If you’re wondering what to buy preschoolers – that’s what I would generally consider up to around 4 or 5 years old – this Christmas, take a look at this gift guide! In order to help you find the perfect Christmas Gift for the whole family, I’ve also written gift guides for older children – in primary school – and for adult friends and family too.
Some of these items were provided to me free of charge to evaluate and decide if I wanted to include them, many of these items I have purchased myself as gifts for other people at full price. Some of the links in this guide are affiliate links.
Some Special Cuddly Toys
I’m not just recommending Ewan the Dream Sheep because I’m Welsh, honest! Ewan is a cuddly sheep that plays a heartbeat and womb sounds that offer babies a great deal of comfort. It is especially good for those who suffer from little ones who have broken or unsettled sleep which is a lot of babies out there (and their parents). It’s not just for babies, it can be soothing all the way up to the toddler years and is something that will be cherished for many years. It has a very soft glow as well, which creates a reassuring night-light to fall asleep to. The sounds and light stay on for 20 minutes after activated, and being a sheep, is entirely gender neutral and suitable for all children. It’s a #1 Best Seller on Amazon for a reason – it works. At just shy of £30 you might think it’s a bit pricey, but as any sleepless parent will tell you, a good night’s sleep is well worth the money!
Steiff Soft Cuddly Friends are collectable stuffed toys available in a whole variety of shapes and sizes, from traditional bears, to other animals, to ranges like Peter Rabbit and Paddington. William is obsessed with dinosaurs, so you know which one I chose for him! There’s a total of over 500 to choose from, with free gift boxes. These make a beautiful keepsake gift, something both children and parents will love and create cherished memories with. These are so well made they’ll be played with from birth until teenage years – or even beyond, as many of us have a treasured childhood companion that we still keep somewhere even as adults.
A Stunning Jumper
If you’re going to buy kids clothes, you need to make it something special and awesome, and my favourite winter jumper this year is the Forest Fairisle Jumper from Frugi. This is one of my favourite brands and their autumn / winter catalogues are often bright, colourful and unique, not to mention superb quality. It can be hard to get children excited about receiving a jumper as a gift, but I think this bright design with it’s winter animals is so fun, they’re guaranteed to love it.
Alphabet Letter Cushion
Echo Three Alphabet Cushions are so cute, and ideal for pre-schoolers who are learning their letters and will recognize the first letter of their name, or another important letter to them. You could even buy their entire name and this will help them learn to spell it! There are a few styles and colours available to match the room. It’s soft and really comfortable, huggable or usable as a pillow. If you’re interested in the Husky stuffed toy in the picture, that one is from Matalan.
Building Toys for Little Fingers
The LiTTLEDUG Toy Workstation is a fantastic imitation of some the products available from BiGDUG, allowing children to roleplay helping, emulate their parents, and work on those fine motor skills and imagination. It comes with a variety of tools and screws to practice using, and it’s very easy to put together, as well as sturdy one assembled. It’s very affordable at just £19.99 too!
For children 3+ who don’t yet quite have the fine motor skills for more fiddly and older building toys, Kid K’nex offers a variety of building sets from just £7.50 that really stimulates the imagination whilst helping them develop manual dexterity too. This is much more simple than the older K’nex version, so a great starting point for making lots of fun characters. There’s a lot more detail in my Kid K’nex review.
From babies all the way to 5 year olds, building blocks are a simple but effective STEM toy, encouraging fine motor skills, creativity, colour identification, shapes, number counting and loads more! I want to recommend to all parents and family members the Geomag Magicube set. It’s a little bit pricey, but it’s well worth it. These blocks are great for little hands, very easy to stack and they’re magnetic too!
My final recommendation in the building toys section is going to be Magnetic Tiles. You can really create extensive buildings and let your imagination go wild with these, and they’re usable from two or three all the way up to seven, eight and beyond, so it’s a toy that will really last.
I hope this Christmas Gift Guide has given you some ideas for what to buy your little ones for Christmas 2021!
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