Can you believe that the holidays are right around the corner? I’m kicking off my annual holiday gift guide this week, starting with all the best ideas for the tiniest tots! Check out ten of my favorite toys to give to babies and toddlers! Check back regularly, as I’ll be adding new ideas to this post as I find them. You can also bookmark my official 2017 Holiday Gift Guide to keep up with the latest ideas.
One of the things that I miss most about the holidays: buying toys! My son is a tween now and his “toys” are way more expensive. Thank goodness for nieces and nephews! My niece is turning four on Christmas and my nephew will be just around 19 months. Check out some of the gifts they’ll find under our tree, plus some others that I’m eyeing!
Gift Ideas for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
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1. HABA’s Zookeeper Sorting Box
With HABA’s Zookeeper Sorting Box, children have twice as much fun! Just like in a real zoo, within every enclosure there is a slide: If pushed down, only the half wood shapes fit through the opening. If pushed upward, the opening is large enough for the whole wood shape. This is fun because as children play, they can pretend to feed the animals while becoming more familiar with color and shape recognition. Includes 8 wooden shapes and 1 sorting box. Age range: 12 months+ Available online at HABA or Amazon.
2. Learning Resources’ Snap-n-Learn™ Matching Dinos
Learning Resources’ Snap-n-Learn™ Matching Dinos, kids snap together these cute dinos and spark an early love of learning about colors and shapes. These colorful dinosaurs mix and match together, so little learners have endless hours of fun while they build their fine motor skills. Entire set stores neatly away in the sturdy plastic bucket. Includes: 18 pieces (9 two-piece dinos).
Age range: 2+ years Buy it on Amazon.
3. Educational Insights’ Peekaboo Barn Game
E-I-E-I-OH! Educational Insights’ Peekaboo Barn Game gets little ones working together in this farming fun game based on the preschooler app sensation, Peekaboo Barn™. This game promotes vocabulary development and storytelling, encourages interactive and social play, and introduces early game play to younger kids. Game comes with a 3-D Barn with two levels, 1 Silo spinner, 8 Animals, and a multilingual game guide (English, Spanish, French, and German)
Age range: 2-4 years Available on Amazon.
4.1-2-3 Build It™ Car-Plane-Boat
Your budding engineer will love using these mix-and-match pieces to build three different modes of transportation—an airplane, a tugboat, or a car (one at a time). Use the play screwdriver to put the large, durable pieces where they go. Great for learning early STEM skills.
Product Features + Benefits:
- 3 Toys in 1! Tugboat, car, and airplane
- Teaches early engineering skills
- Use the play screwdriver to build the different toys
- Mix-and-match pieces create car, airplane, and tugboat (one at a time)
Age range: 2+ years, Get it on Amazon.
5. Shape Sorting Flower Puzzle
Sort, Match and Stack with the shape sorting flower puzzle. Encourage your baby to recognize various shapes and their sizes, this practices trial and error, mental prediction and problem solving. The cute flower acts as a central part of this 22 piece sorting puzzle, perfect for the inquisitive mind. Age Range: Get it on Amazon.
6. Smart Splash® Shape Shell Turtles
Water play is fun and calming to young children which makes the Learning Resources Smart Splash® Shape Shell Turtles the perfect toy for the bubble bath. Not only is this a fun water toy you’re integrating learning as the turtles teach shape and color recognition with removable shells that feature moon, star, cross, circle, square, rectangle, triangle and oval shapes. And what’s even better is all pieces are mold-resistant and come with a mesh storage bag. Age range: 2+ years. Get it here!
7. SoapSox
Make bath time even more fun with SoapSox! With fun characters (including a whole line of cool Disney characters) and adorable animals, kids will actually look forward to hopping in the tub! Features a soft terry cloth exterior and an anti-microbial sponge interior. Perfect for all ages! Buy them on Amazon!
8. Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
Educational Insights’ The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game® is a hit for young and old. Your forest friends are hungry and they need your help! Spin the spinner, squeeze the matching colored acorn with your Squirrel Squeezer, and place it into your log. Be the first to fill your log with delicious acorns and you win! You could also spin “pick an acorn,” “steal an acorn,” or “lose an acorn,” so be strategic, little squirrel! A quick, fun game that can be played continuously in a short time with easy setup and cleanup. Age range: 3-5 years. Get it on Amazon!
9. City Engineering & Design Building Set
Learning Resources City Engineering & Design Building Set is fun for adults and kids and is a perfect toy for Family Day! Encourage an early love of STEM learning with this one-of-a-kind City Building Set. You and your little engineers can create skyscrapers, cranes, bridges and more with 89 easy-to-assemble pieces. Use the included activity cards to complete design challenges, or create a city. It’s a unique way to challenge logic, problem solving, and engineering skills. This set contains 100 pieces for endless possibilities and fun! Age range: 5+ years. Get it on Amazon!
10. HABA Magic Mansion
With multiple colors and shapes and even a castle top, pillar and block with a prism, your child can build the HABA Magic Mansion with no limits. This set encourages imagination and hand eye coordination. Set includes 10 wooden blocks. May be combined with other HABA block sets to build even bigger! Age Range: 1 1/2 years+. Buy it on Amazon.
11. Marcus & Marcus Learning Chopsticks
How cute are these Marcus & Marcus Learning Chopsticks? They come in 3 different styles: Whale, Giraffe, and Elephant, and are just right for tiny hands! The silicone hinges to help keep the chopsticks in line, and they’re super simple to wash! Safety is a top priority for Marcus & Marcus. All of their products are BPA-Free, PVC-Free and Phthalate-free. They’re safe for babies old enough to use eating utensils, but also make great stocking stuffers for toddlers and preschoolers. Buy them on Amazon.
Don’t forget to bookmark this page or my 2017 Holiday Gift Guide page so you can keep up with all the new additions throughout the season!
I love the matching Dinos and Peekaboo barn game. What a really awesome bunch of cute gifts to give to my nephew or nice!
Commentof great ideas for those little ones. I like the Engineering and Design Building.