Geeky Rascals Christmas Gift Guide for Toddlers
Picking gifts for toddlers can be a bit tricky – they probably won’t really ‘get’ the idea of Christmas, they probably WILL get bombarded with a lot of plastic tat, and quite a lot of that stuff will potentially only be used for a couple of weeks before they’re bored with it.
So, what CAN you get that isn’t a waste of money, completely irritating, ridiculously large, or way less interesting than the box it came in? Read on and find out:
Toys under £10
Alex Toys Fizzy Tints £9.99 Amazon: These little pebbles of colour can turn the bath water a totally different vibrant shade, dependent on how many of each colour you put in. Just one pebble is enough to give an obvious colour difference, and my kids love watching them dissolve and swirl through the bath – as well as discovering the different colours that you can achieve by mixing two or more colours together. Educational AND fun!
Inflatable Reindeer £1: Poundland It’s fairly kid proof, cheap enough that it’s not a worry if they DO destroy it, and fun to hug or throw around (without causing damage to other things).
Melissa and Doug Pets Sound Puzzle £9.99 ELC Toddlers will love figuring out which shape goes in which slot, and being rewarded with the relevant animal noise when they do! Just be warned though, it works using light sensors – so if your cat walks past it in the night, for example, you’re liable to end up being scared awake at 3am by random mooing. DO remember to pack it away after use!
Sainsburys Gingerbread Men/Pirates/Fairy Cake Mix + combine with Annabel Karmel Baking set £8.15 Amazon I’ve not yet met a toddler that doesn’t enjoy getting involved with baking – and this makes it easy and fun to do. The cake/gingerbread mix is simple to use and comes with everything you need bar an ingredient or two (depending on which option you go for).
ELC Nesting Eggs £5 These give a really simple way of providing hours of fun. The kids love finding the little duck hiding in the middle – and toddlers enjoy figuring out which eggs go together and how they all hide inside each other. Plus you can reuse them at Easter too!
The Scooper Hooper Munchkin £5.99 Or pretty much any Munchkin bath toy really – we’re yet to find one that the kids don’t like. This one is a particular favourite because you can use the net to go ‘fishing’, or you can stick it to the wall and throw things into it instead (which also works well after bathtime as you can leave it stuck there and use it to store the balls).
Toys between £10-£24.99
Thomas Trackmaster from around £16 upwards, depending on the set, ASDA – The fact that it’s the much loved little blue engine, combined with being motorised and able to chug around his robust plastic track happily, makes this a winner for pretty much any toddler – and it’ll last them a good few years too. Little B loves playing with it and I like the fact that it is a toy that you can add to and expand – it’s also great for toddlers with older siblings as they can join in the play as well.
Philips SoftPal Light £14.99 These are light enough for toddlers to carry around, come in a variety of favourite characters and are also great for little ones who might be moving out of their cot and into a bed for the first time. They don’t get hot and they’re squidgy so they can be hugged.
Airwalker Balloon £19.99 Party Delights These balloons are bigger than a toddler, and with lots of designs to choose from there is likely to be a character your little one will know and love. We’ve played with a giant Pinkie Pie, a Stormtrooper and an R2D2 and the bonus is that they deflate after a couple of weeks and you don’t need to worry about storing something ginormous.
Toddlebike 2 £24.99 Amazon Little B absolutely loves her Toddlebike2 – within minutes of it arriving she was happily maneuvering it around the front room with a big grin on her face. It’s really lightweight which makes it easy for toddlers to push around but also easy for parents to carry or stick in the pushchair when it’s tiny rider gets too tired. The plastic is robust enough to withstand pretty much any surface, indoor or outdoor; and being made of plastic it’s easy clean too.
Melissa and Doug pound and roll tower £12 The Entertainer It involves bashing things. Enough said, really.
It’s all wooden so it can withstand being hurled around or chewed on, and the balls run down the tower kind of like a mini marble run.
Duplo Creative Ice Cream £12.99 Amazon Duplo do some really nice sets, and again it’s a toy that you can add to and expand easily. The ice cream set is fun for younger toddlers to play around with, and as they get older it becomes great fun as part of roleplay (I’ve lost count of the number of ‘snail’ flavoured ice creams I’ve been served…
Gumigem Bubba Bag Teething Bag £21.99 Beebies Baby Store This is something a bit different to the usual teething rings or squidgy animal characters, and as well as being soothing to chew on it also provides hours of fun for younger or older toddlers. Little B loves carrying the bag around, taking things out of it, having terribly important ‘phone conversations’, and then putting everything back in again.
Tobbles Neo £19.99 Amazon Stacking cups with a difference. The spheres are weighted and toddlers can spend hours building towers and watching them wiggle, wobble and spin. Each sphere is specially created to be very tactile too. Great for helping develop fine motor skills while having fun!
Pip Squigz £13.99 Amazon These little suckers stick to a whole variety of surfaces – and they can stick to each other too, resulting in a whole range of interesting shapes and textures for toddlers to explore.
Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Piggy Bank £14.99 John Lewis
BigJigs Toys Fishing Game £10.99 Amazon
Toys between £25-£49.99
Kids 3-in-1 Activity Easel £25 Hobbycraft (or get it with everything you need to get going for £35 Great for crafty little toddlers, this easel comes with a two sides, one of which is a whiteboard for easily erasible scribbling; and a tray at the bottom to put paints/pencils/pens/whatever artistic stuff you’re using within easy reach. For an extra £10 you can get a set of paints, brushes and a paper roll to go with it – an easy start to some fun picture painting.
Bright Beats Dance & Learn BeatBo £36.99 Argos This is one of our favourite toys of the year – Litttle B absolutely loves it and so do the rest of the family. The BeatBo robot dances, sings and puts on a light show when you press one of the buttons on his feet – and he can even record and play back short clips too, remixing whatever phrase you say to him into a song.
Kid Eco rocket £28.99 (dependent on colour) Toddlers can enjoy colouring in the rocket in whichever way they prefer, before using it as a playhouse. The rocket packs away flat in a box for storage and is easily assembled and disassembled – great for individual play or with friends or siblings. Our kids absolutely love their Kid Eco Rocket and it’s lasted really well 🙂
ELC Drop and Pop Giraffe £35 Drop the balls in and watch them pop out of the legs of the giraffe. Toddlers love chasing the balls and popping them back into the top, and not knowing which leg a ball will pop out of next is apparently very exciting, judging by the giggles that we get from Little B when she uses hers!
Castle Tent £44.99 Beebies Baby Store
Toys £50+
Little Tikes 4 in 1 Sports Edition Trike £79.99 Little Tikes Of all the trikes with parent handles we have tried this is our favourite. Little B loves the alternative to sitting in her pushchair, and we find this trike easy to push and steer. The handle is adjustable, and there is enough storage in the handle bag and the tray behind the trike to handle a day out wherever you’re headed. Little B is now at the stage where she is starting to try and pedal herself, and it’s clear there is still lots of play to come as we can move the footrest back and let her have a go, whilst still giving her a helping hand until she is ready for the parent handle to be removed completely.
Strider Classic No-pedal Bike £80
V Tech Innotab Max 7 £79.99 Argos
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