Here are a few ideas that we came up with for our active little guy.
1. Toddler Backpack - Made by Deuter. We took a trip down to CA recently and Ben took along this early birthday present, stuffed full of toys and treats. He felt very grownup and was loathe to remove it.
2. Semi-truck with Cars - Made by Melissa and Doug. The boy is truck obsessed. This one is nice because it’s easy to load and the cars also fit on the wooden railroad tracks. Ben adores this thing.
3. Wood Train Set - Made by Ikea. I thought for sure this set would be a little old for our guy and that it would take a few months for him to grow into it. Surprisingly, this was the sleeper hit of the whole birthday bash. The boy has been playing trains (complete with lots of CHOO CHOOS) non-stop. We bought a few extra train cars and tracks, spending about $25 total. I’ve heard (although not personally verified, that these tracks and trains are interchangeable with other wooden sets)
4. Transit Station - Made by Plan Toys. This one incorporates both train tracks and roadways but in the end we decided it was a little pricey for us.
5. Pretend Food - Made by Ikea. Ben loves helping: in the kitchen, throwing laundry down the shoot, feeding Bailey. He actually hasn’t seen these vegetables yet, I have them stashed away for a rainy afternoon.
6. Balance Bike - Made by Skuut.We looked at this and in the end decided it might be a better gift for next year, despite its 2-5 age range. What a cute little bike though!
7. Toddler Tunnel - Made by Pacific Play Tents. My Father-in-law says that Chris adored the toddler tunnels when he was little. I myself always loved a good fort construction session and it’s vital to have a good escape tunnel. I got ours at a garage sale, although they can be purchased on Amazon.
8. Finger puppets - What can I say, the kid loves puppets, and the crazy voices that accompany them.
9. Toddler trike - Made by Radio Flyer. This is another maybe-in-six-months gift. He can technically ride it but is too short for the pedals. I found it for free though and didn’t want to let the opportunity pass me by.
10. Real live goldfish - The kid is fish obsessed. We go over to our neighbor’s house weekly to go commune with the wee beasties in the pond. Same deal at my parent’s house. So this year we came home with three new family members (dubbed “Mama”, “Papa”, and “Baby” by Ben) and we’ll keep them indoors until it’s time to release them into the great-outdoors, come springtime.
11. Picnic Set - Made by Alex Toys. Ben came home a few weeks ago asking for tea. Tea?! It took me while to figure out that his British preschool teacher was feeding the kids tea and crumpets at snack-time. He loves the whole shebang: heating the water, steeping the tea, pouring into the tiny cups so I tried to find a non-pink tea set. Nothing doing. This blue picnic set was the closest I got. So we’re all set to do picnics in the park, come summer-time. The great thing is it comes with a basket into which all sorts of little toddler treasures can be stashed and then lugged around.
[Not Pictured] Books, Books, Books - All of us are always desperate for new reading material. One can only read Barnyard Dance so many times.
Here are a few other ideas.
