Birthdays are Coming! This Years Toddler Wish List…

Happy New Year! 2026 has arrived, and birthdays are just around the corner - be prepared this time when friends and relatives asking you what your toddler would like for their gift. Here are my top recommendations for one, two and three year olds. These toys, books and games are engaging, durable, re-usable, and will promote play, learning and development.

Gift ideas for one year olds:

• Wooden food toys or cooking accessories (good for role play) - Great Little Trading Co. or similar are lovely

• Schleich toy animals or similar - a set of farm animals is a good start (good for small world play)

• Reusable Montessori sticker book (good for pincer grip) - you will find various on Amazon with different themes!

• Mega Bloks, Magna Tiles or Stickle Bricks (good for STEM learning via construction play!)

• Orchard Toys “Farmyard Heads and Tails” puzzle game (good for problem solving!

Gift ideas for two year olds:

• Baby doll and accessories (good for role play and learning about personal care, regardless of gender!) - Baby Born or similar!

• Toy doctors kit (good for role play and learning about health and healthcare)

• Duplo set (basically Lego for the early years - good for construction play and STEM learning)

• Toy vehicles (good for learning about the world around us and always popular!)

• Washable felt pens and a blank pad (good for mark making, creativity - I prefer to crayons because it is easier for little hands to make their marks!)

• Orchard Toys “Where Do I Live” game (good for learning about wildlife habitats and problem solving) 

• Some kind of fun, colourful and engaging ABC and 123 book (let’s start learning about literacy and mathematics nice and early!). I really love the Winnie the Pooh board books "Ten Busy Bees" and "H is for Honey" - perfect for bedtime!

Gift ideas for three year olds:

• Compare bears aka “Counting Bears”(good for speech and language development, learning about size, and so cute!)

• Tonie Box with a selection of characters (good for independence and autonomy)

• Orchard Toys “Shopping List” game (good for problem solving, learning about taking turns, and practicing good sportsmanship!) 

• Colouring book featuring their favourite characters or theme (good for mindfulness, pen control, and teamwork - colour together!)

• A Playmobil set with figures or Sylvanian Family (perfect for small world play)

• A simple Lego kit for their age-group (a great way to start learning about following instructions, plus good for problem solving skills and cognitive understanding)

• A wipe-clean pen control activity book (great for making a head start on writing and drawing skills)

• "The Colour Monster" by Anna Lenas or "The Rainbow in my Heart" by Jessica Urlichs story books - great for emerging emotional self regulation skills and emotional literacy.

• A toddler cookbook with LOTS of pictures - encourage your child to flip through often and point out new meals or snacks they think look tasty and would like to try - and help making! "The Red One" by Ella's Kitchen is a great option. Good for trying new foods!

Visit the rest of my website to find out more about my toddlerhood parenting coaching work with parents.

I hope you and your family enjoy the coming year and all it's birthdays, transitions, and transformations- get in touch and let me know your plans, I would love to hear from you!

All the best,

Isobel X