Most Useful Gifts for Toddlers This Holiday Season
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As a parent, it’s always such a joy to watch our kid’s face light up when they open up a new toy or gift during the holidays. However, not all toys are useful or even developmentally appropriate. This online gift guide contains the most useful gifts for toddlers for the holiday season ahead!
What makes a gift or toy developmentally appropriate?
The best toys for children are open-ended toys (or toys that promote open-ended play).
These are toys that help promote your child’s imagination, creativity, and independence all through play.
For example, if you give your child a set of building blocks, they have the ability to stack them up and build a tall tower, knock them down, sort them by color, build a town, practice taking turns, identify big blocks vs. small blocks — the types of play possible are so endless.
Other toys or gift ideas to consider are:
- Toys that can grow with your child over time
- Toys that help identify emotions and promote self-regulation
- Gifts that build your child’s reading and writing literacy
- Toys that encourage outdoor play
Now that you know what to look for, take a peek at the list of useful gifts for toddlers down below.
If you’re not sure what to tell friends or family members to get your child for a birthday or holiday — send this list their way for ideas!
Useful Gifts for Toddlers This Holiday Season
Below is a big long list of toys and gift ideas to help meet your toddler’s developmental needs and imagination.
If you don’t have time to read the entire post, these are the TOP 5 useful gifts for toddlers I would suggest (and yes, I have these toys and use them with my kids almost every day!).
3) Delta Children Cozee 4-Piece Lounger and Play Set
4) HOMER Early Learning Program
5) A Little SPOT of Emotion Box Set
Learning Toys & Gifts for Toddlers
Did you know infants as early as 3-4 months of age begin developing useful knowledge? [SOURCE]
This means they’re starting to learn fundamentals that will help with their development, cognitive behaviors, speech & language development, visual health, and more!
It’s no surprise that toddlerhood is JUST as important. In fact, by 3 years of age, most toddlers have started to feel emotions like fear, embarrassment, empathy, envy, guilt, and shame. [SOURCE]
So this holiday season, instead of asking for toys without a purpose, be sure to add in toys that HELP them learn, cope, and support these developing little brains of theirs!
(click the photos below for more information)
1) A Little SPOT of Emotion Box Set
We love the Little SPOT of Emotion book series! They’re an awesome way to bring colorful visuals to common feelings our children experience.
Though some of the concepts are hard to understand, in time, it is a great stepping stone to introducing emotions to children at a young age through fun, colorful storytelling.
2) Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set
Sorting toys like this Farmers Market sorting set are fun because they’re open-ended toys that can be played with in a ton of different ways while promoting learning, color-recognition, and of course, sorting skills.
3) LOVEVERY PLAY KITS (for toddlers)
LOVEVERY designs high-quality play products for your little ones that were designed for learning, sustainability, and supporting your child’s developing brain through every stage.
They have play kits for babies as young as newborns to 3-year-old toddlers, it’s a gift that everyone has loved whenever I’ve gifted it myself.
As a loyal LOVEVERY toy and play kit user myself, I promise, I think your toddler will love it too.
4) Noggin 30-Day Free Trial
Though our family prioritizes very limited screen time, it’s important to make sure that when we do utilize it, the screen time is educational and developmentally friendly.
That’s why we LOVE Noggin by Nick Jr.
With shows like Blaze and The Monster Machines or Blue’s Clues that work through problems on screen — allowing your child the chance to participate in the problem solving and even games to help children identify emotions, letters, numbers, build counting skills, and more — it’s no wonder Noggin is such a hit.
It’s fun, it’s educational, AND it’s affordable. You can get Noggin for just $0.99/month for 3 months (or gift it to a friend).
5) Up & Down Roller Coaster™ by Step2
This has to be one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten my boys. We’ve had our Step2 rollercoaster for over 3 years and it still gets played with every, single, day.
If you’re looking for a fun toy to get the kids out of the house and keep them entertained, this is my go-to.
6) Dab and Dot Paint Markers
If you love to watch your kids be creative and express themselves, but are not too fond of the mess, these paint markers are the perfect solution!
Granted, there’s some positivity in the mess and creativity when using normal paint, but that’s a topic for another article.
You can practice so many fun skills with these paint markers, they make the perfect little stocking stuffer.
7) There’s a Yeti in My Spaghetti Game
This fun little game reminds me so much of pick-up sticks! The concept is very similar, but with a fun twist: a yeti in your spaghetti!
It’s a great way to practice turn-taking, problem-solving, and pure enjoyment with the family.
8) Kinetic Sand
Kinetic sand is a fun gift because what toddler doesn’t love playing with sand? Except kinetic sand is much easier to clean up and way more fun to mold!
9) Toddler kitchen step stool with safety rails
A kitchen helper step stool changed our life. Why? Because it has allowed my toddlers to participate and help in everyday activities at the kitchen counter they weren’t tall enough to help with before!
Such as: cutting fruits, making lunch, doing crafts or artwork, washing their own hands, helping with dishes — and truth be told, these are really fun activities to toddlers.
10)
” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow”> Toddler travel activity board
If you are someone who travels often with your little in tow, a busy book is the way to go!
This activity book has so many different things they can do to keep themselves busy and learning, even while traveling.
11) Melissa and Doug: Let’s Play Pretend 6-Piece Set
Kids, especially toddlers, LOVE to help with everything.
Let them become the little helpers they strive to be with a fun pretend play sweet, mop, and dust set!
12) Toddler Time Learning Set
13) My First Daily Magnetic Calendar
This magnetic calendar set helps to promote communication, understanding of days and events, plus can help smooth transitions as it helps your child prepare for the anticipated schedule for the day.
It makes an awesome gift whether for a birthday gift, Christmas gift, and more!
14) 1-2-3 Build It
For younger toddlers, this building toy is loads of fun as they get to explore building their own helicopter! Then, they get to enjoy playing and taking apart the fun little creation they made over and over again.
15) Little Tikes Trampoline
If you have a little one who is constantly looking for ways to get lots of sensory input in, get them a child-friendly trampoline like this one.
It will help them get the input they need for their bodies, burn off extra energy, and best of all can be used inside or outside of the home.
The Best Board Books For Toddlers
There’s a reason why screen time and digital gadgets aren’t recommended in full force for our young children.
That’s not to say we’re a no screentime family because we’re not. We definitely appreciate the educational screentime programs we’ve found that work for our kid’s needs, but there are some key differences.
Reading & exploring common everyday items helps to boost your kiddo’s imagination and understanding of their world.
In addition, many studies have positively shown that reading & exposing your child to new words can greatly improve their language skills as they get older and their academic success. The benefits don’t end there and you can read more about why reading to our kids is such a wonderful way to boost their intelligence here!
My toddler has a speech delay so it took me a LONG time to get him really engaged with books, but the books listed below are the ones he absolutely LOVES to engage and read daily!
1) Dear Zoo: A Lift The Flap Book
2) Ditty Bird Sound Book
3) Wild Animals (touch & feel book)
4) The Feelings Book
5) Moo, Baa, Lalala
6) Goodnight Tractor
7) Daniel Tiger: 5-Minute Stories
8) The Rabbit Listened
9) Hands Are Not for Hitting
10) Don’t Shake The Present
Other gifts to keep your toddler learning & entertained
Now that we covered all the toys, let’s talk about other gifts that still help to promote learning, but technically aren’t really a “toy”.
Of course, ANY toy can be used to gain educational value depending on how you use and play with it, but if you just need some toys to keep your little one entertained, these ones will do the trick!
1) 3 in 1 Scooter (bike, scooter, tricycle)
2) Sit N’ Spin
3) Play Tent with Tunnel
4) Dyson Vacuum for Kids
5) Battat Shape Sorting Car Garage
6) Crawl & Climb Foam Play Shapes
7) Toddler Play Kitchen
8) Coogam Toddler Spelling Games
Final Thoughts: Useful Gifts for Toddlers…
Gift giving for toddlers can be so fun and exciting, but don’t forget to always keep their developing minds in mind while shopping.
Don’t be afraid to switch up your gifting techniques to try something they haven’t ever played with before — it’s always something fresh and new that seems to get their imagination and little minds going after all!
This article was last updated on November 4th, 2021.
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I love these ideas! My son just turned 4 last month. I’m always amazed and thrilled when he wants to just sit with me and read a book. I bought personalised children’s books on his birthday. When he opens his gift and his face lights up with delight, you’ll truly understand the importance of personalized gifts. ❤️