Best Gift Ideas for Toddlers

This list contains affiliate links and I may get a SMALL (seriously, so small) commission on your purchase without any additional cost to you!

I am a very practical gift giver, and I put a lot of thought into "Ok, how many pieces is this", "Is this something that can span MULTIPLE age ranges", "Will they get overstimulated using this", and of course "Will this wear out my 3 toddlers under the age of 4?".

I wrote up a post about my favorite stocking stuffer ideas for toddlers, but if you are looking for the best big gift ideas for your toddlers, like something to put under the tree or maybe from family members, here are some of our favorite items that we own, and some that are on our wishlist as well!

1. STURDY Indoor Play Tent: If you are looking for STURDY, I highly HIGHLY recommend this California Beach Co one. We have used this inside (with ball pit balls, warning, do not buy more than 100), outside at sporting events, and even as a crib/sleep area on vacation. Cannot recommend it enough.

2. Aesthetic Play Tent: Aka a "sit tent" because there will be no "playing" in this tent unless it is with your imagination and whispers. If you are looking for a cutesy, not super sturdy but aesthetically pleasing, here are some I like. I thought this would be a super cute idea and that the kids would love it and they REALLY did however, our two-year-old completely collapsed the entire thing and it's now broken after about 13 hours of fun being had in there. So I recommend this for people with older kids (probably 5+) or someone with maybe one calm child (do those exist?). We got something similar to this simple minimal one, this pom pom one is super cute, and I love this one. Look how calm the kids look in the photos.

3. Stair Slide: Our kids LOVE taking their crib mattresses and using them as sleds down our stairs, but we were thinking this stair slide might be even more fun! We don't own this (yet) but it's on our wishlist!

4. Foldable Indoor Slide: If you don't have stairs or are more interested in a stand-alone slide, this might be the perfect option for you! We have a Fisher Price one that we use both indoors (into the ball pit) and outdoors (into a pool) as well as on its own and the kids LOVE it.

5. Nugget-Style Couch for Kids: We have an actual Nugget for our kids now, but before we were gifted that, we bought a knock-off version on Amazon. We don't have the one I linked but I would order this one if we didn't have one! Plus, all the colors are super fun and it has a lot more pieces than our Nugget.

6. Crawling Couch: Our son has spina bifida and wasn't able to walk for the first 2 years of his life, and even now, taking steps on stairs and over obstacles are more difficult for him than for his sisters at this same age. This item is used a lot in PT, and we don't own one personally but I would buy this one if we were to get one! Great for young babies and kids up to maybe 7 or so!

7. Indoor Obstacle Course: We have this one that we received as a gift, and the kids LOVE it! It's a challenge for our son, but our older toddlers have been using it since they were a little over 2, and have gotten even more into it at older ages. I also REALLY like this one because it has more climbing options (Swedish ladder, rock wall, and rope wall), and since we have 3 kids, this would be more beneficial now, but we love the one we have.

8. Indoor Playground: If we had a really large play space, I would get something more like this wooden indoor playground. This one is more neutral and has a few more pieces but both have a slide which I think is a must. These Montessori playsets are also quite beautiful, like this one with the colors and this more neutral option!

9. Mini Trampoline: My husband bought this trampoline for our daughters for Christmas when they were about 2 years old and they have LOVED this ever since. Our son loves it now too and we use it both inside and outside. We love how big it is, two kids can jump at a time, and the girls do flips on the handlebar (and have since they were young). It also has a weight limit of 220lbs so adults can utilize this as well! It's wonderful and not as big of a commitment as a larger trampoline.

10. Large Wooden Building Blocks: We got these as a gift for the girls' second birthday, but they just recently at 4 years old started to get interested in them. The colors are beautiful and the different "textures" on the inside make these stand out from the other options. We have two sets to share between 3 kids and that seems like a good amount because 16 would be too few.

11. Kid's Play Table + Chairs: So, this is more like a big gift than a stocking stuffer, but it's a MUST HAVE in my opinion. Our kids use this every single day for breakfast and lunch (we try to eat dinner together at the big table as a family) and arts and crafts. We have the coconut for the table and for two of the chairs, and the other two chairs are sage. They have gotten paint and marker and spaghetti sauce and ALLL the things on it but it is truly soooooo easy to clean, and very aesthetically pleasing, and the chairs are wide-legged so that they don't tip easily. We bought this table because we used the 3-in-1 highchair from this company with our twins and it comes with a conversion kit to become a toddler chair, so while the price tag is a bit higher than an IKEA version, they've lasted us 4 years and I don't see us getting rid of them anytime soon!

We hope you love these ideas! Let me know if you try any of these out or if you have anything I should add! I am always adding ideas to my Amazon Storefront so check that out for more ideas!