I get asked a lot about toddler gift ideas, especially what we’re getting our little boy for Christmas.
I think it’s important to note that we only give Samuel three gifts on Christmas morning along with his stocking. Christmas is not about making lists of things we want, or even about getting more stuff, but it is the season filled with the joy of giving. It is this giving that as parents we enjoy with our boy.
However, it is our hope that we will impart the truth of this season through not only intentional times of teaching, but through Mommy and Daddy’s demonstration of a life lived for Christ during this Christmas holiday.
Do we place more value on the toys, gifts, and events, or on the celebration and anticipation of Jesus’ birthday?
Gifts are a natural, understandable even, part of the Christmas season. Can you imagine telling a grandparent to go easy on the gifts? No way! It would suck the joy right out of my dear mama!
So, I want to give some gift recommendations and ideas to help you make your lists and hopefully help you give good, quality, long lasting gifts to your toddler.
What’s in the Bible DVDs – We purchased the entire Old Testament DVD series for our toddler boy on Black Friday. I cannot wait to start walking through these next year!
VeggieTales DVDs – For some reason, our toddler refers to the VeggieTales DVDs as “shows.” I have no idea how he translated VeggieTales to “show,” but he did (I’ve since discovered, it’s the one word he picked up from the opening song!). He loves VeggieTales, especially Silly Songs with Larry! Some of our favorite VeggieTales DVDs are Jonah – A VeggieTales Movie, Robin Good and His Not So-Merry Men, and we will be using The Ultimate Christmas Collection during the Christmas season.
The Toddler’s Songbook – A storybook with a CD. These are Christian based songs for … wait for it … toddlers! It’s all the Sunday School songs I grew up on. Samuel loves this CD, and we play it often in the car.
To Be Like Jesus – Mommy loves this CD. Filled with scripture, character building lessons, and catchy lyrics this is a must have CD, in my opinion. 😉 Sovereign Grace Music has some really incredible CDs, especially for children. Some more of our favorites include: Walking with the Wise and Awesome God.
Seeds Family Worship – I borrowed several of these CDs a couple of years ago. They are amazing. Honestly? I played them in my office to help me memorize scripture. This was before I even had a child in the womb! I plan on adding these one by one over the next year or so for our toddler boy.
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Magneatos– Magnetized building set for little hands. This is what we’re getting Samuel for his “big” item this year.
Wood Blocks Set– My mom found my set stored away for years. We dusted them off for Samuel and he loves them!
Melissa & Doug Toolbox Fill and Spill– We got this for Samuel last year. He still plays with it. Actually it’s the toy he plays with during quiet time/nap time right now. Great set!
VTech Sit-to-Stand Alphabet Train – The only flashing, talking toy in our home. Wait, no. It’s one of TWO. I have zero tolerance for toys that do all the work for you. Call me old fashioned, but we truly protect our shelves with only open ended toys. If you’ve given us a flashing, talking toy, I’m sorry. I didn’t keep it. How bad does that sound? ha! My family does understand. They’ve been around me long enough to know that when I set my mind to something, you might as well go along. 😉
But this is one toy I will keep around (thanks, Mom!). I was skeptical at first. But as I have observed Samuel playing with it, I realized it’s quite helpful for him. It teaches colors, number, letters and sounds, along with word association. He loves it. Before he was ready to begin learning letters? I kept it turned off! He used it to push around as he learned to walk. I also put away most of the alphabet so I wasn’t cleaning them up every day. We keep it upstairs (not in our school room), and it’s the toy he gets to play with while I shower or do upstairs chores. I really think this is a good addition for a toddler boy’s collection, especially if he loves trains as much as my munchkin does.
Beginner Pattern Blocks – we just got these for Samuel and they haven’t made it into our rotation yet. However, I have no doubts this will be a well loved learning toy!
Stack and Sort Board– Loves this one! He loves counting as he puts them on. Favorite right now.
Farm Wooden Chunky Puzzle – This has been Sam’s favorite puzzle for over a year now. I kept this one in his crib for him to play with, but now keep it put away and brought out during rotations. Really? Any Melissa and Doug Puzzles makes a great gift!
Megabloks– We don’t personally have a set (yet, pretty sure a set is on its way…). But every time Sam sees these at church or on play dates, he bee-lines for them.
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Radio Flyer Classic Bumper Car – This thing is really cool! You can scoot around the house, and when you bump into things, it makes silly crashing noises. We have had SO MUCH fun with this. Samuel rides it all over the house, all day long. He always makes sure each of his “friends” get a turn too (Ya-ya, Ee-ee, Quack-Quack, and Woof-Woof – we’re VERY original with our names!).
All Star Sports Climber & Slide– Oh how this boy loves his slide. He loves climbing up it with rocks in his hands. Then, when he’s at the top, he drops them over the side through the basketball hoop. Score!
Little Tikes EasyScore Basketball Set– Daddy says this will be Samuel’s birthday present. Makes this basketball lovin’ mama proud. Great for gross motor skills!
Baby’s First Baseball {Teeball}– another absolute favorite! Big Papa surprised us with this little jewel on Sam’s first birthday. Not a day goes by he doesn’t play with it. It’s starting to get too small for him, but he still loves it.
Classic Wooden Figure Eight Train Set– another daily favorite! We got ours from IKEA for $9.99. Best 10 bucks we’ve ever spent! I really want to get Samuel a train table. If only I were made of money… 😉
Wooden Play Kitchen– I know, I know. A boy gift? It’s a little out of the ordinary, but Grammy got this for our toddler boy on one of our IKEA trips. He loves it, and I love it. I mostly love it because when I’m cooking, I can tell him to cook on his. I keep it in the dining room. He loves being like Mommy!
So tell me – what toddler boy gifts would you add to the list?
We have the V tech train. It’s been through two of my kids and I imagine number 3 will play with it, too. They have loved riding on it. We do keep it turned off now because I think the letters accidentally left with some toys we were donating.
We have the V-tech train and our kiddo learned to walk with it! Now we sit down and I tell him to find different letters and put them into the side of the train. It’s a great learning tool! Thanks for all the recommendations. I just sent an email to Mawmaw and Papa with some Christmas ideas. I told them I don’t want to get overwhelmed with toys at our house, but if they want to get stuff we can use for tot school, that would be okay 😉
– For some reason, our toddler refers to the VeggieTales DVDs as “shows.” I have no idea how he translated VeggieTales to “show,” but he did (I’ve since discovered, it’s the one word he picked up from the opening song!). He loves VeggieTales, especially Silly Songs with Larry! Some of our favorite VeggieTales DVDs are Jonah – A VeggieTales Movie
, Robin Good and His Not So-Merry Men
, and we will be using The Ultimate Christmas Collection
during the Christmas season.
We love Melissa and Doug toys! Thanks for the other ideas!
We do too! And you’re very welcome!
We have the V tech train. It’s been through two of my kids and I imagine number 3 will play with it, too. They have loved riding on it. We do keep it turned off now because I think the letters accidentally left with some toys we were donating.
We have the V-tech train and our kiddo learned to walk with it! Now we sit down and I tell him to find different letters and put them into the side of the train. It’s a great learning tool! Thanks for all the recommendations. I just sent an email to Mawmaw and Papa with some Christmas ideas. I told them I don’t want to get overwhelmed with toys at our house, but if they want to get stuff we can use for tot school, that would be okay 😉
That’s exactly what we say!