7 Gift Ideas for Your Baby’s First Birthday

As an occupational therapist and mom specializing in infant development, I always think of all the developmental considerations when buying toys for my baby! There are so many gift ideas out there for your baby’s first birthday, but how do you know which ones to choose!?

I want to help you simply that! I am including a list of 7 gift ideas for your baby’s birthday that are fan favorites in our house and encourage all sorts of development. When I look for a toy, I love to think of all the many ways that toy can be used to encourage gross motor, hand skills, social development, language acquisition, attention, and age appropriate play. So, when providing this list of toys for your baby’s birthday, I will also discuss what benefits these toys have on your baby’s development. Let’s dive in! You can find all of the toys discussed here on my Amazon storefront!

Toy #1: Ball drop

There are TONS of ball drop toys on the market and all of them serve the same purpose! I am not too picky on aesthetic, and I have linked several options so you can choose which option fits your style. I love this type of toy because there are so many learning components involved. Often times the ball drop toy comes with a small hammer. This is a way to make this toy more difficult for your baby as they develop more precise hand skills. Your baby can simply place the balls into the top openings using their hands initially to encourage precision and motor planning. Then, once they have mastered this type of operation, you can show them how to use the hammer to drop the ball through the top openings. This usage of the hammer adds a new level of precision and tool usage which is great for cognition and problem solving. The ball drop toy also encourages curiosity and problem solving by stimulating your baby’s thinking into wondering how does the ball move from top to bottom, how to remove the ball once it gets to the bottom, and more. You can also add in turn taking and language while using of this toy! So many developmental components within this simple toy that your baby can use throughout their second year of life. That’s why this toy definitely made the cut for my top recommendations of gift ideas for your baby’s birthday.

Toy #2: Fridge magnets

Okay this one seems random, BUT fridge magnets have a ton of developmental components and can be used for years to come with your baby! Now that your baby is entering their second year of life, they are WAY more busy! They may be crawling or walking by their first birthday so we need some toys to keep them busy when we are trying to get things done around the home, like cooking dinner! My son has loved these fridge magnets and we have the V-Tech option. There are also many other options that are non-battery operated and I have linked these various options for you! When playing with the fridge magnets, I am sure to put them high so my baby has to stand to interact which encourages standing tolerance and balance. This will encourage more confidence in walking and show him that this standing position is a great option for play. These toys are also so wonderful for language development. The option we have has the ABCs and states words that begin with the particular letter placed in the opening. This also sings the ABC song which is wonderful for cognitive development. The option we have, and many others are also great for hand skills. Placing items into small openings or peeling magnets on and placing are wonderful to build those tiny hand based muscles (AKA intrinsic muscles 😉). So, these magnets are not only SO convenient for mom or dad during kitchen task completion, but also for baby! So I definitely had to include them on this list of gifts for your baby’s birthday!

Toy #3: Ride on toy or balance bike

Balance bikes and ride on toys are a HUGE hit in the market today and we are LOVING ours for our 1 year old. Balance bikes require a little more balance, so I recommend these once your baby is walking independently well. Balance bikes are wonderful for encouraging complex gross motor skills like balance, using both sides of the body together, and motor planning to get on, ride toy around area, and then get off. There are so many wonderful and beautiful balance bikes on the market and I have linked a few. In addition to gross motor considerations, balance bikes are also great for problem solving, planning, and higher level cognitive skills. Baby can also begin to complete pretend and imaginary play towards the end of the second year and into the third. Ride on toys are a great alternative if your baby does not have adequate balance for a balance bike at this time. Our son has the Radio Flyer rocket and he loves this toy! The toy has a wide seat so he does not have to balance as much. He can also get on and off this toy easily by himself, which is nice! Additionally, he loves pushing this toy around the house and bumping into things (typical boy! 😂). There are many other ride on toys, like a large remote control car that can also be used once baby is older and can drive themselves in the toy car. Also, the Fisher Price coupe is a fan favorite of ours and my son can pedal with his feet wherever he’d like to go! Although the balance bike has many gross motor developmental considerations, the other ride on toys stimulate social, language, cognition, attention, and other skills which makes these toys so fun and beneficial for baby! This is one of our personal favorites that we received for my baby’s birthday!

Toy #4: Sound puzzles

Sound puzzles were always well used when I worked in the pediatric therapy clinic, so I am not surprised I love them now with my own child. Puzzles are GREAT toys in general and there are many options - from early large knob puzzles, to small peg puzzles! I, personally, prefer the sound puzzles because they have so many developmental components that can really carry baby all the way through the second year of life and beyond. The sound puzzles by Melissa and Doug are small peg puzzles that encourage a pincer grasp when baby removes the piece. These puzzles also make noise when the piece is remove or placed to indicate the item removed. For example, if you remove the pig, the puzzle makes this animal noise and if you replace this puzzle correctly then the animal noise is sounded again. These puzzles are great for early language development for animal noises, transportation, labeling animals and more! When playing alongside my baby using these sound puzzles, I always label the item we are removing, or holding. Then, to replace the puzzle piece, I will place 50% or more into the puzzle and have my baby complete the rest of the puzzle placement. This is called backward chaining and gives baby to confidence and skills to interact with the toy. As my baby, and yours, grows, they will be able to state the name of the item they are removing, make the noise associated, and properly match and place the puzzle pieces into the proper slot. This is WONDERFUL for matching and visual skills too! 10/10 recommend sound puzzles as a gift idea for your baby’s birthday!

Toy #5: Shape sorters or stacking toys

Shape sorters and stacking toys may have been around already in your home, but these are wonderful gifts for baby’s birthday. Shape sorters can grow with our babies from early on when they are removing and replacing items into a large opening, to later in toddlerhood when they are determining where a shape fits and manipulating to fit properly. Shape sorters have SO many benefits including hand skill development of more precise movements, matching shapes, naming shapes and labeling colors or counting, completing alongside a peer for social interaction, and more! Stacking toys are very similar, but on a vertical surface. When our babies are young, they may dump the stacking rings or remove in an uncoordinated manner. As they grow, we can teach them and observe them begin to place precisely on the vertical stick and also categorize them from big to small or in colors. We can really encourage language development as they interact with these toys using their hands and also begin to encourage turn taking through modeling. So many ways to use this simple toy through the first year and beyond! It’s mind blowing! 🤯

Toy #6: Peg toys or coin drop

Peg toys and coin drops are other wonderful hand based toys that can grow with baby! Peg toys are great and can be used throughout the first year and beyond. Similarly to the stacking toy, your baby may remove the pegs initially and toss them. Then, as they grow they become curious and figure out how to manipulate these tiny pegs to be placed in the openings. Once they master this skill, you can have them match colors, count, or sort into like categories. When my baby interacts with this toy at 12 months old, I sometimes complete hand over hand to show how to place the item into the small hole. This encourages him to problem solve and motor plan to try and interact with this toy in the same way. I also encourage counting and simple words like (in, out, yay) and more during play. During play with a coin drop, similar hand skills are encouraged in comparison to the peg toy. But, the coin drop encourages further problem solving to that similar to the ball drop toy discussed above. When a coin is placed into the opening, the baby wonders “where did it go!?”. This encourages problem solving, sequencing, and higher level cognitive skills in addition to fine motor development. These toy options are GREAT for your baby and will continue to challenge and encourage their development as they grow!

Toy #7: Poke-a-dot books

The last gift idea for your baby’s birthday are Poke-a-Dot books. These books are AMAZING for so many things and my baby LOVES them! Books in general are so important for your baby to interact with for language, attention, visual skill development and more. But, Poke-a-Dot books encourage fine motor skills and isolation of the index finger in addition to the skills above. The books usually involve counting and popping this little dot in which baby will love! You can also, like any book, encourage your baby to flip the pages as you all read the book together. Additionally, you always want to follow the words with your fingers so you can show baby that you are reading the words on the page. When your baby pokes the dot, you can label the idem to encourage more language-based development as well! These will be a fan favorite and will be the perfect pass time for your baby if they receive a Poke-a-Dot book for their birthday!

I hope you enjoyed this list of 7 gift ideas for your baby’s birthday! We used every one of these toys and they are so functional for now and later! You can find all of these toys here on my Amazon storefront!

Thanks for reading,

Brooke, OTR/L