A few months ago, when I opened up my comments for y’all to ask questions, a few people asked about some great toys for toddlers. I know that all toddlers are different, but I thought I’d share with you the toys that Hudson loves the most and what have been “hits” around our house.
Hudson loves anything that has to do with music or animals. He has gotten into trucks, cars, and trains in the last six months. He loves puzzles, books, and flash cards. And we have a few outdoor toys that he loves, too.
These are some of our favorites. I’m always looking for other great ideas, so if you have a toddler and know of a great toy, please tell me in the comments!
Little People Farm by Fisher Price
We gave him the Little People farm for Christmas last year. There are tons of animals, a farmer, and the farmer’s wife. He mostly just carries the animals around and plays with them and doesn’t even always use the farm. But sometimes he does. Yesterday I saw him putting his animals in his toy fire truck. So, it’s really the Little People animals that are the big hit.
I’ve got my eye on the Little People Noah’s Ark and the Little People Zoo for him just because of the animals.
Little Tikes Anchors Away Water Table
This fabulous water table was Hudson’s birthday gift from TC and me this year. He absolutely loves it. We usually get it out on Saturday mornings before it gets really hot, but he loves all of the little parts and pieces. He loves splashing in the water. It was a good buy.
Hudson on the morning of his birthday with his water table. Love the bed head!
Melissa & Doug Puzzles
We gave Hudson the alphabet puzzle and the numbers puzzle for Christmas and he can recognize and name all of his letters and all of his numbers because of these puzzles. (You may remember the video of him doing his alphabet puzzle when he was 19 months old.)
He is always wanting to play with these puzzles and I’d say they’re his favorite toys in the house. We also have some of the chunky animals puzzles and shapes puzzles and he enjoys those, too. But he loves his letters and numbers!
Flashcards
We have this set by Baby Einstein that he started looking at when he was 9 months old. He still loves to play with those cards. Then we recently got this set by Eric Carle. The illustrations are amazing and he loves looking at the animal and the letter and associating the two.
Melissa & Doug Trains, Cars, and Ice Cream Set
Melissa & Doug makes the greatest toys. Hudson has a lot of different toy cars and a Tonka firetruck, but he loves his Melissa & Doug train and his Melissa & Doug car carrier. He recently got the Melissa & Doug Ice Cream set as a gift and he is obsessed. It’s so cute!
Okay, these are Hudson’s absolute favorite things right now. My mom got him a few of these animals when we went to Arkansas this summer. He carries them around everywhere in this little beach bucket that we got him so he could carry his animals. He has a zebra, a family of lions, and an elephant. I’d love to get him the giraffe and the the monkey, too. These are so great. They’re kind of heavy and not cheap plastic. He just loves them!
Hudson is also obsessed with all things Sesame Street, The Lion King movie, The Jungle Book movie, and he has just started watching Oliver and Company. He loves music and animals.
Hudson got a great tricycle for his birthday that we can’t wait to use more when it cools off. We’re also planning to get him a t-ball set for when it cools off more. I’m happy that he has so many learning toys, fun toys, and movies to keep him entertained while we hibernate in the summer!
*Note: Almost all of Hudson’s Melissa & Doug toys came from One Kings Lane, Zulily, Totsy, The Mini Social, or Gilt. We have never paid full price for any of those toys. So if you watch those sales, they frequently have Melissa & Doug toys available. And at amazing prices! If you aren’t a member of those sale sites, visit my Shop With Me page.
Thanks for these ideas, Erin! Toys for my 14 month old can be hit or miss. She, too, loves her water table, and her little people toy van. She is hot and cold on this Fisher Price house (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Laugh-Learn-Learning/dp/B004717NNU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313691536&sr=8-2). She mostly just loves taking our clothes in and out of the drawers – and messing in my kitchen cabinets!
Great ideas! I look forward to the day when my daughter and I can really play with toys. Thanks for posting these. 🙂 That water table looks great!
Love Schleich animals, but I think they are difficult to find. Where do you find them?
FYI Erin…although the Melissa and Doug toys on those sale sites may seem like a good bargain, they often show inflated prices as the retail price. Always check Amazon first before you purchase since they have free shipping and their prices are the same or lower almost 100% of the time.
He reminds me of you..loving music & animals!! 🙂
we have many of the same toys! melissa and doug are great! the ice cream set is a favorite, and we just recently got the birthday set (off zulily….it was around $7, but with credits – i got it for free!)
that features the bday cake and candles – it has been a huge hit! libbi loves singing happy birthday and serving everyone cake.
i would absolutely recommend the little people zoo. we go the farm first, because like hudson, libbi loves animals. then we got the zoo and she loves it even more than the farm animals. maybe it’s because we’ve been to the zoo so she has some real life experiences to associate it with (btw, when we went to the zoo, her favorite thing was seeing the giraffe “tee-tee” so now that’s all she makes the giraffe do when she plays. that giraffe has marked it’s territory everywhere in our house – ha!)
…oh, one more thing i would recommend is a dvd collection. libbi watches them in the car and sometimes before nap/bed and LOVES them. they helped her learn all of her letters/numbers and now she’s moved on to sight words. it’s amazing because it really does work!
the series is called, “meet the letters” (numbers…sight words, etc, etc) you can find it on amazon. it’s awesome!
Erin,
CUTE!
Thank you for sharing some of Hudson’s favorite toys right now 🙂 As I get ready to become a SAHM next month with my 2 year old son, and daughter who is due in September, I am always looking for new ideas and toys to entertain. I LOVE Melissa & Doug and we have a few of their cute puzzles. I just got flash cards with numbers and letters at an educational store near us, but love the ones from Eric Carle. I adored the video and the cutest thing was hearing Hudson thank you for the ice cream ha! He’s a doll 🙂
You have done such an amazing job as a Mommy and SAHM, and I love reading your blog for advice. My son Ryder loves his toy animals too and plays with them every single day. I will have to look for the Melissa & Doug ice cream set, as well as the Eric Carle flash cards.
Laura
laurasblondemoments.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for the toddler toy ideas! My son just turned 14 months and is so DONE with all the baby toys laying around the house. I put most of these on my Amazon wish list so I can share them with friends and family when they ask what they can get Andrew for Christmas!
I love all the posts where you give feedback about what works/doesn’t work (for you and your boys), it makes me think about my son and how he might still enjoy the item – or why we should probably not spend the money. Thanks for being honest, much appreciated!
We LOVE Melissa and Doug and Fisher Price…they are always kid favorites and the bonus for parents is they are truly well made and will last forever (and we have three boys, so we test durability!) Love this post and your blog!
Hi Erin!
I follow you on Twitter, plus I love to read your blog – you are a great writer and so much fun.
(Also, as an aside, my son, Thomas, shares a birthday with your little guy Hayes, but my son was born in 2010. It has been fun to get some great memories of my little guy from you recounting your own stories.)
Anyhow, have you seen the Little People Christmas products? I have four kids, and each and every one of them is OBSESSED with both sets. One is the nativity, and one is Santa and his reindeer. Oh.My.Word. The kids just can’t get enough of them. Also, the nativity scene really keeps them thinking about the true meaning of Christmas each and every day of the season. I remember when I bought these, I had to special order them directly through Fisher Price. Also, I only keep them out from Thanksgiving through the new year, so they always stay super special.
Keep up the great writing.
🙂 Jenny
Such good suggestions. Many of Hudson’s favorites are the favorites at our house too! I find those Little People in the funniest places! And I can’t believe how much my little girl still plays with her water table – she has had it for over a year, and she would be happy to get into it every day.
Thanks for the suggestions! Some of my friends have toddlers and I’m always at a loss for what to give them for their birthdays since I don’t have kids yet.
Hi Jenny!
We have the little people nativity and love it! I think I blogged about it last Christmas maybe, but we’re big fans! I will definitely look for the Santa!
Little People is HUGE in our house! I got our first farm as a hand-me-down when Nick (now 5) was a baby. He played with it SO much and then someone gifted us a new, updated version a couple years later. We still have both because both boys love it so much and they have slightly different features.
When we were in St. Louis last Thanksgiving visiting family, the boys FLIPPED over my husband’s grandma’s collection of vintage Little People! I hope to inherit those some day!
What a great post. I always love toy ideas, although our house is full. My daughter is two and also loves the Fisher Price Farm. I had to have it for her, because I loved mine as a child. We got her a KidKraft kitchen for her birthday with Melissa and Doug pots and pans and food. It has been huge hit! The ice cream set will go on our list now as she loves ice cream. Another toy that we have really gotten our money’s worth out of is the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Home. We got it for her when she was 9 months and she still plays with it daily.
Wanted to say that every once in awhile, Michael’s will offer a Buy 2, Get 1 Free in Melissa and Doug puzzles (and some toys). Watch their ads in the paper!
My siblings and I had the little people farm and town when we were little. It was one of my favorite toys, although it looked a lot different. In fact I’m pretty sure my Mom still has it so I might have to get it out for our baby when she is old enough.
So! Those little plastic animals were my hands down FAVORITE childhood toys. I distinctly remember going to pick out a new animal from the bins at a local toy store every Saturday with my dad. I had a ton and I kept them in a Radio Flyer wagon and carted them around everywhere with me! My favorite thing to do was build a “zoo” out of this big block set I had and then arrange all the animals in the zoo. This is probably one of my most vivid early childhood memories!
2 Hudson videos in 1 post?!? That is almost too much cuteness for me to handle! I jsut love how he yells THANK YOU! when you assist him with the name of the green ice cream 🙂 He is just the best. (and so are you! xoxo)
My son has played with a lot of the same toys. The thing I love about them is that they are gender neutral (in my opinion). They are also all pretty durable which means they pass great from one child to the next.
We have most of those toys and my 2 year old is OBSESSED with his Schleich animals! He “gets them up” every morning and “puts them to bed” in the evenings! Will have to check out that ice cream set…looks fun!
My kids liked Noah’s Ark- you can buy the animals separately on Amazon, so if you just want some extra animals, that is an option. Depending on his development, you could just get him a set of blocks (Melissa and Doug have a nice one), megablocks, or Lincoln Logs and let him build for his animals (my son preferred this). M & D also has fold ‘n go castles and stables that all of my kids love.
Amelia received the FP farm for her birthday last year and loves it. She would love that ice cream set too…I’ll have to put that on her Christmas list. 🙂 Great ideas!
I love this post!! I’m borrowing some of these ideas for my son’s Christmas list!
KP just got the LP farm for her birthday and LOVES it! I want to get her the ice cream set too, that looks so fun! I wish we would have gotten a water table earlier in the summer b/c that looks like so much fun!!!
These are great! Thanks, Erin. I am excited to get the Melissa and Doug puzzles and Eric Carle flashcards for Logan!
I just posted about baby toys, and was wondering what toys you have for Hayes to play with. I sometimes think my little boy (4 months) gets bored with what he has to play with, but all he wants to do is play.
i had one of those fisher price farms when i was younger. i also had the fisher price kitchen set. glad to know some of the toys from the 80s are still around!
They have TONS of Melissa and Doug puzzles at our TJ Maxx right now. I stocked up for Christmas!
It’s amazing how some toys can be such hits and others flops! I just had some Moms ask me for some ideas of things that I couldn’t have gotten by without while my daughter was a baby and just made a post about that – is it just that time of year to look for that advice? 😉
Great post! I remember similar posts for toys/gear that really worked well for you and Hudson when he was younger. Could you please point me to these? I’ve searched for these posts and can’t seem to find them. Thanks so much!
I love watching Hudson enjoying the ice cream set! Thanks for sharing!