Holiday gift guide [1] week continues. Today we’re featuring Christmas gifts for toddlers.
Gift giving season is upon us and chances are there are some kids in your life to shop for. “Kids†is a pretty broad term. There’s a world of difference between what a great gift for a toddler is and what a great gift for a 10 year old is. Unless you’re around kids a lot it can be difficult to remember what works for what ages. That’s where these lists come in handy. I’ve created 3 different lists for each age group – Christmas gifts for babies [2], Toddlers and School age kids [3].
Today’s list concerns gifts for Toddlers. Toddlers are some very active folks with pretty short attention spans. Any gift that can capture their interest for decent amount of time is a big winner in my opinion. I’m also a big fan of toys that encourage kids to use their imaginations and can be used in lots of ways. With that in mind these are the items that have logged significant toddler playtime in our house.
source: Mama Pyjama [4]
10 Christmas Gifts for Toddlers
- Duplo . These are one of my favorite toys. Duplos [5] are basically beginner Legos. They are big enough for little hands to connect. Unlike blocks Duplos snap together making it a bit easier for toddlers to build. We logged a lot our hours with these and despite the many towers that were crashed to the ground I don’t think we ever managed to break one.
- Ride-On Toys. Toddlers are newly mobile and what makes this even more fun? Ride-on [6] toys! My kids love these so much that they have been kept well after they were probably too big for them. Keep in mind the age ranges for the toy. Some ride-ons are meant for older kids so make sure to check before you buy.
- Recordable Books. I admit that when I first heard about recordable books I was skeptical. They seemed overpriced and gimmicky to me. Then we received The Night Before Christmas [7] from the grandparents. The kids loved it. They liked hearing their grandparents’ voices reading to them (the same story over and over and over) and I liked that they got to have time with a book by themselves before they were actually able to read it.
- Play Food. I have to say this was one of my favorite things when I was a kid and my play food was not nearly as cool as what is out there today [8]. This is also a toy that works well across ages. Older kids and younger kids both enjoy playing with pretend food. You can even create your own by using clear packaging tape to seal up clean and empty real containers.
- Tunnel. This tunnel [9] may look like a boring old tube but you’ll never believe all the things kids turn it into. It’s a cave, it’s a snake, it’s a hide out! What I love is that it’s a big toy they can be really physical in but it collapses down into an easily put away size.
- Puzzles. Puzzles are classic toys. I find that wooden ones work best with toddlers. Younger toddlers can enjoy puzzles with pegs [10] and a few pieces. As they get older it is still easier to put together ones that have a board already for them to go into.
- Special PJs. While these aren’t toys exactly cool pajamas are welcome gifts in our house. There has been many a winter day that the kids never managed to get out of their pjs either. Special pajamas are also something that mom and dad don’t usually buy so they’re a treat in that way too. Batman [11] pjs have been known to be fought over at bedtime.
- Train Set. Whenever my kids were toddlers and had “playdates” the one toy that everyone gravitated to was the train set [12]. You can buy huge sets that are very expensive (not to mention a pain to clean up) but a simple set provides just as much fun. At one point when my youngest was really into destroying his older brother’s tracks we bought an old table and simply glued the tracks down. It was loved for years.
- Slide. Technically a slide [13] is an “outdoor” toy but we never let that stop us. I think a slide is the only reason we were able to make dinner when the kids were young. There was one winter we pushed the dining room table aside so that we could have a slide inside. I believe that piece of plastic saved my sanity that year. This is also an item great to buy used as they hold up very well.
- Dress-Up Clothes. Kids love to pretend and that is what dress-up clothes are all about. You don’t have to buy specific “dress-up” clothes (although you can). You can look around for clothes that can be made into “dress-up” clothes. An apron, a special skirt, a funny hat – all these can be awesome for dress-up and make believe.
Good luck with your toddler gift shopping.