The Best Toddler Gifts
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Our Picks For The Top Toddler Gifts
Toddlers will love jumping around on this mat and making piano and animal sounds. It also has flashing light effects. The mat is easily foldable and convenient to carry.
Beautiful Sounds and Flashing LightsThis mat makes piano and animal sounds and has fun light effects.
A great indoor activity, this spinning toy helps toddlers to work on their balance, coordination and gross motor skills. All they have to do is push the wheel to make the base spin. This toy is sure to induce some giggling.
For Whirling and TwirlingThis fun toy helps toddlers improve their balance and coordination.
Kids love imitating their parents, and will be happy to have their own versions of the real thing. This set includes a realistic duster, broom, mop and brush with a stand. Kids can use these toys for pretend play or helping mom and dad.
Like the Real ThingThis duster, broom, mop and brush are realistic kid-sized versions of adult cleaning supplies.
This mess-free toy is ideal for parents and toddlers. All that is needed to draw on the mat is a water-filled pen. The large mat can be used on the floor, on a table or even outside.
New Artistic MediumThis mat works with a pen filled with water. No ink is needed.
Buying Guide
Toddlers have exciting and busy lives. Every day feels like an adventure, where they get to explore something fun and new. Getting a gift for your toddler is a good way to help them learn new skills, explore their imagination and unleash their creativity.
The best kinds of toddler toys are ones that are open-ended can be used in multiple games. Toddlers have wild imaginations and love using toys in different ways. A flexible and multi-purpose toy offers them the ability to incorporate the toy in different ways into their play. For example, a mop and broom set is a fun way to imitate mom or dad as they clean, but they can also be used as pretend swords during an epic battle between two knights. A musical keyboard mat is fun to play songs on with their feet, but they can also use it to have dancing competitions with their siblings and family.
Be sure to look at whether the toddler gift you’re choosing will grow with them. For example, will they still show interest in the toy a year from now or is it something they will only be able to play with for a couple of months? Toddlers grow quickly and so do their interests, so see whether the gift will appeal to them as their interests change.
What to Look For
- Many toddlers have very strong opinions about what they like and don’t like, even if those things change frequently. It’s important to encourage their interests with your toddler gifts so they can learn new skills and gain confidence in their abilities. For example, if you have a toddler who loves to color, consider getting them a large doodle mat that uses water-filled markers. This way, they have a new artistic medium to try out and explore.
- A big part of toddler life involves imaginative play. Toddlers love coming up with different scenarios, acting in them and involving their toys in them. A classic sit-and-spin toy is a fun way for toddlers to practice their balance, but they can also use it to pretend they are sitting in a spaceship and exploring alien planets. They can also pretend it’s a rollercoaster ride in their favorite park. Prompting kids with suggestions about their imaginative play can help them learn new ideas and create new stories. For example, you can ask questions like, “Where is your spaceship going?” or “Do you like this ride?”
More to Explore
As much as toddlers love gifts, they also love gift wrapping. When giving your toddler a gift, consider wrapping it with lots of colorful paper and putting on beautiful ribbons and bows. If possible, put the gift in a large cardboard box, such as the one used for shipping it, before you wrap it all up. A large cardboard box is almost like a secondary gift for a toddler, who will love sitting in it, coloring on it and hiding toys in it.
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