Gifts for Toddlers, Ages 1 to 3: Six Long-Lived Picks

National Toy Hall of Fame, inducted 2003

Alphabet blocks

The Strong traces alphabet blocks to 1693, when the philosopher John Locke suggested putting letters on dice and playthings so children could learn the alphabet while amusing themselves. A century and a quarter later Friedrich Froebel, who pioneered kindergarten, introduced geometric solids carved from wood, known as Froebel's gifts, and these soon led to alphabet blocks. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright said his interest in buildings began with a set his mother gave him.

For a toddler the knocking down is half the point, and the AAP lists blocks among the traditional favorites that support fine motor skills and can help language development. Pick a set whose blocks are clearly larger than your child's mouth.

National Toy Hall of Fame, inducted 2016

Fisher-Price Little People

Fisher-Price introduced Little People in 1959, beginning with a wooden pull toy in the shape of a school bus. The figures went from wood and paper to hard plastic, and the Strong reports that concern about the small figures being a choking hazard led to the larger Chunky People design in 1991. More than two billion Little People have been sold since 1959, the museum says.

That history is why the toy earns a place here: it changed because of a safety concern. It is also a toy for pretend play, which the AAP names alongside blocks and puzzles. Buy the set whose age label includes your child, and be cautious with figures from an attic, which may predate that change.

Board books

The AAP includes toy letters and books in its list of toys that invite a parent and child to play together, and it recommends reading with a child every day. A board book has thick card pages that a small hand can turn and a small mouth can survive. The AAP also observes that reading together gives children ideas for pretend play, a second use for every other gift on this list.

We are not naming titles. The shelf is crowded, and the best book is whichever one you can bear to read for the fortieth time. Look for short text, clear pictures, and rhyme or repetition.

National Toy Hall of Fame, inducted 1999

Radio Flyer wagon

Antonio Pasin arrived in New York in 1914, aged sixteen, with the carpentry skills he had learned from his father and grandfather, and in 1923 he founded a wagon-making company. According to the Strong, in 1930 he began mass-producing the wagons from stamped metal and named the result Radio Flyer, after the radio, an Italian invention.

A wagon offers two kinds of play the AAP mentions, push-and-pull and ride-on, in one object, and it carries every other toy on this list from room to room. It is the gift for the child who has just discovered walking and now insists on moving house. Read the age and use information for the model you choose, since some wagons carry cargo and others carry children.

National Toy Hall of Fame, inducted 1998

A teddy bear

In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that trackers had tied to a tree, a cartoonist drew the scene, and, with the president's permission, a Brooklyn candy-shop owner named Morris Mictom sewed a stuffed bear and named it after him. The Strong says Richard Steiff began mass-producing stuffed bears in Germany in 1903, and calls the teddy the most popular plush toy in history.

A bear is not an educational product, which is its charm. The AAP lists animals and dolls among the toys that draw out language in pretend play, and a soft companion is often what a toddler hauls to bed. Apply the AAP's checks for stuffed toys: no loose ribbons or small pellets, and nothing sewn on that looks ready to come away in a determined hand.

The jigsaw puzzle: National Toy Hall of Fame, inducted 2002

A wooden puzzle with large pieces

The Strong dates the jigsaw puzzle to about 1760, when the English mapmaker John Spilsbury pasted one of his maps to a board and cut around the borders. British makers sold such puzzles to teach geography, and later makers such as Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers sold puzzles that mixed learning with fun.

For a toddler you want the simplest member of the family: a handful of large pieces, often with a knob to grip, that lift out of a frame. The AAP names puzzles among the toys that build fine motor skills. The usual rules apply: pieces larger than a mouth, and respect for the age grade.