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Photo-Illustration: Photo-Illustration: Stevie Remsberg; Photos: Courtesy of the retailers
Babies’ brains develop incredibly quickly and will double in size within the first year of their lives. So the developmental stages of early childhood are, predictably, a major focus for anyone who has or works with young kids (not to mention all the brands that sell toy-subscription boxes). Since 1-year-olds are constantly growing and changing, the most engaging toys for this age group are ones that introduce new sensory experiences and challenge their developing motor skills, from crinkly stroller toys and spiky balls to an interactive stuffed animal or a ride-on vehicle.
My son is 3 years old now, but when he was 1, his favorite toys were the ones that let him practice new skills, from opening and closing a box and recognizing common objects in his life — animals, fruit, buses — to, eventually, climbing, jumping, kicking, and learning to express himself with more complicated phrases. Of course, as any small child would be, he was also drawn to garish toys with loud sounds and flashing lights, like a board book we inherited that played “The Farmer in the Dell” as sung by Elmo. Meanwhile, my favorite toys were the more open-ended ones that didn’t feature licensed characters and could almost be mistaken for apartment décor. And according to Lizzie Assa, founder of Workspace for Children, my impulse was actually beneficial. “Consistent play is really important, so you want to have little pockets of toys strewn throughout the home, and you’re more likely to do that if you like the way they look,” Assa says. That’s why I also take the parents’ taste into account when buying toys for 1-year-olds, since they could end up playing with and staring at my gift for years.
Keeping all this in mind, I created the below list of the best gifts for 1-year-olds based on recommendations from teachers and art educators, child-development professionals like Assa, tasteful parents, and toy experts. I’ve organized it by price, so you can use the table of contents to jump ahead according to your budget or read all the way through to get a more complete picture of the best toys for 1-year-olds.
If you’re also shopping for older kids, the Strategist has gift guides for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds, and 12-year-olds — plus the meticulously curated Strategist Toy Store filled with all of our greatest hits.
Updated on February 9, 2026I added several new picks and confirmed that everything here is in stock with pricing that’s up to date.
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Musical instruments are a popular gift for 1-year-olds because they encourage early rhythm and language development. But you only need so many egg shakers and tambourines. A close friend told me about this rainbow clatter toy, a fun alternative that makes a very pleasing “clack, clack” sound.
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Whether with fingerpaint, Play-Doh, or crayons, 1-year-olds love creating art— especially if they see big siblings drawing or painting. But most art supplies aren’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 the National Institute for Early Education Research. “These are perfect for building fine-motor skills.” They’re almost impossible to break and washable, making it easy to just hand them over and let kids go to town.
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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 a diaper bag and the series features lots of different animals including a baby otter, sloth, llama, unicorn, and tiger.
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.” Eventually, 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 couple in different colors (you can find them at restaurant-supply stores) as well as a matching enamelware mini-jug or a even a metal frothing pitcher like this bright red one.
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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 four friction-powered construction vehicles that 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 moving 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 survived almost two years of daily play through sand, gravel, and the occasional puddle.
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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.
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Mega Bloks are a a great first building 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 ideal gift for 2-year-olds). This set includes 80 pieces in all shapes and sizes that come packaged in a convenient storage bag.
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Figueras-Daniel loves and recommends this bath toy because “it allows children to arrange and fill the tubes with water and observe the way to make the spinners go,” she says. 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.
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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 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.
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This color-changing bath book from Mudpuppy is a great gift and a clever bathtime conversation starter. My son had a similar bath book from the brand that he loved to look at in the water while I talked to him about colors.
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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 was always fun to watch my son proudly lift the colorful covers to reveal one of four animals and a mirror.
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There are dozens of “100 first words” books to choose from, including many wonderful photographic options that babies love. But this illustrated city-themed one with flaps is my favorite, and it looks great on a shelf as well.
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Battat’s Oink n’ Waddle pig is delightfully silly and strangely cute. Underneath its plush exterior it has a wheeled base that propels it awkwardly across a playroom floor. Or if pigs aren’t your thing, Battat also makes a duck version of the toy that quacks.
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This book 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.”
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Children love to play 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.
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Artist Anna Bak-Kvapil loved playing with these silk scarves from Sarah’s Silks 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” toy and very useful in pretend 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.
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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. Nice-looking illustrated versions of this kind of rug are hard to find, but Janod makes a handful of them in country, city, and “enchanted kingdom” 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.
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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 the Institute 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 babies and parents can play together.
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Brio is best known for its high-quality train sets but also makes other vehicles like this push-and-go racer. Where many other toy cars require a bit of counter-intuitive instruction — pull it back to make it go forward — this car is a bit simpler, and takes off when you push down on the driver’s head.
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They might look simplistic, but these jumbo knob puzzles from Melissa & Doug will keep toddlers busy for a shockingly long time. My son has an older version of this same type of puzzle that he played with every single day from around 11 to 13 months old. The wooden knobs make the pieces easy to pick up, and the puzzle is pretty indestructible, too.
All little children need a stuffed friend to cuddle with at night (and tote around tucked under an arm all day). “Let me apologize in advance for recommending this singing elephant,” says Fiorella Valdesolo, a writer, creative consultant, and mom; tap one of its feet and the cuddly toy plays peekaboo, or tap the other to hear a rendition of “Do Your Ears Hang Low.” Valdesolo says babies this age will find it endlessly entertaining, but if that particular song doesn’t appeal, Gund also makes a pink unicorn that sings the ABCs and 123s and a penguin (my personal favorite) that blows kisses.
These curved wooden rainbow, waves, and fire blocks can often be found in Montessori and Waldorf classrooms alongside more basic rectangular versions. Each piece can be stacked, balanced, and combined with the others to create imaginary scenes with bridges and buildings or to simply allow for experimenting with texture and gravity. “Stacking is fun, but even if they’re not coordinated enough to stack their toys, they would love to watch you stack and then be able to knock it down,” says Sarah MacLaughlin, author of What Not to Say: Tools for Talking With Young Children. This is also a classic “grow-with-me” toy that older kids can get surprisingly creative with — say, by pairing two pieces to form Skee-Ball rings, talking into one of the arcs as if it’s a phone, or building obstacle courses for dolls and toy cars.
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Figueras-Daniel says that dolls with changeable clothes, like this one, provide opportunities for children to use fine-motor skills in fun ways. They also help with imaginative play that has a social element: “Toys that facilitate pretend play, like dress-up clothes, play phones, food, and dishes, allow children to start to carry out these play routines on their own and with others,” she says, adding that this kind of play ties in with language development too. Figueras-Daniel also recommends choosing dolls that come in various styles with different types of hair and skin tones, because it’s important for all children to see themselves, and the diversity of our world, reflected in the toys they play with. HABA’s soft 12-inch dolls have embroidered features and simple but stylish clothes. They are available in a dozen different styles including ones that depict toddler-age children and others that are more babyish.
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This innovative sensory toy from Fat Brain Toys is 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.
Traditionally, American Girl dolls have been more of a big-kid toy. But now the company sells smaller, softer versions of five of its popular historic dolls — Kirsten, Samantha, Addy, Molly, and Josefina — designed for toddlers. As with the full-size dolls, the details are impeccable and each one comes with a story book.
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Playmobil Junior is designed for children who are fresh into toddlerhood at 12 months old. Functionally, this just means that the pieces are chunkier than conventional Playmobil pieces without any sharp edges or small parts a toddler might choke on. But they have all the same slightly wacky, ultraspecific details you find in other Playmobil toys. This licensed Disney set is both a pretend-play toy and a stacking toy in one. In the box you get Cinderella — whose skirt twists off to reveal pants! — Prince Charming, and all the pieces needed to build Cinderella’s castle: six stacking pieces, two stacking rattle pieces, and castle base with a slide. There are also four illustrated tokens that help tell the story: a glass slipper, a clock, a pumpkin carriage, and a trio of bluebirds.
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Kiwico is a Strategist-favorite brand that sells well-designed toy and STEM kit subscription boxes for all ages. Its Panda Crate subscription and 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.
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“Blabla dolls are handmade in Peru from 100 percent cotton, and you can choose between two sizes: 18 inches or 12 inches. I prefer the larger size because it’s closer to matching the size of a toddler, making it easier to look in the eyes and more huggable; I bought a Blabla cat doll for my son right around the time he turned 1 as he was doing a lot of enthusiastic “meowing” around the apartment, and it has since become his most important stuffie.
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When my son was this age, I spent an embarrassing amount of time searching for nice-looking “busy” toys. In addition to the Fat Brain Toys Playtab board above, this was a clear winner and the better choice if you’re shopping for toys with little to no plastic. Like the Playtab it packs a lot of activities (ball drop, xylophone, zipper, two kinds of locks, buttons, shoelaces, and even a clock) into a small space and isn’t hideously ugly. Unlike the Playtab, this one can be mounted on the wall of a playroom.
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The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe has been delighting kids for more than 40 years, and it’s surely got decades of popularity left. By the time they are about 18 months old, most toddlers will be able to “drive” it themselves by using their feet to scoot it around, both indoors and out. There’s nothing wrong with the classic red-and-yellow design. But for something that’s going to take up a good amount of real estate, I prefer the color schemes of the smiling green dinosaur and Bluey Grannies Car — the antennae-topped ladybug is very cute as well.
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“This wagon is great for the stage when your baby begins to ‘cruise’ or walk around the room by holding onto things,” says Zahra Kassam, a Montessori education expert. “It’s a Montessori-teacher favorite because it allows babies the opportunity to practice their walking skills while building their independence.” A tip she shared: “Weigh it down with heavy books or free weights to slow it down at first.”
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The newly relaunched Toniebox (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.
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Stapelstein’s mini-stones are half the size of the brand’s original-size stones and 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.
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Ro swore by Lovevery play kits — which contain a curated mix of developmentally appropriate toys and books — for her kids when they were as young as 1, and my own son played with them starting around 3 or 4 months old. We have both been impressed with the quality, design, and thoughtfulness of each box, each of which comes with a breakdown of what you can expect your baby to do in that two-month span. (There’s also an app with instructional videos and a chat space for parents.) While you can buy a lot of similar toys individually, the convenience factor of a subscription is undeniable. And when you are done with each box, the Lovevery brand name makes them easy to resell.
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Though it is definitely an investment, the Doona Trike is one of the most versatile tricycles I have seen, growing with children from as young as 10 months to as old as 3 years. It starts off as a stroller with a partially enclosed seat and a handle for pushing, both of which can eventually be removed to leave just a trike. It also folds up for easy transport and storage.
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Manhattan Toy is known for its astonishingly not-ugly wooden activity centers. And when my son got to play with this space-themed activity center at a fellow 1-year-old’s birthday party, he could not be pulled away. He was mesmerized by the beads, doors, and little space explorers that travel through tunnels on a track. The quality and level of detail is incredible, and it’s sturdy enough to keep a wobbly baby upright. Best of all, it’s a toy I’d want to show off.
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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. As a bonus, it’s easy to fold up and stow away when they aren’t using it.
Additional reporting by Lauren Ro and Steven John.
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