Our 10 Favorite Toddler Gifts This Year
Updated: Oct 9
Still shopping? Here are the ten gifts we would buy again in a heartbeat, picked from all of this season's guides. If you only read one list, make it this one.
This list pulls the very best from all of our holiday guides: the toys that get played with every day, hold up to toddlers and grow with them. Under each pick is why it made the final ten.
Our picks
1. LEGO DUPLO Brick Box
Why we like it: DUPLO bricks are twice the size of regular LEGO, so little hands can press them together without frustration. Your toddler starts by stacking towers and knocking them down, and in a year they are building houses and zoos. It is one of the few toys that grows with a child from age 1 to 5.
Try this: Build a tower together and count each brick out loud as you add it.
2. Magna-Tiles Classic 32-Piece Set
Why we like it: Magnetic tiles that click together into houses, towers and rocket ships. They are one of the most-played toys in our house and grow with kids for years.
Try this: Build a house together, then make a door big enough for a toy car.
3. Melissa & Doug Wooden Scoop & Serve Ice Cream Counter
Why we like it: A wooden ice cream counter with scoops, cones and toppings. It turns into a restaurant game that can last all afternoon, and it builds counting, colors and turn-taking.
Try this: Order a cone with two scoops and see if your toddler can count them out.
4. Green Toys Dump Truck
Why we like it: A tough dump truck made from recycled milk jugs. It works in the sandbox, the bathtub and the living room, and it holds up to serious play.
Try this: Fill the truck with blocks, drive it across the room and dump them in a pile.
5. HABA My Very First Games: First Orchard
Why we like it: A cooperative first board game where everyone works together to pick the fruit before the raven reaches the orchard. The wooden pieces are big, turns are short, and no reading is needed.
Try this: Name each fruit's color as you pick it.
6. Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Art Easel
Why we like it: A standing easel with a chalkboard on one side, a dry-erase board on the other and a paper roll on top. It is used every day in our house.
Try this: Draw a shape and ask your child to copy it.
7. Learning Resources Pretend & Play Doctor Set
Why we like it: A doctor kit with everything for checkups on stuffed animals and grown-ups. It is great for easing worries about doctor visits.
Try this: Play doctor before a real checkup to talk about what will happen.
8. Jellycat Bashful Bunny
Why we like it: The famously soft bunny that ends up going everywhere. It is a gift that quickly becomes a best friend.
Try this: Give the bunny a name together and let it join bedtime stories.
9. Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow! Under the Sea
Why we like it: A book you paint with water: the colors appear as your child brushes, then fade as it dries so they can do it all again. No mess, no paint, and it fits in a diaper bag.
Try this: Keep it in the car or diaper bag for restaurants and waiting rooms.
10. Press Here
Why we like it: A book that asks your child to press, shake and tilt it, and the dots seem to respond. It feels like magic to a toddler and needs no batteries.
Try this: Let your toddler do every action on every page.
Thank you for shopping with us this season. Every purchase through these links helps keep Sprocket & Sprout free for every family.
Shop the whole list
Want it all in one place? Shop this whole list on our Amazon storefront or on ShopMy. Every pick is also in our Store, along with the books and supplies we use on the show.
More gift guides
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