a long term investment (he now has a baby sister) these are used one way or another most days. He also has a Building Society account that I add to as the mood takes me or the housekeeping allows!
Funnily enough one of the most long lasting toys I ever bought though were the basic plastic 'stacking pots' for about £8. Early Learning still do them. They are used for everything and especially at bath times!

For the sanity of adults in the vicinity, avoid toys that play tunes. I remember, GS2 had masses of these for his first birthday and he thought it was fun to play them all at the same time.

Are any adults who are in the vicity of young children 'Sane?'

Point taken, jeni but some of these so-called musical toys can drive you to distraction, especially when you open the toy box and one of them starts up spontaneously. I think the worst was a 'musical' camel, playing Arabic music, that they bought on holiday in Egypt! Can't think why I actually stopped him throwing it out of the window one day.

The plastic stacking pots always go down well, because they don't hurt when thrown, and babies/toddlers love learning to balance them on their heads or pretend to drink out of them, as well as learning to stack them.

Just after they turned one, my twin grandsons started playing with the Little Tikes kitchen I bought them. They had a teaset, frying pan etc to make pretend meals and cups of tea.

Also, they loved their indoor wendy house, peeping out of the windows and getting me to knock on the door so they could answer. They would pile cushions and teddies in there and fall asleep in their little den.

I think Fisher Price still do a large range of toys. I found them well loved by my GCs, and they really are indestructable. The one toy I have at my house that has been used and enjoyed at all ages is a set of stacking cups - so simple but more popular that anything else. For the slightly older child I found a cash register was great fun when used with the contents of my kitchen cupboards as a shop.

Duplo, Duplo and more Duplo. Its the best toy ever and you can add to it as children grow older. It keeps my grandchild occupied for ages and can be something new every day.

Thanks for all the great ideas, I am pleased so many people have suggested non gender specific 'growing' toys. You are all great.

Love the rainbow concept here. Thanks, I will see what I can find.

If she is walking - or close to it - there are some wonderful animal-shaped hoppers (google Happy Hopperz) suitable for 12 months + :all colours and wonderful animals very safe with stretigally placed ears to hold on to.

My GD enjoyed a wooden hammer and pegs and a trolley with blocks - again wooden.

In my experience, children are never too young for books - especially if they can interact with them.