The Messy Mama Brain Dump: Our Favorite Toddler Toys for 18-24 months

The Messy Mama Brain Dump is a feature where I talk about anything and everything related to parenting, being a mom, and kids.

Being a parent is hard, especially to a bored toddler. June outgrew all of her toys and was always bored if we weren't playing with her, so we had to get her all new toys and now she's rarely bored.

Here are some of the newest toys we got her that we absolutely love and think your toddlers will too.

Pretend play:

June is really big into pretend play right now. I love seeing her use her imagination and watch how much she actually knows what to do with the items. 

Kitchen: 

She got a kitchen for Christmas and some play food and kitchen accessories and she absolutely loves it. It doesn't have to be anything expensive or big, just something they can play with. 

Tea party:

She got a tea set for Christmas and adores it, it goes up there with the play food but this is a little more simple.

Baby dolls:

She loves babies. She has a bunch of them and she's getting to the age where she can play with accessories with them like pacifiers, bottles, etc. And she does. It's the cutest thing. 

Makeup:

She loves play makeup and she even has a little makeup vanity she plays with. She still likes anything that lights up or makes noise and the one she got is absolutely perfect. 

Doctor/dentist set:

Her favorite toy in her doctor set is the stethoscope, she likes to make the "bum bum bum bum" noise when she does it, but the one we got also comes with some dentist stuff. It's great for teaching body parts, showing what they do at the doctor and dentist, and hopefully helping her to feel at ease at the doctor.

Gnome Homes:

This one is the cutest I swear, it's different size mushrooms and gnomes, they have numbers and colors, and the dots on the top of the mushroom match the number on the bottom of the mushroom so she can associate the numbers with counting things. 

Dog:

June saw this on amazon months ago and wanted it from the moment she saw it. It's a cheaper kind of those fur real pet toys, it walks and barks and sings Bingo. Which can be obnoxious after the 100th time of hearing it, but she absolutely loves it. She treats it like a real dog and calls it over, brushes it, and kisses on it. Which is adorable. And it's really nice to be able to get her a cheaper version of a toy before spending a lot without knowing if she'll play with it.

Little People:

I haven't seen little people toys since I was little, I don't remember if Finn ever had any but if he did I don't remember. With that being said June is currently obsessed with Nightmare Before Christmas and when I saw NBC little people toys I knew I had to get them for her. We didn't get any kind of play set except the figurines and she loves them. They're great for her imagination and it's easier because it's characters she recognizes. 

Jack in the Box:

Speaking of NBC I got her a Jack Skellington Jack in the box and she does not get tired of this toy. It makes her jump every time but she always says AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN. 

Trains:

June loves all things that "go", cars, trains, etc. We got her some wooden dinosaur trains that magnetize together and she LOVES it. 

Animal tree:

We love this one because it teaches her about matching numbers and about animals. So we say "The sloth goes in number 10!" and if it's an animal that makes noise (Do sloths make noise? I don't know) then we do the noise with it. 

Aqua Art:

June is getting to the age she wants to color but it's still really messy. So this aqua art is perfect. Not only is the only mess it makes clear, because it's water, but you can paint them over and over and over again. 

Drums/Music:

Music is always good I think, June has loved making music since she was born. So for Christmas we got her not one but two drum sets. And she loves it. It keeps her busy for hours and I love seeing her musical capabilities grow. She also has a piano and a couple other musical items.

Elephant:

Finn had one of these as a toddler and loved it and June loves it just as much. She can play with it by herself and not hurt herself on it. The only downside is she likes to shove the wrong items in it and then she needs us to get them out.

Dream Machine:

This thing is the best. We got it for her for Christmas last year but she's really getting into it this year. We have so many stories for it and she knows how to play it all by herself. Again the only downside is that it has to be dark and that she needs help switching stories. She will usually watch the same story 10 times though before needing it to be changed.