The Tooky Toy motor loop is a classic developmental toy for toddlers from 18 months: colourful beads are moved along twisting tracks. The price is for one piece.

This wooden bead maze for toddlers has a wooden base with a painted animal, colourful winding tracks and beads threaded onto them. The large, rounded beads are easy for small hands to grip, and the tracks vary in difficulty, so the toy does not get boring quickly. The base is wooden, but the beads are not. The colour and animal design are chosen at random, because you are buying one maze, not a set. It suits girls and boys alike.

What your child develops

• Motor skills. Sliding beads along the tracks trains the hand, fingers and grip.
• Hand-eye coordination. Your toddler follows the bead with their eyes while guiding it round each bend.
• Logic. Your child discovers that a bead only goes as far as the end of its track and that every track has its own route.
• Concentration. Moving a bead from one end to the other takes attention all the way.
• Independence. The maze is a toy your toddler can play with alone, without adult help.

How to play

Show how to move one bead from one end of a track to the other and let your toddler copy you. Then count the beads, name their colours and see which track is the longest. The animal picture is a chance to say its name and the sound it makes.

The maze is small (13 × 9 × 9 cm), so it fits on a table or the floor and is easy to take to friends or grandparents. It needs no batteries, which makes it a calm activity whenever your little one needs something to do.

Why a wooden base

A wooden base is usually steadier and heavier than plastic, so the maze is less likely to tip over during play. Wood feels pleasant to touch, and the colourful picture catches a toddler's eye.

A great gift

The bead maze is a small, practical gift for a child of one and a half to two – something to bring when visiting, a birthday surprise or a Christmas stocking filler.

What's in the box

• Wooden base with an animal picture
• Colourful winding tracks
• Colourful beads

Find more toys like this in our developmental baby toys collection, or more ideas for this age in toys for 1–2 year olds.