The Best Gifts for 1 Year Olds | 2024
Based on Age and Development and Notes on Why They Work | 2024
New to the list: Playmobil Duck Family and Melissa and Doug Wooden Ocean Slide. For insights on the developmental benefits of these and other GGGT picks read on.
Melissa and Doug Rollables
An excellent introduction to cause and effect, the Wooden Ocean Slide balls are just soft enough to make grabbing them easy for small hands but have enough weight to pick up momentum. Each of three sea creature balls feature different textures, allowing tiny hands to receive tactile input; some even make a gentle chime sound, making the balls a rich sensory experience as well.
Playmobil Duck Family
The 1-2-3 bath toys from Playmobil are toys leveled based on a child’s age and stage of development. We love this stage 1 set for its ability to engage a child and offer exposure and practice to several developmentally-appropriate skills. First, the varying size of the ducks allows for mathematical language development around size. The pieces themselves allow for endless opportunity for the caregiver to model imaginative storytelling as well as narration of the way they interact with the toys. And this paves the way for early literacy skills identifying characters and hearing a beginning, middle, and end. You may even find the child mimicking your intonation as they “retell” your story. Duck Family provides an opportunity for sensory play in water and fine motor practice using the scoop. The toys are great for the bathtub or for play in your outdoor water table.
Tissue Box Grab Toy
Young toddlers love to pull smaller objects out of larger ones. This soft-sided tissue box promotes opportunities for children to pull and touch “tissues” of various textures and colors.
14 Piece Instrument Set
Ehome’s 14-piece music set contains instruments from tambourines to castanets. From a xylophone to a bird whistle. And more! The instruments vary in sounds, which can inspire creativity through auditory stimulation and movement. This is a wonderful set that can engage toddlers, children, and even adults of all ages to cooperatively play together.
Fat Brian Dimpl
This classic toy from Fat Brain has five vibrant silicone bubbles built into its frame. The brightly colored bubbles entice young ones to push, poke, and pop them – a wonderful way to engage sensory exploration, cause-and-effect, and fine motor skills.
Crayola My First Palm Grasp Crayons
These ergonomically designed crayons are easy for toddlers to hold and draw with even before they have mastered their pincer grip. They are an artistic tool to promote fine motor, creativity, and independence for young children.
3 in 1 Crawling Tunnel and Pop-up Play Tent
This exciting crawling tube is designed to grow with a young adventurer. In addition to the tube, it comes with a play tent to attach at one end and a ball pit feature at the other (note balls are not included) making it an exciting way to promote gross motor skills in young ones. And this adventure crawling tube also packs away easily for storage.
BRIO My First Railway
A perfect introduction to the wonderful world of trains, Brio’s My First Railway set has everything a toddler will need to experience the joy of engineering: two trains with reversible magnets (naturally setting young children up for success), a bridge, ramp, and multiple wooden rail tracks. And of course, like all Brio sets, it is compatible with the pieces they will want in years to come.
Mega Bloks 80-Piece Building Bloks
This classic set of big building blocks provides endless fun for young engineers. The large size makes it easy for a little fingers to build with so they can construct whatever they imagine up.
Pewi Walking and Ride-On Toy from YBIKE
This riding, pushing, sitting, and supported walking toy accommodates children at a variety of developmental stages. It is perfect for either indoor or outdoor play on smooth surfaces and its multi-directional caster wheels allow children to move how they choose without having to pick up and reposition the toy.
Step2 Rain Showers Water Play Table
This exciting water table is just the right height for a young toddler. They can pour, splash, and scoop water from one place to another watching maze-like spinners activate ramps and buckets, cause a rain storm from the top of the table, and see little water animals float around the basin. The drain at the bottom of the table makes for easy clean up when your little one is done with water play.
Manhattan Toy Stella Doll
This soft companion, available with different hair, skin, and gender combinations will be a welcomed addition as a young toddler starts to play pretend. It offers a wonderful opportunity for the child to reenact favorite parts of their day: feeding, bathing, reading, and playing.
VTech Spin and Learn Color Flashlight
Toddlers enjoy having their very own versions of adult items, especially real world mechanical ones. Pushing buttons and seeing their effect is thrilling for young minds. Plus, this flashlight comes with over 50 sing-along songs, music, sound and fun phrases, and the five color-changing lights are not too bright for their young eyes.
Buster Square Buckle Toy
This colorful activity toy helps develop fine motor skills and problem-solving in toddlers. Children of this age love to practice buckling and snapping. Allowing opportunities to work on these skills helps them develop more advanced fine motor skills such as using both hands to work together on a task and strengthening their pincer grasp.
Bathtime Spin N’ Sprinkle Water Lab
This water activity center for the bath attaches to the tub and creates a chain reaction of surprising and exciting water events. Activities like this boost fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination in toddlers and help them to develop precision in their pouring skills.
Doona Liki Trike
The Liki Trike is a foldable and adjustable toddler bike that grows with a child. From a stroller to a push tricycle to a toddler tricycle, the functionality of this toy meets the developmental stage of your little one.
My First Library: Box Set of 10 Board Books
This exciting box set is made up of 10 non-fiction board books that cover a variety of learning topics and everyday objects for toddlers to engage with. The vibrant pictures and clear word labels help to build vocabulary in areas such as shapes, animals, fruits, transportation, and much more.
