Best gifts and toys for one-year-olds: First birthday present ideas that boys and girls will love

The Toniebox is a child-friendly audio box that brings music and stories to life. To swap between stories, all you have to do is change the Tonie character on top and a different story will be read to your one-year-old.

It’s super-easy to set up out of the box and comes with a creative Tonie, which is preloaded with 60 minutes of songs and music, with the option of recording your own content onto it, too.

Our testers were mesmerised by the box, trying to work out where the sound was coming from. The narration was captivating and the tots were sitting still, trying to follow the stories. Not only is it good for keeping them calm and out of mischief, it’s fantastic for their long-term speech and language development. According to research by The National Literacy Trust, listening to audiobooks improves vocabulary and literacy skills.

There are loads of Tonies to choose from, ranging from stories for one-year-olds, such as Spot and Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo series, to stories for five- and six-year-olds, such as Shrek or Disney’s Moana.

This is a toy that will provide at least five years of screen-free, vocabulary-enriching fun if you buy it for your one-year-old, making it excellent value for money.

All little ones seem to love dinosaurs, and this cute book helps to develop sensory and language awareness in a way kids enjoy. If they don’t like dinosaurs, there are many other books in the series, including those based around unicorns, peekaboo, numbers, colours and more. All are excellent value at £5.99.

This dinosaur book is packed with fluffy feathers, smooth horns and bumpy scales for your children to feel and talk about different senses. Each page has a new texture for your little one to try.

Just be warned you may be asked to read it repeatedly, so your one-year-old can feel the sensations over and over again.

With its bright white and neon colours, the Infantino unicorn is guaranteed to make one-year-olds smile before they’ve even explored its multiple play features. There are so many ways children can use this toy – from playing with the lights and sounds at the front, to using it to help strengthen the muscles they need for walking and balance.

One-year-olds who are yet to walk will enjoy sitting down and exploring the buttons that set off nine melodies, three light effects and 30 sound effects. For toddlers ready to get up and go, lift the seat, which doubles as a handle, to steady first steps.

As a child moves, balls will be dropped out of the unicorn’s mouth, which encourages them to keep walking and see how many balls are released. These balls can be stored under the seat when it folds down, turning the unicorn into a ride-on to zoom around the house.

We liked that this toy encourages physical development and allows a child to burn off energy, as well as helping them with colour recognition, numeracy and cause and effect.

If you want your child to learn about rhythm and tempo, and have an appreciation for music, starting their musical education at the age of one will get them ahead of the competition.

At first glance, we thought this DJ studio looked like a piano and we were prepared for the kids to thump it, get bored and move on. But once we opened the box, we were amazed by how much this toy could do.

This is a simplified version of an adult’s DJ setup, giving little ones the opportunity to use background tracks, instrument sounds and other sound effects to produce tunes.

Tots can press the button in the middle to select one of five background tunes and use the slider to adjust the tempo. They then press the other buttons to add DJ effects – they can even add scratching effects using the black record.

We really enjoyed playing with this alongside our mini testers, and may have had a go on it without them to test our own creativity.

We love multitasking toys, and this sweet doll can be used for aiding social development as well as making bath time more enjoyable and encouraging children to learn how to swim.

If your one-year-old is frightened of the pool or bath, this doll can gently encourage them into the water by showing them it’s OK to get wet, and by giving them a companion to hold on to while they face their fear.

You don’t even have to get wet to experience what this doll can do. Fill up the bath a little, wind up the doll’s arms and see her swim front crawl with one arm at a time or butterfly using two arms. Let her go and she’ll take off through the water.

Start off by playing with the doll and watching her skill in the water without pressure for the little one to join in, and you may find that they’re desperate to copy after a while. Dry the toy off and it becomes a regular doll that can be pushed around the house, put to sleep in the crib and used for role play too.

This ticks so many of our toy-buying boxes. It’s made from sustainable wood, the design is super cute without being garish, it can be pulled along to help with walking, and it encourages a child to express themselves and be creative.

The snail’s shell is removable and reveals a small tambourine and a xylophone. Cleverly, the antennae are also the sticks to use to play the xylophone. Each of the coloured keys on the xylophone are a different note, so you can even teach your children about high notes and low notes from a young age.

If you dream of your child playing a musical instrument later in life, this Janod toy is a fun way to get them started.

Top marks for Mori for making a toy that entertains kids for hours while also pleasing adults with its decor-friendly appearance. While it’s multi-coloured, the hues are soft, pastel shades and its classic wooden design has a timeless appeal, making it a toy we’d display on a shelf and not just hide away in a toy box.

With free play, kids will enjoy assembling the wooden pieces from smallest to biggest to create a rainbow. But they can also play with the pieces individually, using them as bridges for car games or turning them upside down and using them as rockers.

Bash them on the floor and you have a musical activity, too. Made from natural beech wood, the pieces are durable, so you never have to worry about being too heavy-handed.

Belgian brand Lilliputiens has been creating impeccably designed toys from top-quality materials since 1995, and its offerings just get better and better.

Perfectly designed for small hands, this farm play set is soft and huggable with no small parts, so you don’t have to worry if they put an animal in their mouth. It includes six farm animals, a plush tractor and a farmer, too.

Our testers had fun popping each cute animal into the farmhouse, from the handsome corduroy donkey to the woolly sheep. But that’s not all, as they were also able to fold down the side to reveal a soft mat for the animals to play on, including some mud for the pig and a pond for the duck.

All parts are machine-washable at 30C, if your one-year-old has sticky hands or you just fancy a freshen up.

Potty-training expert Amanda Jenner recommends introducing children to the concept of weeing and pooing on a potty before making them sit on one. This potty time with Elmo toy is the perfect way to gently introduce potty training to a one-year-old, so the process will be less painful when they’re ready to do it approaching the age of two.

“It’s great that Elmo comes with a sippy cup,” says Amanda. “It’s very important for children to stay hydrated while potty training, so the process doesn’t become a big deal. The children can pull down Elmo’s pants for him to sit on the potty and this will help them with their own underwear.”

Push Elmo’s hand for different sound effects about the potty-training process, including celebrating the achievement of making it to the potty on time. While another sound effect reminds children about the importance of washing their hands after using the toilet or potty.

It’s never too early to work on the fine motor skills that a little one will eventually need, to hold a pencil, solve jigsaw puzzles or put Lego pieces together. From the age of one-and-a-half, children can use this EDX playset to strengthen their pincer grips and test their problem-solving abilities.

They can use it to place giant pegs in the holes of the board to create their own patterns, or they can use the included cards to match the peg designs to what’s printed on the cards. This helps them with pattern-recognition, which will be a skill they’ll use later in life in mathematics.

We enjoyed talking about the colours and shapes with our little testers, and there was a lot of cheering and satisfaction when they worked out how to insert the pegs into the holes.

Orchard Toys is loved by parents across the UK for making affordable and educational games that are also fun to play. Farmyard Families is one of the brand’s best offerings for children as young as one year old.

Featuring 30 chunky, wipe-clean cards that are easy for little hands to grab, the idea of the game is to match adult animals with their babies. Once you have a pair, you’re encouraged to make the sound of the animal before posting it through the roof of the barn.

Matching is a great skill for tots to work on from a young age, as it helps to improve a number of cognitive abilities, such as visual memory, short-term memory and pattern recognition.

To make it harder, and therefore still relevant for older siblings, you could turn the cards face down, turning it into a memory game.

This toy is brilliant for helping a child burn off energy on a wet, rainy day. Push down the central button and the turtle will scoot off across the floor. It talks as it rolls, encouraging a baby to chase it.

With more than 35 different sounds and phrases, it’s enriching a little one’s vocabulary at the same time as giving them a reason to move.

If they’re feeling calmer, flip down the kickstand (so that the turtle can’t move) and fully explore the ABC and 123 buttons on its side. It can be used to teach little ones the basics of the alphabet and counting in a fun, hands-on way – it’s so cute and interactive, they won’t even realise they’re learning.

Paddington Bear toys have grown in popularity, and this TY squishy beanie allows your one-year-old to have a little piece of Paddington in their playroom. They can think about role-play situations for the bear, developing their imaginations, or look after Paddington while nurturing him.

Our favourite feature of the TY squishy beanie is that it’s been specifically designed to mimic a real-life hug, as the squishy filling moulds to your shape when you cuddle it. This is great for soothing toddlers who are overstimulated or about to have a meltdown. This is because it’s scientifically proven that cuddling a toy enhances dopamine levels by creating a sense of connection, as well as boosting oxytocin levels to make a child feel calmer and more content.

These easy-to-grip bath crayons are perfect for tiny hands. We had previously used a different brand of bath crayons, which ended up being slippery to keep hold of, so they floated away under the bubbles, but this Janod set provided many more minutes of entertainment.

They make a decent mark on the bath tiles, which means little ones can see their handiwork in front of them. We found it sweet to see a budding Picasso scooting backwards and forwards in the water to make sure every surface was covered with ‘artwork’. Having a star-shaped sponge means they can easily correct their mistakes and it helps parents or carers clear up afterwards. All marks made disappeared within a couple of minutes of wiping, giving little ones a clear canvas for their next adventure, and grown-ups a mess-free bathroom.

This colourful baby walker is great for one-year-olds who are just finding their feet. Not only is the wooden design a sustainable choice, it makes the structure super sturdy, which is perfect for those taking their first steps.

What we liked most about this walker is it can be played with long after a child has become a confident walker. It contains lots of wooden blocks that can be stacked on top of each other, or side by side, to create interesting shapes. Every time they play with the blocks, they can create something new. A three-year-old sibling of one of our testers was just as into the blocks as the one-year-olds, and we’re all for toys that last a long time, to minimise wastage and get the most for our money. We tested the pink version, but it’s also available in pastel or multi-colour, if your little one isn’t a fan of traditional ‘girly’ colours.

We only wish it came fully assembled. Be prepared to spend at least 20 minutes building it before use.

The large eyes and squishy belly of this interactive dalmation toy meant it was a big hit with our testers as soon as they spotted it. So much so, they were screaming with excitement as they waited for us to take it out of the box, which we took as a positive sign.

We found it surprisingly soft, making it ideal for little ones to stroke and pet. If they do this with the dummy in its mouth, all will be quiet and peaceful. Take the dummy out and the dog will wake up and make some super cute noises, as if it’s trying to play. However, our testers preferred the toy in quiet mode, and loved putting it to sleep and wrapping it up in its blanket. The blanket has a handle on it that little ones can grab to carry around the house or take this toy out and about. Ours did join us for a trip to the park and was dropped a couple of times, without harming how it worked.

Our testers are big fans of the Cocomelon TV show, and this car caused squeals of delight and squabbles about who was going to be the first to hold it and play with it.

If you’ve ever watched the show on BBC iPlayer or Netflix, you’ll know it’s all about the music, with the main character, JJ, singing a variety of songs, including classic nursery rhymes and original tunes.

This push ‘n’ sing car contains four Cocomelon characters – JJ, his siblings TomTom and YoYo and their pet Bingo. By pressing down on the ladybird on the top of the car, the character will be switched and a new song will start. These are “JJ Song”, “YoYo’s Arts & Crafts Time”, “Bingo” and “This is the Way.” As it’s so easy for kids to push down on the top, be prepared to hear these songs multiple times, every single day. However, our testers did smile every single time they pressed it, which made up for the repetition, a little.

It does more than just teach children music and singing, too. We allowed each tester a push of the button before passing it to the next tester, helping them learn the valuable lessons of turn-taking and patience.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, 72 per cent of babies sleep through the night by the age of one. If you know a one-year-old in the other 28 per cent, this doll could help. It has been designed to help with the bedtime routine, by gently soothing a child through touch, sound and sight.

As soon as we picked this up, we were amazed by the softness of the doll’s outfit, making her perfect for cuddles in bed. We involved this doll in the whole bedtime routine, sitting her on the sink during bathtime, then giving her to our one-year-old to cuddle during bedtime stories. After the reading was done, we took the dummy out of the doll’s mouth and then put it back in again, to see her face light up like a soothing night lamp. Then, we pressed her tummy to start 10 minutes of lullabies. Our tester was snoring soundly after eight minutes on the first night. The second night, they realised what was to come and fought to stay awake for longer but crashed at nine and a half minutes.

Our only niggle is you have to press the belly hard to start the lullabies. A one-year-old won’t be able to do it themselves if they wake up in the middle of the night. But it’s ideal for making them sleepy at the start of the night.

In our experience, little ones are never too young for Disney movies. The colourful characters and catchy songs keep tots quiet for a while, even if they don’t watch the whole feature. If you don’t want to give them too much screen-time just yet, this interactive Sebastian crab toy brings the joy of Disney into the home in a way that’s suited to short attention spans.

All you have to do is put a finger on the seashell icon on Sebastian’s chest and it will blast out the classic song “Under The Sea” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. As the toy waggled its claws along to the tune, one of our testers raised their arms in the air and attempted to join in the dance routine. We liked that little ones don’t have to press too hard to start the music, so they could do it independently. As it only plays one song, this enabled our testers to mimic the words, learning through repetition, and having lots of fun in the process.

Want to teach your children about the concepts of building and engineering from a young age? This colourful set of vehicles from Smart Toys’ new my first range is just the ticket. These aren’t your regular toy cars and trucks. In fact, there are 13 different pieces that snap together magnetically, so children can choose to make multi-colour vehicles or a plain red or blue one, by matching the front and back.

The soft, chunky shapes are perfect for little hands, while sonically welded magnets ensure safe exploration. Budding engineers can discover the pull of magnetism, experiment with shapes and sizes, and build fine motor control with every click. When our testers were finished making the vehicles, they enjoyed pushing them back and forward over the floor or play mat.

We found this set perfect for encouraging children to be social, too, as one child can have a couple of toys and their play-date guests or siblings can have another. Even if the children just use these to play together, it helps them learn about sharing and playing with others.

While a pair of waterproof boots may not be as exciting to unwrap as a toy, we wanted to include these in our gift round-up, as they help little ones to get active and enjoy the great outdoors. Jumping in puddles and splashing in mud is heaven for one-year-olds, and these practical boots will keep their feet dry every step (and jump) of the way.

Not only are they light and flexible (which means they’re a million more times easier to get on than wellies made from stiff rubber), the inside has a plush lining to keep tiny toes warm as well as dry. The most genius part, however, is a little Velcro strap on the back of the boot, so we could simply slide feet out of the back rather than wrestle to pull them off. They’re machine washable, too, so you can keep these boots looking like new for every outing.