The Best Gifts for Preschoolers

Preschoolers can be a hard group to shop for. Not because they don’t want anything, they usually have a long list of toys they want to try out, but what will they actually keep playing with long after Christmas Day is over. I have compiled an incredible list of our tried and true items that my kids are still playing with sometimes years later. Check it out and add any of your favorites to the comments!

Little Tikes Cape Cottage Play House 

There are few things that stand the test of time like Little Tikes. When I was young, my best friend had a Little Tikes play house that we LOVED to play with. The only problem was, I tended to go over to her house without telling my parents where I was going. That almost always landed me grounded to my yard. I could still play with friends, but I couldn’t leave my yard. My best friend’s mom (they were our back yard neighbors), would come out back and push the play house into our back yard so that we could still play with it. It is one of my fondest childhood memories and I wanted my children to have similar. This playhouse has been one of my children’s favorite source of play since it arrived at our house.

I love the plastic on plastic construction, there are very few metal screws putting it all together which I feel will help make it last longer. The construction of the house is so easy that my toddler helped her papa put the house together. She loved being involved in the process.

Since the house has been put together it has become a source of fun and play including imaginary families and baking. My girls absolute favorite game to play with this house? Letter carrier and the house has a darling mail slot that makes it so much fun.

Our house is in our backyard, but I think I am going to have to bring it in for winter, our kids just play with it too much. This house is hands down one of the best toys our children have. It invites so much imagination and play.

The Little Tikes Cape Cottage is a little backyard playhouse packed with lots fun and realistic features, such as modern windows, arched doors, and brick details for the real cottage feeling! Not only is this small, compact clubhouse stylish, but your little tike will be able to explore new adventures, as well as build social skills along the way. This little cottage encourages imaginations to grow. Features: Contemporary styling playhouse for toddlers Resembles a real house for pretend play 2 working doors and 2 windows with shutters Features include mail slots and flag holders Lightweight and easy to relocate Use outside or inside. 

PlayTape

This fun road tape from InRoad Toys is perfect for hours of imagination and play. The tape sticks to any flat surface and creates roads for toy cars out of nowhere! This tape can even be repositioned. When you are done playing with it, simply peel it off and recycle it! It doesn’t leave any sticky residue behind, so it really is easy to clean up! It feels a lot like washi tape in texture and ease of use.

My kids LOVE PlayTape! They love to put it all over the walls and up and down the furniture. They play for hours and when they are done, they can simply peel it off themselves! When people ask for my go to gift for Easter Baskets or stockings, I always recommend PlayTape! You can find it at here or at Walmart.

Code and Learn Spaceship

We have tried just about every coding toy on the market and the Code and Learn Spaceship is the one I find myself recommending for younger kids over and over again. The Code and Learn Spaceship is perfect for my 4-year-old.

The Code & Learn Spaceship has two modes of play. In the first mode, children use the coding cards to input directional ques into the remote control that will code the spaceship to land on the correct colored square within the grid map. Once the coding is completed, the child hits green to go. The child will know if they have programmed correctly when the cockpit of the Space Ship light ups with the color that corresponds to the coding. If they match the card, they got the answer right! The second mode allows children to “drive” the remote-control spaceship around for free play!

Benefits of Code and Learn Spaceship

• 100% Screen Free
• Easy to use right out of the box, perfect for younger coders
• Two forms of play
• No previous coding necessary
• Coding Map and Cards to aid visual learning

The Code and Learn Spaceship does so much for your child it:

Introduces basic programming – children use the coding card deck and the colored grid to program the fun remote-control spaceship to reach the correct destination. This STEM toy encourages the development of programming skills, providing a basic foundation for the more complex computer skills they will learn later.

Learn about directions – guiding the spaceship teaches children about directions and helps them develop their understanding of how to give and follow instructions.

Boost spatial awareness – children can also move the spaceship, and its friendly Alien passenger, freely using the remote control. This boosts their sense of spatial awareness while having fun.

Encourage problem-solving skills – working out the correct route to the destination and choosing how to program the spaceship to get there makes use of your child’s developing problem-solving skills.
Boost self-confidence – learning new skills and using them to achieve a tangible outcome is a fantastic way of boosting a child’s self-confidence. Games that make learning fun take away any of the worry or doubts that can make it difficult for children to approach a new area of development.

Hot Hoops

This fast paced fun basketball game can be played with 1 or 2 children. My kids love race and see how many baskets they can each make it a minute. It folds up nicely and each side has two basketballs that fit in the bottom of the game for easy storing.

Are the kids in the mood for a little basketball action? With the Little Tikes Hot Hoops table top basketball game they can shoot hoops whenever they want! One-on-one gaming action provides hours of basketball fun!

Features:

• Fast paced table top basketball game
• 1 or 2 players can play
• Spring loaded shooters (one on each end) to fire shots at the hoop
• Fold up for easy storing or take along fun
• Includes 4 basketballs

Feed Me Cookie Monster

Om nom nom! This Feed Me Cookie Monster is the perfect gift this year. He is soft and huggable and has a cute cookie in his hand that little ones can use to feed him! When your child feeds him his cookie, Cookie Monster responds with a song and silly phrases. You can also squeeze his tummy to hear it rumble or to hear cookie monster speak! My preschooler couldn’t wait to get her hands on this one and he is SO soft! Find him here. 

Super Monsters!

Meet the SUPER MONSTERS, the adorable (and totally un-scary) descendants of the most famous monsters, who are learning to master their powers, while preparing for Kindergarten. Have you had a chance to see this new show on Netflix? It is completely adorable and my Preschooler is obsessed! It is a fun first trip into the land of monsters for children based on supernatural abilities and magical transformations, kids can discover the value of self-control, kindness, respect, and – most importantly – friendship, while laughing along with their favorite characters!

Collect all of your favorite characters from the show with these collectible 4-inch figures! There is a figure for all of the main characters including Super Monsters Cleo Graves, Super Monsters Frankie Mash, Katya Spelling, Drac Shadows, Zoe Walker, and Lobo Howler. The easy-to-grip 4-inch figures make it simple for little ones to imagine magical moments of their own as they imagine themselves playing right along with their favorite Super Monster characters!

These figures all fit in the SUPER MONSTERS GRRBUS MONSTER BUS toy! In the beloved preschool series, the GRRBUS magically transforms from a yellow school bus to his monster self – a bus that not only drives, but also flies! The Super Monsters Grrbus Monster Bus toy features spreading wings, music, blinking headlight-eyes and sounds – little ones can imagine nearly endless Super Monsters-inspired adventures as they play with their figures inside of the bus!

Kids can snuggle up to some of their favorite adorable monsters from Pitchfork Pines Preschool with their very own SUPER MONSTERS plush toys! Inspired by the series, these soft, snuggly, and vibrant plush allow little ones to act out and expand upon their favorite Super Monsters scenes as they practice kindness, respect, taking turns, and friendship. Kids can start their very own collection of snuggly plush with Super Monsters Frankie Mash, Zoe Walker, and Katya Spelling characters! Even my older daughter snagged one of these!

Make playtime magical with the SUPER MONSTERS KATYA SPELLING MAGIC WAND toy! My daughter loves to pretend to cast helpful and hilarious spells just like Katya in the show! There are lights and music and the wand even makes a twinkling noise when you way it back and forth. This is hands down my daughters favorite Super Monsters toy!

Raddish’s Cook + Play placemat

Cook + Play is a set of placemats for kids 2-5. Even my older daughter loves these placemats they are brightly colored and contain fun activities!  Each placemat contains fun educational activities, and an easy-to-follow Raddish recipe specially designed for preschoolers. Cook + Play recipes are crafted so kids ages 2-5 can follow the simple steps and be fully involved in the cooking process.

• 
• INCLUDED:
  • • 3 high-quality, double-sided placemats
    • placemats are made from durable environmentally friendly polyethelyne, treated with Microban to prevent bacterial growth, and BPA-free.
    • A parent guide with tips for cooking with your young Rad kid

  RECIPES:

  • • 1-2-3 Blueberry Muffins
    • Rainbow Pasta Salad
    • A-B-C Chips and Guacamole

  LEARN & EXPLORE:

  • Learn numbers, letters, setting the table, measuring, and more!
  • Explore colors and use all 5 senses to explore new foods
  • Practice motor skills like stirring, squeezing, and scooping
  • Try new foods! Kids who cook, eat!
  • Enjoy cooking together!

  

  Waffle Blocks

  Waffle Blocks are easy construction blocks. They are perfect for small hands to hold and so many different things can be made with the interlocking blocks.

  

  My toddler loves these blocks because of how sturdy her creations can be. They let her build her towers taller than ever! The bright colors lend themselves to a lot of fun creations and the sturdy thick design of the blocks means they can withstand anything my toddler can throw at them, or when she throws them.

  

  I LOVE toys that promote creativity and play and these blocks do just that. There are so many different ways to connect them, no need to stack them right on top of each other when you can go sideways too! These blocks come in bags of blocks or sets that help you build fun items likes castles! You can find these blocks here. 

  

  Flower Garden Build & Spin

  This large board of colorful and chunky gears is a blast for little engineers. The pieces easily fit together, the larger pieces on the bottom and the cute smaller pieces on top allow for endless mixing and matching. This toy really allows kids children to explore cause and effect. This set includes  8 large gears, 7 garden-themed pieces, and a chunky handle.

  

  My daughter loves exploring how many different gears she needs to put on the board to get everything to spin. It is colorful and bright and the perfect toy to play together.

  

  You May Also Like: The Best Building and Learning Toys for STEM Education

  

   Little Partners Tri-Side Easel 

  The Little Partners Tri-Side Easel is one of my very favorite things we own for our children. It fosters creativity and imagination. One side is the felt board that we made the tree for, one side is chalkboard and one side has a magnetic dry erase board. The coolest thing? It has a place for a roll of paper on top so the kids can pull paper down to draw or paint. There are four no-spill paint container too to make it less stressful for your kids to paint.  The storage shelf underneath holds all sorts of art supplies, making it easy to keep things picked up. My kids love how many different ways they can create with this easel. I love that it is sturdy, made from real wood and has places to put everything you need to create on the easel itself to minimize clutter.

  

   Little Partners The Original Learning Tower

  The Original Learning Tower is built to allow toddlers to climb in and out of it easily. The adjustable height on it makes it perfect for kids as young as 18 months and all the way up to six years old.

  My absolute favorite thing about this piece beside the safety it provides for my daughter at the counter? It is pretty! I feel like so many children companies don’t take into account that their furniture is going to be in my kitchen where I am going to see it every day. Little Partners makes so many different finishes so you can match it to your kitchen. It looks like an extension of my kitchen instead of an eyesore. My daughter’s favorite part of the tower besides being able to see at the counter? Throw a blanket over it and it makes the world’s easiest fort! She place castle all day long in her learning tower. I can honestly say that we use The Original Learning Tower every single day. I only wish that I had one when my older daughter was a toddler.
  

   Hide-a-boo Hideouts

   

  

  Hide-a-boo Hideouts are here to encourage play for all kids. Hideouts are forts that slip over a card table for easy set-up and are a home base for adventure. Created with a puppet backdrop on one side and on top, an aerial view map that’s also a play mat. Hideouts are incredibly versatile, giving kids endless opportunities for creative and imagination inspired play.

  with Hide-a-boo my kids are astronauts, knights, submarine divers and two sisters out on a camp out, all without leaving the room. I have always wanted to make my a card table play house but these hideouts go above and beyond anything that I have ever dreamed. The designs and printing are absolutely gorgeous. My little girls are going to find a couple of these under the tree.

  

   

  What is on your preschoolers list this year?