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20 Practical Gifts For 1 Year Old
I am bringing you a well-rounded list of practical gifts for 1 year olds (and 5 non-toy ideas!) that will support a toddler’s diverse developmental needs – physical, cognitive, and emotional!
As the owner of a Montessori-inspired Playschool and a twin toddler mom, I have experienced oh-so-many gifts for 1 year olds, and this list has got some of best, most practical ones that parents will love to see their child using.
Gifts that are functional, intentional, and with longevity, are the name of the game around here!
No noisy, overwhelming, frustrating toys here. (The truth is – toys that overwhelm and frustrate you can do the same to your child, and hinder their focus and learning).
You are sure to find something your recipient will love and use often, that will nurture their development, and that you will be happy to gift or have in your home, on this list!
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1. Zenimal Kids Meditation Audio Player
Surprised?! This is an absolute favorite for toddlers and parents alike! (And most parents who have a toddler with big feelings will most likely thank you big time for this gift!) A very thoughtful gift that will grow with a child and be well-loved!
The Zenimal is such a wonderful practical gift for 1 year olds because at this age, they have entered into toddlerhood and are becoming more aware of their emotions, their sense of individual self, and begin to express and sort through their feelings and behaviors.
The children here, ages 9 months to 5 years, love to cozy up and listen to it’s soothing meditations and sounds before nap time, when they are sad, when they are calming down, even when they are sick.
It reduces stress, encourages mindfulness, and builds resiliency.
Toddlerhood is a pivotal time for both parents and child, where as much emotional support and awareness as possible will create better long term habits, coping skills, and easier, less explosive days. So, every tool that supports this is a huge help for parents and little ones.
I love how this gift is meaningful and emotionally supportive – not something adults think of for such a young child, but it is crucial.
This gift can grow with toddlers, too. We continue to use ours daily for ages 0-5 years old! (And I’m sure they would use it beyond 5 years old, but that is the age they leave my playschool to go on to formal elementary).
2. Foldable Climbing Triangle With Slide Board
This is another excellent practical gift for 1 year olds, as it speaks to their need to grab and climb and test their evolving abilities.
We use ours here daily!
The climber is a wonderful and beautiful addition to a playroom, offering movement, balance practice, coordination practice, and more! (Did you know movement is a great way for toddlers to regulate their emotions?)
And, it is foldable! So, you can gift this to someone and even though it is a larger gift, it can be folded and stored when not in use.
All the babies and toddlers love this one, from crawlers to 5 year olds! The children here at my Playschool use the climber daily – sometimes they throw a blanket over it to make it a fort, sometimes they climb up and jump down onto bean bags, and other times they play ‘rescue team’, where some climb to the top and pull the others up.
Lots of years can be spent playing with this climber!
3. Non-Toxic Washable bath paints
These colorful bath paints make a fantastic practical gift for 1 year olds (who love and don’t love the bath!)
We use them here at bath time and during water play, and all the toddlers can’t get enough!
A wonderful activity that fosters creativity, self-expression, color recognition and winding down.
The toddlers here love to choose their own colors and create cool art then wash it all off, only to do it all over again. They easily spend 30 minutes to an hour on this!
Washable and non-toxic these are also a soap base, so they don’t add a funny goopy texture you have to clean up, but actually help with the overall washing. Win win!
I’ve gifted this to some families and they tell me it has made bath time enjoyable for their child who usually does not like to take a bath – that’s also worth noting!
4. Little Monkey Calms Down Book
This board book for toddlers is magic. I recommend it all the time.
A lot of the times, we don’t know how to talk to our young ones about their feelings and how to handle them, especially if we are heated ourselves. This book is our go-to and it resonates with every single toddler that picks it up and hears the story.
They love to see the monkey’s bold faces and watch him go from upset to better. They follow the emotional journey with him. (Oh, and there is ice cream on the first page – every toddler loves that! Haha.)
This book makes a wonderful practical gift for 1 year olds, as it normalizes feeling upset and helps them build their coping skills.
1 year olds to 5 year olds alike, enjoy sitting with this book.
We place our book, along with other must haves like my potty book –‘What Is The Potty & Why Do We Use It?’ and this toddler book about emotions – My First Book Of Emotions For Toddlers, in our peace corner, so each child has a place to go to decompress, reset, and take a break as needed throughout the day. (A game changing practice I encourage all families to get into asap to help ride out the rollercoaster of toddler emotions in a healthy way that builds their coping skills.)
And if you find that you need some emotional release because of the demands of motherhood, you can check out my mom stress relief coloring book. Moms like to color this book while their toddler colors their own, or naps. Art has a way of being a very soothing form of therapy.
This is sure to be a gift the child and parents would not have thought of but will be very thankful for!
5. Toddler Lawn & Beach Chair With Shade Canopy
A special outdoor chair of their own!
This quickshade chair is a perfectly practical gift for a 1 year old that will grow with them!
Whether it’s in the backyard for a picnic or at the beach eating their snack, this chair is will give them a comfortable place to sit alongside mom and dad on any family outing for years to come, and provides built in shade.
Some 1 year olds are sturdier than others, so they may need help getting up and down, but all the little ones love these chairs here! And I love that they can suit a 1 year old, a 3 year old, or a 5 year old!
It folds up all as one piece, making it really easy to fold down and pack on the go. And the little cup holder is great for putting their milk or water in (they are so happy to have a designated spot just for their cup!).
6. Sit & Spin Spinner Seat
Movement is so important whether a child is in or outdoors, being read to or taking a break from playing with others! Movement is medicine.
This is practical gift for 1 year olds is another toddler favorite! It’s so cute to see them check it out, see how it works, and slowly build up the coordination to spin on it.
My older toddlers who are the busier bodies, love to use this during story time, music time, dance parties, and free play.
It gets daily use from children 6 months to 5 years old!
Such a great toy to get those wiggles out, practice coordination, and have some fun!
7. Alphabet & Number Felt Board
One of my absolute favorites! And the toddlers love it, too!
This is a fantastic language development toy that is hands on, sensory, and engaging.
1 year olds love sorting the letters, lining up the numbers, placing them on the felt, pulling them off – over and over!
This is a highly useful and practical gift for 1 year olds, that will easily grow with your toddler as they begin to recognize more letters, practice counting, match letters, practice letter sounds, and form words.
I love that this has upper and lowercase letters, as many toddlers entering school aren’t familiar with lowercase, since many mainstream toys only have uppercase letters.
It’s soft and folds up, so storing it is easy. We keep ours on the wall in the nursery and do letter matching, word building and so forth, before nap time.
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8. Melissa & Doug stacking + Sorting Train Set
Many families have stacking rings in their home. This uses those same skills your child has mastered, and takes it to the next level!
This sorting and stacking train is a wonderful practical gift for 1 year olds that speaks to their current skills and offers hand-eye coordination, problem solving, creativity and movement! Excellent for counting and color recognition, too!
And in case you didn’t already know – with most all girls and boys, trains are always a favorite toy!
This is in daily use here!
9. Coin & Ball Drop Object Permanence Box
So simple and such a favorite! Most of the babies, from as early as when they start to sit and control their arms and hands, until up to 4+ years old, really love this toy. Not a day goes by that someone isn’t using it multiple times a day.
A wonderful practical gift for 1 year olds allowing them to practice hand-eye coordination, motor skill development, and learn about object permanence and cause and effect!
Sometimes, with the older toddlers, we use the coins to count or match colors, in addition to dropping them in. A few of the kids like to line them all up, or place them in a little purse like real money, or put them on the eyes of teddy bears, haha! Never without imagination these little humans, that’s for sure!
10. Baby’s First Balance Bike
This ‘my first balance bike’ is an exciting and practical gift for 1 year olds who are on the move!
Encouraging movement and balance, they will be well on their way to riding a bike independently with less tears and fears!
The toddlers here love to use this in and outside, even on walks. Using a balance bike is the most natural way for a toddler to learn and practice balance on their own and they really enjoy having the control as they learn.
It’s really fun and cute to watch them just begin exploring how to use it. Soon, they have mastered it and are zooming around the house or neighborhood!
11. Instrument Set
This instrument bundle is a wonderful practical toy for 1 year olds! Your child will be able to use and love this for many, many years.
For this musical instrument set, you have lots of opportunity to set out a single instrument or a few instruments for your child to bang on, blow into, dance around with and build their skills with. What will they love using the best?
All the babies and toddlers LOVE LOVE LOVE music time here! (We actually have a band name and all the kids clearly love certain instruments – so cute!)
To minimize noise overload, I have the music items placed up on a shelf only I can reach and we have designated times for music play, when everyone is free to use and choose what they’d like. I do this because I have a mix of ages in one setting, which means sometimes a baby is sleeping. So, I do need to monitor noise a few times throughout the day to make sure everyone can sleep.
If you have a baby and a toddler at home, this is a great way to allow for music time they love, while also accommodating baby’s needs. It’s also a good idea if you are sensitive to noise, too. Maybe you have music time at 11am or 3pm, when everyone is awake and ready for noise.
12. Jumbo Melissa & Doug Knob Puzzles
Knob puzzles like this make excellent practical gifts for 1 year olds because they help with gripping the pieces, so the toddler can focus on matching the shapes and colors.
As a Montessori-inspired Playschool owner, it’s important to me that I offer activities that avoid unnecessary frustrations, and allow for the young toddlers to focus so they can complete and master things. This is when learning is at it’s peak. And knobs on puzzles, for little hands is a big help!
You can see all the puzzles I love, here in my Amazon Shop.
Too tiny of puzzle pieces at this age can be a choking hazard and too difficult for them to grip and place, depending on their pinching and gripping skills, so a larger puzzle with knobs like this is perfect.
Likewise, it can grow with them! After they learn how to place them, they can begin to learn the names of them and so forth. I still use ours with our 3 and 4 year olds for spelling and reading practice, practicing colors in Spanish, and more!
13. Emotions Card Set With Real Faces
This is a not-so-obvious practical gift for 1 year olds!
Truth is – babies and toddlers are extremely in tune with the vibe and body language of those around them. It’s built-in for communication, even before they can speak. They are also very visual.
So, introducing visual cards like this and mirroring the images can be a very powerful teaching tool when putting names to the emotions people are feeling and they are feeling, too. They aid in growing a toddler’s emotional intelligence and coping skills.
Helping toddlers become mindful and aware of their feelings and actions, is a big focus here at my Playschool, as it helps them so much in the now and forever in the future. This is my favorite book for teaching emotions to toddlers.
I learned early on, how describing what feelings were, and how those feelings drove behaviors, really helped in shaping more positive behaviors from toddlers, and created a calmer, more connected adult-child dynamic.
We keep these in our peace corner and read our emotions book daily.
If you haven’t heard of a peace corner, I cannot recommend enough that you read more about what it is and it’s intended use. I highly recommend it for every household, especially with toddlers. You’ll find it’s such a beautiful addition to your home that is teaching your child how to understand and manage their natural feelings in a healthy way.
The Montessori Toddler is a great book to pick up to learn more about all things Montessori, like a peace corner, if you’re looking to dive deeper and create a calmer, more connected home.
14. Push Toy Shopping Cart & Doll Stroller
Oh my, talk about daily use!
This is not a toy that will sit around in the corner and catch dust.
For toddlers who are just starting to experiment with walking, all the way to the 5 year old preschoolers, this is a daily staple!
This is an excellent practical gift for 1 year olds, allowing them to fill and empty the basket, get practice standing, balance, and walking.
The toddlers here love to fill the cart with foods from the play kitchen, dolls, their favorite books, trains – all sorts of things – and even play shopping, ‘take their baby for a walk’, delivery service, ambulance, and more!
Lots of creativity and movement with this toy that is sure to be one of their all-time favorites and used daily.
15. Large Animal Figurine Set with Book
These realistic animal figurines with corresponding book of descriptions, is a great practical gift for 1 year olds!
In today’s mainstream toy selection, it can be hard to find things that are realistic and life-like, like these.
This figurine set will be loved, lined up, counted, sorted, stacked on blocks, splashed with in the bath, and more! They are easy to include in all sorts of learning, and will hold up for years!
I like to sit during story time and read through the book while they hold the animals. As the toddlers get older, they can flip through the book on their own, find the animals, read the names of the animals, and match where they are from on a map. I set out a pair of binoculars with this book and the toddlers love it!
16. Indoor or Outdoor Trampoline
We’ve had ours for years, in and outside, and it is certainly a daily staple!
This trampoline is a wonderful, intentional and practical gift for 1 year olds!
They get to practice balance, expand their bodily awareness and skills, and move their bodies in one of the most fun ways for young kids – bouncing!
The grip bar makes learning to use it and balance on it easy for little hands and bodies, and as they hone their skills they will most likely start to fling their little legs up on that bar.
Toddlers from 1 to 3, and preschoolers 5 to 6, love this trampoline! There are lots of years, jumps and fun ahead with this gift.
17. Melissa & Doug Pound + Roll Ball Drop Tower With Hammer
A wonderful, intentional and practical gift for 1 year olds! This toy offers the repetition they love, encourages movement, hand-eye coordination, and teaches cause and effect.
The young toddlers here sit with this toy multiple times each day for 10+ minutes.
I’ve found that this can easily grow with a toddler as well because you can expand with it and practice counting, sorting, color recognition, and more with the materials!
I notice that many of the toddlers really enjoy watching the balls go down the track, especially when calming down or taking a break from more busy play. It’s visually soothing!
18. Outdoor Mud Kitchen
This outdoor mud kitchen will be used for years, making it an perfect practical gift for 1 year olds that will have longevity!
If the child is a walker – they will love scooping water, filling pots and pans, mixing and scooping dirt, pretend cooking and more!
If the child isn’t yet walking, they will likely love pulling up on the kitchen, balancing and splashing around in the mud, opening and closing the door, and more!
Being outdoors with nature improves cognitive function like concentration, even higher academic performance, and is one of the most healing, self-regulating things children and adults can do, so if the family receiving this gift has the outdoor space, a mud kitchen will be a fantastic open-ended toy addition.
This is always the first thing the toddlers here run to when they go outside. They literally can spend hours using it!
I especially love how they can fill up the water and actually use the spiget!
19. Jumbo Wooden Multi-Side Play Cube
The busy cube is an excellent practical gift for 1 year olds, especially ones who aren’t yet walking because it motivates them to pull, stand, and waddle around while engaging with this toy!
All the 12 month olds LOVE this cube. Lots of colors and interesting activities for them to explore, matching animals to their foods, moving the circles along the metal wire tracks, spinning the gears, and my favorite – it encourages them to pull up, stand, balance, focus, even walk around the cube on their own!
I’ve continued to use this with older toddlers too, during what I call ‘focused play’, where they sit with me 1:1 and – count all the different colors, identify shapes, and name the first letters of the animals they see.
It’s definitely a very useful and beloved toddler toy!
20. Their Own Playroom Mirror
Surprised? Haha! Adding a mirror into your toddler’s play space is a wonderful way to let them see themselves, recognize features, practice self care, self awareness, self acceptance, understand expressions and so much more!
We love this little mirror here! (We also have a toddler-safe full body mirror here by the door and the children love it so much! I used gaffer tape to frame the edges for safety.)
I got this several years ago for one of the little girls here at my Playschool who was turning one and she was obsessed with it for about a year and a half!
Great for developing visual senses, building a sense of identity, improving focus, object tracking, and building language skills, too!
I placed this mirror on the wall, close to the floor so she could sit and see herself anytime. She ended up bringing toys she wanted to play with, right in front of the mirror, and playing with them there several times throughout the day – so cute!
Sometimes during story time, I’d sit all the children near the mirror and use the emotional flashcards, and everyone would take turns looking at their own expressions in the mirror.
All the children love to play, dance, play dress up, do affirmations, and check out their messy face or outfit in the mirrors!
What Can I Buy Instead Of Toys?
I am all about the non-toy options as often as possible and many families ask for ‘no toys’ because they are often overloaded with them and have a home that is cluttered and noisy, and already overstimulating them.
Here are 5 excellent non-toy gifts for 1 year olds that they whole family will appreciate, too:
1. Zoo tickets
2. Certificate for indoor soft play
3. Swim lesson certificate
4. Aquarium day passes
5. Lunch gift card for a family lunch on you
What Toys Should My 1 Year Old Be Playing With?
1 year olds are leaving the baby stage and entering into busy toddlerhood. Having toys that are physically, emotionally, and developmentally beneficial, will make the most well-rounded days for nurturing their needs and growth.
It’s important to note that your child will also begin to show preferences, natural skills, and areas where they struggle – paying attention to this can help you decide which toys they will truly use and benefit from as they blossom into themselves.
I follow a Montessori-inspired approach when it comes to toys, as often as possible, and here are the 5 key focal points of Montessori activities for toddlers:
- language development
- arts and crafts
- practical life
- music and movement
- hand-eye coordination
What To Consider When Buying Toys For Your 1 Year Old
- Less and intentional, is far better than more and flashy for learning, focus, and appropriate stimulation (vs over stimulation).
- Open-ended toys that are minimal and focus on building one skill, will improve concentration, focus, give them a sense of mastery and not overwhelm, frustrate them, or hinder their learning.
- Items that allow them to do practical life things (like a quickshade chair above or the toddler mirror above), will really make them feel a sense of belonging, comfortability, and calm in their setting. It also will foster independence, matching their setting to their skill level and their innate desire to have control and do things for themselves.
- Having toys and activities stationed around the house that they can access on their own and use with their current skillset independently, will make for a very curious, calm, and entertained toddler that is learning and expanding their skills all throughout the day!
- Longevity is also important to me personally, and it may be for you as well. I like knowing that something I buy has function and purpose for years to come.
- Having toys that will grow with your child will help keep your home less cluttered, will allow your toddler to cherish more of their toys, and will have you spending less on random, poor-quality stuff.
The list of practical gifts for 1 year olds I shared with you above will give you a great start to a balanced toy selection!
It’s also important to note that small pieces can be choking hazards at this age, so making sure that toys are sturdy, with bigger parts, is important.
Toy Organizing Tips
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Designate a space for 8-10 toys at a time and store the rest. Since I follow a Montessori-inspired approach, I rotate toys out, which keeps things less cluttered, more focused, easier to clean, and exciting for the children. Having a clear, minimal area that’s dedicated solely to the 8-10 toys is key. You don’t want piles or too many in one spot.
- Use a safe, toddler-accessible shelf or woven bins on the floor to keep sets separate from other toys and all together, and ready to use. Not only does it help keep the toys organized, but it adds an inviting atmosphere for your child to explore and learn.
- Sort stored toys into categories. This helps keep the toys organized and makes it easier to find things quickly and easily.
- Label containers of stored toys. Labeling containers is a great way to keep Montessori toys organized. This will help keep the toys sorted and make it easier for your child to know what goes where.
- Utilize vertical space. Don’t forget to make use of vertical space when organizing Montessori toys. This can help keep things tidy and make the space feel more organized.
- Make cleaning up fun and part of the rules of your family and home. “we play and we put away.” “We all help in this family.” “It’s quicker when we all work as a team.” Cleaning up doesn’t have to feel like a horrible chore! Make it natural, normal or even fun by turning it into a team effort with a playful song or some favorite music playing, or even a game or challenge for your child. This can help make the process more enjoyable and keep your Montessori toys organized, regularly.
- Sit toys/sets on wooden trays with handles so your toddler can grab the tray with all the toys pieces easily, transport it to the table or floor, then put everything back on the tray when putting the toy away.
If you need trays to to start doing more Montessori-inspired activities, here they are.
Want to see all the play items (and toddler or parenting books, and baby led weaning and potty training supplies) that I recommend in my amazon shop? You can see them here.
And there you have it! Let me know in the comments below what your favorite practical gift for 1 year olds is and which you are most excited about from this list!
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