Toddler Gifts Under $50 That You’ll Both Love
Isn’t it time toddlers got their own holiday gift guides? To help you get ready for the holidays, we’ll be sharing a few gift guides for (tasteful and fun) gifts for toddlers for everything from stocking stuffers to big-ticket items like play kitchens and balance bikes, as well as a round-up of toddler-friendly holiday decor.
Last year I was incredibly disappointed by the gift guides out there because so many seem to focus on “kids,” and evidently that doesn’t include toddlers because there was nothing appropriate for kids under 5 on most of them.
When I created this gift guide, I tried to take into account the different age recommendations for toys since it always feels to me like the cool toys are just one age group up from where ever Benji’s at. At 6 months, the 12 month toys called to me. At 12 months, I saw so many great 18 month+ toys. And now of course, it feels like everything cool is for 3+.
But not here! If the items on the gift guide don’t meet the age requirements for your little, read on below where I share alternative favorites if you need to age up or down on some of these toys. And if you don’t see what you need, feel free to comment and ask. I’ll do my best to help you find the right thing.
A quick word on age-appropriateness. I don’t always take the age guidance on toys to be the final word. Instead, I look for what could be guiding that age recommendation.
Is it sharp or does it have little pieces that could come off and be shoved into mouths, ears, noses, etc.? No? Then it’s probably okay.
Will it break if it is thrown or smashed against something? Yes? Okay, probably not a good idea, especially if it’s easy to pick up and throw.
Those are my main criteria for whether or not a toy is “safe” for Benji.
Beyond that, I think about what Benji’s interested in, what he’s capable of, and what kind of play the toy will inspire. We really try to encourage “active play” (the child does most or all of the work to make things happen) rather than “passive play” (the toy performs for the child). Oh, I also consider how it looks, where we’ll store it, and how annoying it will be when he plays with it (aka is it noisy?).
Without further ado, let’s get to the gift guide!
Acorn Soup | Wooden Play Food | Balancing Penguins Game | Jellycat Bashful Bunny and Jellycat Cordy Roy Fox | Dragon Cape | Credit Card Machine/Play Money | Slipcover Play Kitchen Stove and Slipcover Kitchen Counter | Butterfly Wings | Running Water Play Sink
Read on for why I picked these and some alternatives if some of the items aren’t quite the right age for your own toddler.
ACORN SOUP: We’ve had this for a few months and I love having something that feels like a board game to play with Benji—it’s just such a nice change of pace. This game comes with recipe cards, wood ingredients, and a wooden spoon. The game play involves picking a recipe, finding the matching ingredients, putting them in the bowl, and then stirring. And pretending to eat the soup, obviously. TIP: I recently (a few days ago) realized I need to break down for Benji how to look for matching ingredients by asking about the color or shape of foods on the recipe card and then helping him identify those same traits among the ingredients. I found a few other well-rated games for older toddlers, too, like Sneaky Squirrel and Feed the Woozle for 3+ and Race to the Treasure for 5+.
WOOD PLAY FOOD: Play food is such a great investment for play time because they get to “make” food with you or “serve” you food and it makes them so happy. One of the reasons I love the play food that can be chopped is that when we’re trying to prep dinner in the kitchen and Benji wants attention, we can invite him to bring his knife and play food over to the counter so he can chop, too. Though, if your little one is under 2 years, maybe don’t invest in the wooden fruits and veggies just yet and instead, opt for these soft play foods that they can still cut (I wish I had known these existed before I bought the wood ones!). I didn’t because I knew he would love being able to cut the foods and even though the foods said 3+ and he was 18 months, I didn’t want to buy him another set in 18 months. However, I quickly wished I had made a different decision. For over six months, Benji would throw his wood fruits and veggies any time he got mad (which was often), and that switch would happen fast—faster than we could get the toys away from him during play. He also couldn’t cut the foods without us holding them, which was frustrating. At 2 years and 5 months, he almost never throws the play food anymore and he’s actually able to cut the food himself most of the time. But if I had seen those soft cuttable foods I linked above, I probably would have done that instead originally.
BALANCING PENGUINS GAME: This one will definitely be under the tree for Benji this year. It looks like the sort of toy that toddlers can play with on their own or with someone else, plus you could start to introduce game mechanics (à la Jenga) as they get older. If your toddler is under two, check out these wood stacking stones that are big enough to keep them safe (the pieces can’t be swallowed and it will be closer to their coordination abilities). If they’re over three, check out this beautiful coral reef stacker.
JELLYCAT STUFFED ANIMALS: Benji has a few Jellycat stuffed animals and we all just love them. They are such high quality and perfect for stuffed animal hugs. I know they’re expensive, but keeping higher quality/more expensive toys from relatives via his Amazon Wish List keeps the stuffed animals down to a manageable number. We have this fox, a similar octopus to this one or this one, a similar dragon to this one, and this monkey. I’ve always loved the Bashful Bunny (and even bought one for my niece a few years ago), but Benji’s lovey is this Mary Meyer bunny and I don’t want to risk messing with that by introducing other bunnies. (Side note: We actually have five of these Mary Meyer lovey bunnies, two for emergency kits at home and school, one for nap time at school, one for his bed, and one for backup.)
DRAGON CAPE + BUTTERFLY WINGS: Did you know kids don’t have a sense of gender until they’re at least three years-old? (According to a Netflix baby documentary I watched last year.) With that in mind, and because I wanted to give him space for non-heteronormative play (it’s hard even for me not roll me eyes as I type that, so I assume you are definitely rolling your eyes), I bought him this dragon cape and a pink tutu with glittery pink fairy wings for his Easter basket (but also to entertain him over spring break). He’s never been interested in what Denis calls “that pink monstrosity,” but I think he would love to have some butterfly wings like this or maybe some bird wings like this. He’s starting to grow out of the dragon cape, so if we can’t get a little extra length added to the part that velcros around his neck then I’m going to get him this one from MeriMeri. As a heads up, I don’t think Benji really knew what dragons were so he didn’t really care about the dragon cape until we started reading Dragons Love Tacos, and now he adores it, especially on taco night.
CREDIT CARD MACHINE: Benji has just started playing shop a few days ago and while we’ve created a makeshift credit card reader, I know he’ll love this one because it has buttons on it (buttons are life). Originally, I was planning to get him a large, old-timey-looking cash register like this one from Target or this one from Crate & Barrel Kids. But then I realized that style probably doesn’t mean anything to him because the payment he understands and sees most of the time is just the credit card part of the machine. Best of all, this little set takes up wayyyy less space than a toy cash register.
SLIP-COVER PLAY KITCHEN STOVE + SLIP-COVER KITCHEN COUNTER: If you live in a small home or just don’t want to invest a ton of money in a play kitchen, these are such a brilliant alternative! If you’re interested in a more expensive and permanent play kitchen, I’ll be including a few of those in my next gift guide (Toddler Gifts Under $200), so stay tuned!
PLAY SINK WITH RUNNING WATER: We received a similar sink in the Helper LovEvery Play Kit around Benji’s second birthday and my only wish is that we’d gotten it earlier. Littles love the feeling of water running through their hands, which they just don’t get from playing with a bowl of water. As someone who lives in a perpetually drought-ridden state, I felt so guilty letting him run the water for 20 minutes in the sink while he put his fingers under the faucet (and I still had to fight him to turn it off at that point). When the play sink from LovEvery came, it was a huge relief and a favorite toy, and even better it (mostly) ended the fighting and grasping to get to the kitchen sink. If you do opt for this, I highly recommend a splat mat (and some rags to sop up the water) for indoor play time. This is the one we use, but I also love this one.