To help you find the right big building blocks for your little kid’s toybox, we’ve put together a list of the top five toys for toddlers aged 0-3.
They are fun, durable, and suitable for children aged 3 to 6 years old. They come in both gender-neutral versions and also have gender-friendly options available. Toys on this list were chosen based on their features, reviews, and feedback from parents who have used them with their kids.
Table of Contents
Finding the Right Toy for Your Toddler
It’s easy to get frustrated by the problem of finding the right toy for your toddler. After all, there are way too many options to choose from! The problem is that you’re not looking for the perfect toy, you’re looking for what will work best for your child. While a few of these toys are probably going to be a hit with your child, even more probably won’t make it past the age of two. To help you find your perfect toy, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite toys that can keep your little one amused and happy for hours at a time.
There are also other toys on this list that we think make great first toys (or maybe second or third) and can be used for fun games or educational learning. But big, colorful items like this one make great first toys because kids love them and have endless possibilities to play with them. For more recommendations, check out our full list here.
1. First Toy: Gigi Bloks
“Gigi Bloks” by Alesia Gartner (Photo: Alesia Gartner) I really like these colorful “Bloks” because they’re so well made; they hold up extremely well in both wet and dry conditions; they’re completely dishwasher safe; they’re super entertaining and entertaining enough that they could last forever; and they don’t require much maintenance other than cleaning them off when playtime is over (but if you do need to vacuum or dust these things sooner than later, it’s totally fine).
As an added bonus, I like how durable the materials are that go into each order as well as how affordable Gigi Bloks are compared with their competition – although there are some cheaper ones on Amazon, so keep an eye out for discounts on this product if you decide to buy one (and hey – if something’s worth $20/unit… eat it). Besides being fun to play with and educational in nature, these little pieces also provide lots of tactile stimulation (which can be especially useful at an early age). If you want to read more about this particular brand of construction toys, check out my post here.
2. Second Toy
Lego City Train Set (Photo: Lego) While Gigi Bloks beat any train set I’ve ever played with in terms of durability and playability, I do prefer LEGO trains over them by far! These
How to Choose a Toy that Stimulates Your Child’s Mind
What kind of toys should you buy for your kid? It all depends on your kid and how much you want him to learn. There are lots of toys that deserve some consideration.
But as you begin to introduce your child to something new, it is always helpful if you can help them figure out what they like and don’t like, before they are too old to play with it. This can be done by giving them a toy that is similar in features or by finding one that has the features they already know and like.
There are some important things to consider when choosing a toy for your child:
• What type of toy does he or she like?
• How do you want to spend money?
• How much time does he or she have each day?
• If these factors don’t correspond well with the type of toy you can find, this may be a good indication that it is not the right kind of toy for him or her.
The first two should be obvious but it is worth mentioning. But let’s talk about the last point: how much time does he or she have each day? How many games will he or she like playing? What kinds of games will make him or her happy and which ones won’t? We’ve found some easy ways to figure this out: there are online scoring tools such as Game Rankings, which gives you estimated scores based on popularity; check out our own use case video from December 2017 (which uses this method), and also just ask yourself what works best for your child’s interests (and learn from their preferences). To wrap up, keep in mind that children love simple things, so don’t make money off complex toys as kids are very impressionable and will make decisions without a full understanding of things. Consider that when looking at toys: – If a toy has multiple levels of play value, make sure the levels don’t correlate strongly with price differences – A great way to find the right types of toys for kids is simply by watching them play! You can see what they enjoy most easily – no need to spend big money on something specific just because it’s popular – Try keeping a logbook (we recommend an actual one with pages) so you can quickly jot down any changes in how they play; this way, if something changes after they start playing with it again (e.g., they no longer enjoy playing with the same thing), there’s no need
How to Create a Toy Collection That Motivates your Child to Play Independently
Gigi Bloks started as a Kickstarter campaign to sell a line of wooden blocks that would appeal to young children. The company’s philosophy was simple: the blocks are designed for children, the toys are designed for parents. The results have been impressive: sales of the blocks have grown by about 50% and the toy collection has become an institution in Japan.
Gigi Bloks does not make its products in China (it’s mostly foundries) and is, therefore, a natural fit for this section of our blog. Its history is fascinating (the same way Legacy Comics and other companies like them can be, too), so we won’t go into it here but rather highlight one of its most interesting recent developments: large-scale group buying.
In 2015 Gigi Bloks ran a group purchasing program with more than 12 retailers around Japan, which resulted in discounts of 20% on their entire product line. And these were not just incentivized purchases either; they also got free landings and free shipping on orders above $250 (but no discounts). This happened at a time when there was an increasing demand for Gigi Bloks among both younger children as well as adults – just looking at the sales numbers alone it’s pretty clear that Gigi Bloks has had an impact on Japanese retail. Some retailers have even started selling some products directly, bypassing stores altogether (with the help, of course, of Gigi Bloks).
Conclusion
After a long slog to build an audience earlier this year, I finally launched my first and only children’s toy: the Big Build Blocks. It is a great example of where I went wrong; I didn’t fully focus on the value proposition to children.
The product is a little over $60, with no additional support and no special features; it is a basic board game that can be played by kids ages 2 and up. My original goal was to have it priced at the price of other board games (currently about $20-$30), but that quickly turned into: “Hey, we could sell this for $10 or more! Let’s just do it!”
In retrospect, I could have made the product even more affordable by making it less expensive as well. But when you are at retail you can never go back; you need to charge what people are willing to pay for it.
While at its core this is an educational toy, I also saw the potential for its use in therapy for very young children with learning disabilities such as autism (who would benefit from having something that could be played independently). Thus far, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; many parents have told me they bought multiple sets of Big Build Blocks because they want their child to play independently.
I should also mention that because of its educational nature, the price is somewhat higher than most other toys for young children (about $10-12 USD). This allows parents who are concerned about whether or not their child will be happy with the toy to make their final decision based on their own values rather than what others say are good value for money. It allows me to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with pricing cheaply or cheaply vs. charging more in other categories — e.g., if they can get toys like this one at Walmart or Target then they will be able to feel satisfied that they paid a fair price and don’t feel too guilty about buying them elsewhere too soon (or perhaps get even cheaper later if they decide not to keep them).
