For most parents, their child’s first birthday is more their own than their child’s. After all, the parents have survived the not so easy first year of parenthood. Although you baby will not understand the reasons to celebrate their first birthday, still there is a lot of reasons to celebrate. By now your baby must have been able to crawl, sit up, stand or even walk. They have learned a whole lot of new things by now such as holding a fork, picking up a finger food, even hugging and kissing.
What should you gift your child on their first birthday? The gifts should be such that they help in the development of their large and fine motor skills, language and vocabulary.
Nine Great 1 Year Old Birthday Gifts
1. Books
Number 1 choice for 1 year old birthday gift is book. That’s right. Kids are extremely fond of books and their 1st birthday is an excellent time when you can add to their library. You can choose from the titles such as Noah’s Ark, by Lucy Cousins or Mr. Brown Can Moo, by Dr Seuss. Choose more of board books that have big bright pictures, which stimulate your child’s sense of vision, instead of giving importance to reading books.
2. Blocks
Building blocks are an excellent tool to encourage your child’s creativity and their gross and fine motor skills. This is why blocks make the second place in this list of 1 year old birthday gifts. Gift your child a box full of all types and shapes of building blocks, ensuring that you are not including blocks that have sharp edges or are small in size.
3. Shape Sorters
Toys that will encourage your child’s ability to match and sort out shapes are not only great fun but also helpful to develop their problem-solving skills. You can choose from various types of shape sorters including the classic wooden toy of ‘peg in the hole’ or soft models that have bold patterns in black and white. Your child will find it a big accomplishment to master the challenge these toys put in front of them.
4. Bath Toys
1 year old baby’s bath time can be turned into fun time by gifting them bath toys on their birthday. You can transform the bath tub of your kid into a delightful pool by filling it with lots of bath toys. You can choose from the hippo bath mitts to the soap fish to the animals made of terrycloth. Bath time toys are a great way to enhance the imaginative skills of your toddler.
5. Noisemaking Toys
Making noise is a favorite activity of toddlers, especially to gain attention of the others present around. Hence, noisemaking toys are great to delight your 1 year old baby. You can choose from toys that rattle, beep, clang or produce music. You can gift your child a couple of metal pots with a wooden spoon or a tambourine and they will be ecstatic.
For example, Fisher-Price has been updated to include sounds that are operated by a battery. This set has the very familiar barn and several others animals along with a figurine of a farmer. Babies love practicing the sounds of the animals and exploring the farm life with this set. The toy set can be easily stored as the whole barn can be closed and all the accessories kept inside it.
6. Pushing Toys
This is another excellent 1 year old birthday gift for you baby. Pushing toys are great to develop the strength and coordination of your baby especially since by now your baby must have started walking. You can choose a push toy that has a broad handle with a low center of gravity to maximize the stability of the toy. Many pushing toys contain extra features such as bead mazes, music, or built-in shape sorters making them more useful and fun for the baby.
7. Rocking and Rolling Toys
Rocking and rolling toys are helpful in strengthening the core and building balance of your baby. Moreover, the back and forth movement of such toys is soothing for babies. While choosing a rocker for your child, take care to choose one that is of low height as it reduces the chances of getting injured in case the child trips or loses balance. You can choose a ride-on toy that requires your child to roll and push using their feet. Such toys help build the muscle tone, body awareness and coordination in your toddler. Similar with the rocking toys, take care to choose a toy that is low in height.
8. Interactive Toys
Children enjoy when they find that their actions are producing reactions and interactive toys including toy tools and musical instruments are excellent tools for them to not only explore this feeling but also develop coordination between hands and eye movements. This is among the recommended 1 year old birthday gifts because they help a lot with your baby’s physical and cognitive development.
9. A Toy Phone
Children of this age feel delighted to have their own toy phone. It will be fun to watch them pick up their phone when you can also grab yours and start a conversation. If you feel happy to let your toddler play with your own real phone, then in such cases a few simple apps that are suitable for a one year old baby can be downloaded. Nowadays, some fantastic baby-friendly apps are available, most of which create fun effects such as popping out bubbles as your baby touches the phone.
Want to know how this mom chooses 1 year old birthday gifts? Check this video out: