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Someone special in your life is approaching their first birthday! How exciting!
You are probably here to find gift inspiration.
I’ve put together a list of items we have and others we would love to own.
These thoughtful gifts will be beneficial to the little birthday boy or girl.
First, let’s take a look at some gifts my daughter has received. These are toys and items we have in our home and love. If I couldn’t find the exact version I found something very similar.
Take a look at these items and the reasons why I recommend them.
Galt Pop Up Toy
Click to take a look at the Galt Pop Up Toy. This toy is great in that it can be broken down into four stages.
1. Take the sticks out
2. Put the sticks in
3. Put the sticks in with proper color matching
4. Push the sticks down to make them shoot out
In the beginning present it to your baby with the sticks in the slots and allow them to pull the sticks out.
The next step is to present it with the sticks already out and demonstrate how to put the sticks into the slots.
Once you are working on matching by color have your child work on that.
And finally, you can teach them how to push down on the sticks and they will shoot out of the toy. This is advance and will take time to learn.
This toy is compact and only contains 5 pieces. Not something that will get scattered around the house or take up much space.
I love the simplicity of this toy, yet it has the ability to grow with your baby.
Puzzles with Large Pegs
Our daughter received a beautiful puzzle with large pegs. It is still a bit advanced for her and she is constantly putting the pieces in her mouth. We are holding off on allowing her to play with this quite yet.
Some many suggest waiting until the next birthday or maybe Christmas for puzzles. That is completely fine.
But maybe by 20 months, your little one is ready to start exploring them. I would rather have things to challenge my baby available. From 12-24 months there is so much growth that takes place!
Pro-Tip: Unique shapes are going to be more difficult when your baby is first introduced to puzzles. The easiest shape to put into a puzzle is a circle. It fits any way you rotate it. You could find a single circle puzzle or a set of three circles in various sizes.
The links below are for puzzles similar to what my daughter received.
Farm Animals
Single Circle
Three Circles
Ring Stacker
When it comes to the classic stacking ring toy they can be found with two major differences. Some have the peg you put the piece on forming the pyramid-like shape. Other versions do not have the center peg. The pieces just rest on top of one another. I believe this is referred to as nesting pieces.
We have one of each. Our version with the rings and the peg is small in size. They are the colors of the rainbow and made of wood.
The version we have without the center peg is a jumbo set with more neutral colors, but you can get it in the classic rainbow colors. And when I say jumbo this thing is huge. It is over 16 inches tall. These pieces rest on top of each other.
We modified it for our daughter and took some of the pieces off the bottom away so the tower isn’t as large. When we feel she is ready we will add them back in.
Both are great and come with pros and cons. The center peg can be a challenge at certain ages but is also something to master.
Our daughter just recently figured out how to nest the jumbo stacker. She can do it all except the top piece. She is now 14 months old.
Small Ring Stacker
Jumbo Stacker
Shape Sorter
You can find many different versions of shape sorters. There are buckets, basic squares, and even pull toys that the shapes can be sorted into. You have the structure itself and then all of the small shapes to put into it to sort.
Pro-Tip: I will warn you, if you plan to purchase a wooden one check to see if the shapes are plastic or wood if it matters to you. Often the box is wood, but the pieces are in fact plastic.
Consider the number of shapes and difficultly you want for your baby. You could purchase two different shape sorters. The first could have 3 easy shapes and the next could up the difficulty with more like 10 shapes to sort.
Another option is to purchase the advanced option but modify it for your child. You could remove all of the difficult shapes. You could also tape over the holes for the shapes you removed. (If your child won’t eat the tape!)
Once again the circle is the easiest shape, which would be followed by the oval. Always start there.
We have also found that we can preload the shapes in the beginning. Our daughter would just push them in. She didn’t have to do any matching.
Our daughter has also enjoyed the shapes in different ways. We work on passing them from hand to hand. She can hold to two shapes in the same hand, which she thinks is awesome. We also put a shape in each hand and tap them together to make noise.
Keep in mind with any toy you can modify it to make it go from simple to difficult. It can grow with your child and have a longer life.
Rainbow Stacker
The rainbow stacker is the hot item for Montessori shelves. I am not pretending to be a Montessori parent; however, we do gravitate toward their views on toys. I am making an effort at taking pieces from Montessori and applying them in easy ways.
The rainbow stacker can be straight or set on an angle. We mistakenly got the angle. Whoops!
I think straight stands up more easily.
Straight
Angled
This is a toy that is very open-ended and could be used for many years to come. Right now we just pass the pieces to each other and name the colors while doing so. We stack them up at times and let our daughter push them down.
Baby Doll
Whether you have a son or a daughter a baby doll makes a great gift. You can teach your little one to love and care for someone else.
If you plan to have another baby or you have little cousins it is a great way to teach them to be gentle with babies.
Little boys have just as much chance to grow up and be parents as little girls. There is no guarantee they will show interest in the baby doll, but why not give them the opportunity.
Toothbrush
If you haven’t purchased and started using a toothbrush this is a great time to do so! Make sure you use safe toothpaste or consider starting with only water.
Hairbrush
Your baby may or may not need a hairbrush yet, but it may be a good time to go ahead and purchase one. We found a beautiful set.
Rainbow Nesting/Stacking Cups
We have a set of ten plastic stacking cups.
Ten is a lot for our little one to handle at a time. We typically split them up into different areas for now. Two are in the car. About four are in the bath and others the in the play area at home. As our daughter gets older and can make the full stack we will reunite the group of cups.
Once again I love that these are multipurpose. We started off creating a tower and letting our daughter knock it down. She would laugh and laugh.
Then we taught her to shout noises into the cup and hear how the sound changes. We would do this and she learned to mimic us. So fun!
Next, we started working on nesting the smaller cup within a larger cup. She has just gotten the hang of this. The next couple of steps will be to turn the cups over and stack them to create a tower herself and then also to be able to use the cups in color recognition.
The remaining items on the list are those we do not own. These are gifts that I think would be great to receive.
Pikler Triangle
I want this so bad! It is a great indoor climbing toy.
This would have been so entirely wonderful to have for the winter months when you are most likely stuck inside. If we had a larger home and they weren’t so expensive we would get one in a heartbeat!
If you are unfamiliar with it click here to check it out.
There are many types you can purchase. Some are collapsible while others are not, so watch for that if it is important for you.
You can get multiple pieces that work together and change the setup that way.
Your baby can use them under the age of one. You just want to be looking on to help them if needed.
The idea behind it though is independent climbing. Ideally, they will only do what they can handle. The caregiver is not supposed to help them climb it for example.
Learning Tower
Learning towers are most often used in the kitchen. Your little one can help in the kitchen with food preparation. They can learn to put together their own snack or arrange food on their plate. This is a way for them to feel included in the kitchen where everything is designed for adults.
This is also great for craft-type activities.
There are many different versions of this as well so look for what you think will work best in your kitchen.
Jumbo Crayons or Chalk
Crayons are great for rainy or winter days while chalk gives you a reason to get outside. Your little one can start to learn cause and effect. When they mark on the paper or concrete it leaves behind a colorful mark.
While 12 months may be a little young for these activities, somewhere around 18 months they may be ready for them. Go ahead and make it part of their birthday gift. Store it away and then get it out and surprise them.
Jumbo Crayons
Jumbo Chalk
Musical Instrument Set
I know some parents would kill Grandma for getting their child a set of musical instruments.
Yes, they create noise, but how many other toys do you have that create noise? At the end of the day if you can’t handle the music skip this one.
I think it would be so cool to see our little one experimenting with these instruments. They can once again learn cause and effect. If I move it this way it creates this noise.
Budget
Before you get too far into looking at what gifts to purchase sit down and decide on a budget.
Think about how many kids you have now or how many you will have in the future. How much should you realistically be spending?
Also, keep in mind children get more expensive typically as they grow. They need sports gear and school supplies. Now maybe a good time to keep the birthday budget low.
Decide your budget and stick to it. Remember your baby won’t remember how much you spend on them.
Other family members will be purchasing gifts. Your baby will get plenty.
And finally, if you buy too much stuff now you won’t have things to get them for Christmas or the next birthday.
Don’t break the budget!
Types of Gifts
Needs
Needs include items such as a pair of tennis shoes. Depending on when your little one takes their first steps and what season it is they may be ready to start wearing shoes and exploring the world.
Some would argue that this isn’t a gift. I, however, do not feel that way at all! They will be excited to open their new shoes and to wear them. There is no reason to skip on gifting your baby with gifts they need.
Wants
At age one your baby likely isn’t expressing what they want. This is where you still get to decide on what fun gifts to give them. Something that could be considered a want is a baby doll.
Practical
Practical is very similar to needs. Practical could be something like pajamas or a hairbrush. You may not desperately need the item at the moment, but it is a useful thing to have.
The learning tower is a great example. This is not a need, especially if you cannot afford it. However, I do think it is a very practical gift and can get daily use.
Educational
Puzzles fit the bill here. Anything related to colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and sorting can all be educational. It is very easy to make a toy educational at this age. Every moment of their lives is a learning opportunity.
Open-Ended
Toys in this category can fit into others as well. I want to highlight it though because it is important. Blocks, baby dolls, and animal figures can be open-ended toys for your baby to play with in whatever manner they desire.
Blocks can be stacked, lined up, sorted by color and so many other things. They are open-ended because there isn’t just one way to play with them.
Gift Preferences
You may have noticed my list does not include any battery-operated toys. We do have a few in our home. We are not completely anti-battery; we just aim to limit battery-operated toys.
Often these toys are just pushing a button. They don’t require much thought or interaction.
This is one of my gift preferences.
The easiest way to help others know what your preferences are or to give them guidance is to create a registry or wish list. This way when someone asks you can simply send them there.
You are not forcing them to purchase off the registry, but rather providing it as guidance as to what your child could use or what would fit nicely with your parenting philosophy.
Another tip is to provide your child’s clothing sizes for upcoming seasons.
Time to Celebrate!
Remember birthdays are not all about gifts. They are about celebrating this first year of life, looking back on the memories, and looking forward to the next year.
Enjoy this time watching your little one grow.
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