A Toy Reviewer’s Guide to the Best Holiday Gifts for 1-Year-Olds

This rainmaker toy doubles as a simple musical instrument, and the falling beads are soothing and fun to watch whether you are 1 or over 40 (ask me how I know).

At around 15 months, my son started to show an interest in feeding and serving pretend water or orange juice to his toys. So I gave him a mini enamelware mug, meant for a single shot of espresso, to encourage the inklings of pretend play. That cup ultimately became one of his most prized possessions. He used it to pour and scoop water in the bath or at his water table, and to mirror us drinking with an exaggerated and satisfied “ahhhhh.” More recently, he also started serving us pretend cups of coffee in it. We only have one mug, but if I were giving a gift, I’d buy a set in different colors as well as a matching enamelwaremini jug.

Though they might look simplistic, Melissa & Doug’s jumbo knob puzzles will keep toddlers busy for a shockingly long time. My son played with this type of puzzle every single day from around 11 to 13 months old. The knobs make the pieces easy to pick up, and the puzzle is pretty indestructible, too.

Babies and toddlers love these miniature board books with animal finger puppets attached. I found out about them from fellow Strategist senior writer Lauren Ro, who loved reading them to her two kids at this age. The books are small enough to fit in adiaper bag, and the series features lots of different animals including a babypenguin,sunflower,turkey,elephant,raccoon,llama, andtiger.

Whether with fingerpaint, Play-Doh, or crayons, 1-year-olds love creating art — especially if they see big siblings drawing or painting. But mostart suppliesaren’t ideal for small, less-than-deft hands: Pencils have a dangerous point, paint makes a mess, and regular crayons snap into pieces. “Palm-grasp crayons are a great way to get young children to have interest in writing and drawing,” says Dr. Alexandra Figueras-Daniel, an assistant research professor at theNational Institute for Early Education Research. These are perfect for building fine-motor skills. and my son still reaches for them on a regular basis. They’re almost impossible to break and washable, making it easy to just hand them over and let kids go to town.

Board books that feature photographs of real everyday objects, animals, and food items are endlessly fascinating for children this age. And they’ll be even more so when they’re introduced by viral children’s-show hostMs. Rachel.

Crawl tunnels are a thrill for this age group and get big laughs, but they also help young toddlers with spatial awareness and a better understanding of object permanence. Older kids and adults know that the person whose face leans into and out of the tunnel is always nearby, but for a 1-year-old, these types of peekaboo games genuinely help them learn about how the world works. The pop-and-play tunnel offers six feet of play space, and collapses into a flat carrying case when it’s not in use. To expand the fun, you can even buy atwo-pack.

Though at this age he hadn’t shown any special preference for a stuffed animal, my son was already obsessed with toy cars and trucks — especially this set of fourfriction-powered construction vehiclesthat Ro wrote about when her elder son was 21 months old. They are perfectly sized for toddler hands, and very little effort or skill is needed to get them going and make them go really far — simply push one forward several times on the floor to build momentum before letting it go. He particularly loved “driving” them around his playpen, at the playground, under my legs, and down makeshift ramps we would construct out of board books or cardboard boxes. They are solid-feeling and have survivedalmost two years ofdaily play through sand, gravel, and the occasional puddle.

Thisbook series, which comes recommended by Ro, plays music when you press the musical-note icons throughout. “My kids like pressing the buttons more than the stories themselves, honestly, but I like that they learn about classical music even if it’s in snippets,” she says. “The illustrations are pretty, too, so the books make very nice gifts.”

Figueras-Daniel loves and recommends Boon’s bath pipes because they give kids a chance to experiment with different arrangements and observe how water flows. This kind of observation teaches kids cause and effect, which helps develop cognitive skills. In this case, it also keeps them happy and engaged while in the bathtub.

Mega Bloks are a a great firstbuilding toy. “My kids played with them from age 1 all the way to age 8,” says Shirley Kim, a mother of two who works as a clinical dietitian. The blocks’ bigger size makes them easy for small hands to grab and more appropriate for this age than, say, LEGO Duplos (which happen to make an idealgift for 2-year-olds). This set includes 80 pieces in all shapes and sizes that come packaged in a convenient storage bag.

As a little kid I loved looking at books with special features like pull tabs, flaps, and pop-ups. And while they might appreciate the magic of a door you can open or a building that lifts off the page, a lot of 1-year-olds don’t have the finesse for such things. But this ingenious book, by author and illustrator Ingela P. Arrhenius, uses felt flaps instead of paper, making it much better-suited to the littlest hands. It’s fun to watch my son proudly lift the colorful covers to reveal one of four animals and a mirror.

Children love toplay house, so why not get them their very own place? Former Eater restaurant editor Hillary Dixler Canavan recommends this low-commitment house made of cardboard, which her daughter especially loved at around 18 months.She would often sit inside it with books, or practice opening and closing the window, says Canavan. Inexpensive and customizable — it’s a blank canvas, after all — it’s a great option for city people who don’t have access to a backyard. It’s still a bit of a space commitment for apartment dwellers, at about four feet tall. But if you just can’t take it anymore, it’s easy to recycle.

ArtistAnna Bak-Kvapilloved playing with these silk scarves when her daughter was around 1. “The pure-silk nature of the scarves make them really soft and spectral,” she says, and they’re great for games of peekaboo. Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio notes that they are also a wonderful“grow-with-you” toyand very useful inpretend play. One of her own daughters wore a blue one for a couple of months straight as an Elsa cape when she was 3 years old.

This kind of squishy nesting cups held my son’s attention for a surprisingly long time. They can be stacked to create a tower or can be used as toys for water play, and because they’re BPA-free and made of 100 percent food-safe silicone, they’re safe to use as a teething toy too.

Lovevery recently launched individual toy play kits at Target — including this set of peg people where each “person” has a different-colored body that matches the stripe on its corresponding seat. I credit simple toys like this with helping my son learn to recognize colors very early on. But it’s also great for fine-motor skills and practice using the pincer grip.

The ever-popular “magic touch” piano from Baby Einstein lets children play classic tunes or create their own melodies with a gentle tap of the colored keys. As Dr. Sarah Roseberry Lytle, director of outreach and education at theInstitute for Learning and Brain Sciences, explains, “Young kids love making music and noises and exploring things like, ‘Can I make it softer? Can I make it louder? What happens when I hit it harder? Does that make it louder?’ That’s a really interesting learning process.” The piano comes with a handful of color-coded song cards that kids and parents can play together.

I fell hard for Battat’s foam ride-on rocking cow — another Toy Fair discovery — because it has a washable cover and, like a lot of otherplay furniture, is squishy yet firm and can be used in a couple different configurations. When kids aren’t rocking on it or using their feet to push and slide it across the floor, they can turn it on its side and lounge up against it. There’s also anorange carversion of this toy that’s just as adorable.

This sensory board from Fat Brain Toys is one of my favorite toy launches of the last few years. It’s basically a modular busy board that comes with magnetic tiles. Each one features a tactile activity of some sort, from switches and buttons to a spinning color wheel and a ball maze. You can switch the order of the tiles on the board or pack individual tiles in a diaper bag for play on the go. There are 12 tiles to choose from, (a starter bundle comes with the board and your choice of six tiles) and the activities vary in difficulty to keep children engaged for longer.

You’ll find this type of bead maze in most pediatrician-office waiting rooms because they are so universally loved by kids. My son played with one from around 12 months on and still gets mesmerized moving the colorful beads along the twisted wires. There are plenty of cheaper options on Amazon, but I’d go with a brand like Melissa & Doug to ensure that it lasts and none of the beads gets loose.

Dolls with changeable clothes provide opportunities for little children to use fine-motor skills in fun ways. They also help add a social element to playtime: “Toys likedress-up clothes, play phones, food, and dishes allow children to start to carry out these play routines on their own and with others,” says Figueras-Daniel, adding that this kind of play helps with language development too. Corolle’s water-safe Bébé Bath dolls come with clothes that kids can change or remove before taking them into the tub. Their eyes close when you tilt their head back, they come with their own bath toy, and there’s a tab sewn onto the back so they can be hung up to dry when bath time is done.

[Editor’s note: This toy may not arrive before Christmas.]

One thing I wish I’d bought for my son at this age is a rug with roads for driving toy cars and acting out scenes with people and animal figures.In my defense, nice-looking illustrated versions of this kind of rug are hard to find. But Janod offers them incityand “winter mountain” themes. I love the attention to detail in the drawings; there’s lots to look at, but they aren’t overly busy and would look so nice in a playroom.

[Editor’s note: This toy won’t arrive before Christmas.]

I first saw this set of lightweight cork building blocks while visiting theNew York Toy Fairand knew they’d be perfect for apartment living. Unlike traditional wooden blocks they are almost silent, even when your kid builds them up just to knock them down again — so if, like me, you’re worried about bothering downstairs neighbors at 7 a.m., they’ll definitely reduce your anxiety. They’re also waterproof and they float.

[Editor’s note: This toy won’t arrive before Christmas.]

Green Toys’s Stack and Sort Train is three toys in one: a train, a shape sorter, and a set of nesting blocks that doubles as cargo. And all the pieces store within the train cars when it’s time to clean up.

For kids who aren’t as motivated to drive themselves, the Step2 Push Around Buggy is another classic first set of wheels. It’s one of Trolio’s go-to first birthday gifts for her friends’ children, based on many memories of watching her own daughter try toGrand Theft Autothis toy whenever other kids rode in it to the neighborhood playground.

Kiwico is a Strategist-favorite brand that sells well-designed toy andSTEMkit subscription boxes for all ages. ItsPanda Crate subscriptionand toy collection is designed for kids up to 3 years old, and of all its offerings, including this toy car ramp — which you can also buy separately — has held my son’s attention the longest.Most subscription toy services have a similar style of ramp, but we like this one the best because the cars and wheels that come with it are eye-catching and can be used with the ramp or as stand-alone toys. The color-block design means they also create optical illusions when they roll; my son uses them like toddler fidgets, staring at them for minutes on end as he makes them spin.

Blabla dolls are handmade in Peru from 100 percent cotton, and you can choose between two sizes: 12 inches or 18 inches. I prefer the larger size because it’s closer to matching the size of a toddler. I bought a Blabla cat doll for my son right around the time he turned 1, and it became a constant companion; he even took it to school with him daily for several months.

The newly relaunchedToniebox(technically the Toniebox 2) now caters to younger children, making it safe and engaging for toddlers as young as 12 months old (previously, the official starting age was 3). It’s also equipped with interactive — but still screen-free — gaming capabilities that help extend the age range on the older end, so kids can play with it for longer. This bundle includes one of the new sets of My First Tonies, which are squishier Tonies for children 1 year old and up that play animal songs and sounds.

Push walkers and wagons are great for the stage when your baby begins to “cruise” or walk around the room by holding onto things. There are a lot of options to choose from, but this one from Haba is a favorite because of its stylish primary colors and multiple uses as a push wagon and stroller for dolls and stuffies. It also has silicone wheel treads and the option to increase wheel friction for babies just starting out. To slow it down even further,Zahra Kassam, a Montessori education expert, advises weighing it down with heavy books or free weights until they get the hang of it.

Even before they can walk on their own, 1-year-olds will love pulling themselves up on this indoor mini-playground. And as they grow, they’ll enjoy exploring the climber and slide in new ways. Plus, it’s easy to fold up and stow away when they aren’t using it.

Stapelstein’smini-stones are half the size of the brand’soriginal-size stonesand can be used almost exactly like their larger counterparts — stepped on, sat on, stacked, spun, used as a doll bed or bowl or drum, or just about anything else a kid can dream up. But they’re also small enough to be more easily used as play kitchen accessories or for color sorting other small toys. They’re also an ideal bath toy because they are waterproof and float. My son likes using them as little rafts for his Playmobil people and Schleich animals.

Manhattan Toy is known for its astonishingly not-ugly wooden activity centers. And when my son got to play with this space-themed model at a fellow 1-year-old’s birthday party, he could not be pulled away. He was transfixed by the beads, doors, and little explorers that travel through tunnels on a track. The details are incredible, and it’s sturdy enough to keep a wobbly baby upright. Best of all, it looks nice enough to keep in the living room.