toddler gifts Archives - My Beautiful Mess

I feel how tired you are, mama. That’s why I’m sharing the best toys to get out toddler energy so they can get out wiggles and you can get rest.

This post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase through one of the links I provide, I may receive a small percentage at no cost to you. Your support helps to offset the costs incurred with this blog. I only link to things I love or own.

Toddlers seem to have never-ending energy. If you’re a mama like me with multiple toddlers it can feel like a zoo in your own home! Let’s be real though – there is no such thing as truly taming toddler energy. It’s more about finding safe ways to get it out! As a mother of boys, let me tell you, these are some of the best finds that keep my very active boys busy!

I have always found that some of the best toys at this age are the ones that encourage them to run, jump, crawl and otherwise stay active. It’s not always easy to keep the attention of toddlers which is why I love keeping them busy with things that keep them active and interested.

The Best Toys to Get Out Toddler Energy

Click on any of the pictures to purchase from Amazon

JumJoe Kids Trampoline

Both my kids absolutely adore this. Don’t be surprised if your little ones fight over it. We love this one because it has a bar that little kids can hold on to which reduces the risk of falling. Even a 20-month old will love this. Its such a great way to get out their wiggles during the day.

Little Tikes First Slide

An aunt gave us this as a gift when my oldest was about a year old and let me tell you, it has become a favorite in our house. We personally keep this indoors in our playroom, but you could use it outside. We love keeping inside for rainy days or summer days when we want to stay cool indoors and still get out bursting energy. My oldest is almost five and it is still a favorite of his. Definitely worth the $30!

Little Tikes Easy Score Basketball

We really grew to love this indoor/outdoor basketball hoop. What is great about this toy isn’t just that it gets the wiggles out, it also helps them work on eye and hand coordination. This has also become a favorite when we have playdates. It comes with 5 balls so multiple kids can play at one time. Also, it comes in pink for your girls. You can find it on Amazon for $29.99

Step2 Rain Showers Splash Pond Water Table

I love water tables. They are wonderful for hot summer days. But best of all, they keep little hands busy. I swear this keeps my little guys busy for so long! I grab my coffee, sit on the porch and let them splash and play. It gets them outdoors and it’s also a safe, fun, sensory experience. There are lots of great water tables out there, but we like this one.

Big Wheels

Who had a big wheel growing up, raise your hand! I loved ours when I was a kid. We had a smurf one. That should tell you what era I’m from! Today, my kids love this one. It’s been a lot of fun to watch them ride this around the neighborhood. Big wheels are fun because there is no risk of falling they are low to the ground. There are lots of big wheels that are centered around a cartoon-like Minions and Disney princesses, but I’m including this classic Radio Flyer one.

Little Tikes T-Ball Set

We love this t-ball set and play with it outside in the backyard. This is great for eye-hand coordination. It also makes your little one run to fetch the ball when they hit it. Thank goodness for toys like this one that wears their little legs out before naptime.

ToyVelt Kids Golf Club Set

This toy is a lot of fun, especially if daddy golfs as well. You can do this indoor or outdoor, but I’ll tell you being on grass makes it harder for them to hit and control the ball. We prefer to do it on the carpet inside. It retails for about $25 on Amazon.

5pc Kids Ball Pit Tents and Tunnels

This is one of our favorite toys! Honestly, we love doing this as an indoor activity. This is a great way to get out toddler energy on rainy days. We set this up and let them play away. It’s funny how much they squeal crawl – and all that crawling tires them out! One thing that is really nice about this is that crawling babies, toddlers and preschoolers can use it. I love toys that grow with my kids for a few years and this is one of them. Just remember you’ll need to buy the balls separately.

Little Tikes Easy Score Soccer Set

This is fun for both girls and boys alike. If you are considering putting your little one in soccer, this can be a great tool to gauge their interest. I definitely recommend using this outside. Let your little one run to their heart’s content and work on eye-foot coordination at the same time. Available on Amazon for about $32.

Little Lab Creations 67″ 4-in-1 Inflatable Splash Pad

Once the weather is warm enough we love going outside to run around, but here in Texas, weathers can be wildly hot. So we love to bring out the splash pad to stay cool in the warmer months. It’s so fun to watch the kids run and jump in the water. Dare I say that nap time almost always follows this fun activity!

Eezy Peezy Monkey Bars

Once you have a toddler you realize they love to climb! So how about giving them a place to channel it instead of on coffee tables and furniture. The nice thing about this is that it grows with them for a while. It’s safe for almost eight years of age.

Nova Kids Seesaw

I loved teeter-totters as a child. I would have loved to have one at home. This might be better suited for older toddlers closer to the preschool age, but I still included it because I know three-year-olds who love it. Also, seesaws work best when you have kids around the same weight. Under $50 on Amazon.

As a mama of a toddler and preschooler, I know how tired you are, mama. Keeping kids entertained is a full-time job and they move from one toy to the next. I know that you are constantly battling the clutter of toys which is why I like toys that keep them active. It seems to keep their interest a little more, especially if you applaud for their performance. It keeps them physically healthy and makes sure they are good and tired before bedtime. Don’t forget to PIN this post for later, especially when people ask about birthday gifts for your kiddo.

See Some Of My Other Shopping Guides

Stumped on what to put in your child’s stocking? I’ve got a great list of stocking stuffers for babies & toddlers to take some of the guess work out of Christmas shopping!

Hey there, friend. Christmas time is here and you may be struggling on what to put in your child’s stocking. So I’ve put together a quick guide of stocking stuffers for babies & toddlers. In full disclosure, some of these may not fit in the actual stocking. These small, inexpensive gifts are some of my families favorites! We personally love all these items, which is why I am suggesting them.

As always, use your best judgement when it comes to age appropriateness. Just because something is marked for a certain age, doesn’t always mean it’s right for your little one. Mamas know best!

Under 6 Months

As a mom I know I always appreciated clothes as gifts because they go through them so quickly and clothes are surprisingly expensive. But I absolutely loved some of the items I’m sharing today.

It seems like when your child starts drooling and teething it seems like it happens before are fully able to grasp items well. That’s where some of these things really come in handy. Some of our favorites were drooling bandana bibs. They have an attached teether on them. This keeps it fairly clean since it isn’t falling on the floor all the time and it’s always handy. Same goes for the munch mitt. This was a favorite by both my boys. Its a mitten that is secured to their hand. They can munch away on it without it dropping to the floor all the time! If you haven’t tried Baltic Amber for teething, I highly recommend it. Amber (genuine) has natural healing properties and it is a great soother for sore gums.

Feeding spoons always come in handy and my boys loved wrist and foot rattles. This made floor play super fun and it was handy even when they were in the stroller. Both my boys were disenchanted with tummy time. I received the water pad / mat as a gift and it turned tummy time around for us. It is a non-messy sensory experience and the water is very soothing to babes.

When your baby is first born their retina isn’t fully developed and therefore their vision is also undeveloped. They see high contrast images better. Thats why high contrast books, like this one are a great choice for newborns and young babies.

6 to 12 Months

With a little one, I always felt like I never had enough bibs and socks. Socks always seem to disappear in the wash and between starting solids and the constant dribble of teething, I felt used bibs like they were going out of fashion!

Six to twelve months is a great time to start introducing spatial reasoning. This is an early math skill. Believe it or not, at six months, children begin to be curious about the relationship of objects’ size, distance, direction, and space. You’ll notice your little will try to stack objects which makes stacking rings, bowls, and cups an awesome toy. They’ll also start trying to fit objects inside another which is a great time to start introducing shape sorters. They’ll need your help with it for a while, but it’s a great time to introduce it. Additionally, babies enjoy feeling things with different textures, which is why sensory balls and toys make a great addition to your play area.

Ages 1 to 2 (12 to 24 months)

At about a year old, your child’s world becomes colorful! You’ll find they are now interested in objects that are bright in color. Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a great book for learning animals, colors, and the noises they make all in one easy board book. My boys learned all their animal sounds with this book by 18 months.

You’ll also notice your little one loves bath time and this is actually another play time for her. This is where bath toys like squirters and stick-on-the wall pipes become super fun. I also used bath time as an opportunity to teach colors. I used color drops (below) and I would put toys that coordinated with that color (e.g. green water, green toys). Finger paints are great for both a sensory experience and learning colors. If you are worried about a mess, take it outside or you can do what I did – we did it in the bathtub! It’s easy to hose them down afterwards and the mess is contained. Palm crayons are awesome for kids of this age that might get frustrated with traditional crayons.

Also, your little one will be very interested in things that make noise like play phones and musical instruments. This is also a great time to read as your babies language is starting to develop at rapid speed. Board books are great at this age because they can’t destroy them.

Ages 2 to 3 (24-36 months)

Congratulations, you have a busy bee who wants to copy everything you do! This is a great age to start introducing play kitchens, household sets, play food, and other pretend toys are always loved items.

Kids love to play outside in the dirt. My son loved having his own little garden tool set where he could play in our garden bed. Kids of this age also are interested in fine motor activities which is an early writing skill. Fishing toys, lacing toys, dot markers, even wooden puzzles are great for this.

This is also a great time to work on the alphabet and counting. All kids are different, but my oldest was able to count to ten and knew his alphabet by 36 months.

Around this time, I started to introduce a rimmed sippy cup to my toddler to help transition him to a normal cup. Also the Munchkin snack catcher is one of favorites! It’s great for holding puffs, goldfish and other toddler snacks without crazy spills. Stuff can still fall out, but it certainly mitigates messes.

Ages 3 to 4

As you start approaching preschool age, fine motor activities will be a forerunner to writing. We loved using fine motor tools in our sensory bins.

Pattern blocks and counters are great teaching tools and it feels like play time to them. These are great for developing early math skills with patterns, shape, and color recognition. This is also a great time for them to start learning their name and a name puzzle is a great fun way to do that before learning to write it. Magnetic writing boards and mess free painting like Water Wow are fun pre-writing activities.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of stocking stuffers for babies & toddlers. Hopefully, it will take some of the headache out of Christmas shopping. Don’t forget to PIN this post for later. Also, be sure to take a look at how to make Christmas special with a Hot Chocolate Bar.

Tag: toddler gifts

The Best Toys to Get Out Toddler Energy