How great would it be to feel confident your kids are not only going to love their Christmas gifts, but also that they’ll keep returning to play with them again and again?

These are the Toy Awards that parents in-the-know have already viewed over 7,000,000 Times!

Pin it to your favorite gift or toy board or bookmark it (and share it with your mom friends – they’ll thank you!).

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Without further ado, here are this year’s hottest toys and picks arranged by age…

Toy Recommendations by Age

Top Toys for Babies and 1-Year-Olds

Top Toys for Elementary Age Kids

Our Most Popular Guides

Best Toys for Building S.T.E.M. Skills

Best Toys for Keeping Kids Active Indoors & Outdoors

Best Games for Family Game Night & More!

Toys Under $20

50+ Toys for Kids (Ages 2 – 14) for $20 or Less!

You may be wondering- where do I research? Everywhere.

I’ve spent hours upon hours talking to friends, school teachers, and even toy store owners as well as reading reviews, polling our readers, and scouring toy award lists to come up with these finds.

In addition, I’ve got a few goals of my own when it comes to toy shopping – getting in some solid independent play during quiet time, burning off steam when stuck indoors, and feeding their little brains in a fun way to name a few.

So this year we’ve got a couple of different ways for you to shop:

Check out our gift guides by age above
NEW! and perfect for finding birthday party gifts – Over 50 top finds under $20 each!
Scroll through each of our gift guides categorized by interest and find the perfect thing for your art/building/outdoor/S.T.E.M./game/doll/etc. loving kid!

Just click on the photos below for the complete guide… Happy shopping!

GUIDES BY INTEREST

Gift Guide #1: Best Toys for Building S.T.E.M. Skills

With all the talk I do on the blog about the importance of fostering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills, the STEM-themed gift guide is always a star of the show.

I just keep hearing over and over how important cultivating innovation is in our kids’ future success. So watching my sons and daughter excitedly engage with open-ended toys to construct, engineer, explore and experiment fills my heart with joy.

I’m on a continued mission to find the absolute best toys to keep the innovations coming.

Gift Guide #2: Best Outdoor Toys

An absolute parent favorite – this one contains the best toys out there to get your kids moving, indoors or out!

Part 1 is dedicated to outdoor toys and, like everything on our list, each of these toys has huge play power.

Which means that instead of tiring of them after a few days, they’ll return to them for active, stimulating play again and again!

Gift Guide #3: Best Toys for Burning Off Energy Inside

Part 2, our selection of active toys for indoor use, will help your kids safely burn off some steam when they’re stuck indoors.

That means a pick or two of this list will keep the family happy (sane!) and feeling good all year long.

Gift Guide #4: Best Toys for Babies & Young Toddlers

Babies and young toddlers can be especially tough to shop for – it’s not like we can just ask them what they want. Plus, kids develop differently and at different rates at this age.

Your best bet is to go for the tried-and-true toys that aim to build hand-eye coordination and fine and gross motor skills in an engaging but not over-stimulating way. Music is always good too.

Here you’ll find my top picks for babies and young toddlers. They all cover a variety of developmental skills and ages and you should find plenty of options to make baby happy!

Gift Guide #4: Best Games for Kids & Families

Having a regular family game night is a great tradition to strengthen the family unit.

Not only does it ensure time for connecting with each other each week, it also gets your kids in the habit of communicating with you – something that will pay-off big time when they’re older.

Plus, with the right game, it can be really fun!

Here you’ll find a selection of games the whole family will love, including some to help you start a game night ritual even with your youngest kiddos.

Gift Guide #5: Best Toys for Building & Construction

Building and construction toys, blocks in particular, are my absolute favorite toy for both my sons AND my daughter.

They are the ultimate open-ended creativity toy and I love that my children play with them for huge chunks of time, all while developing math, problem-solving, and spatial thinking skills.

Because of this immense love for building toys, we have tried (and likely will continue to try) more than our fair share of sets. This list is filled with those that have led to hours upon hours of innovative building fun.

Gift Guide #6: Best Toys for LEGO Lovers

Of course, no building gift guide would be complete without a dedicated LEGO section.

Whether your child is just starting out with these wonderful little bricks or is already completely obsessed with The LEGO Movie and quickly on the way to becoming a “master builder”, we’ve got just the picks for you.

Gift Guide #7: Best Learning Toys for Quiet Time

In an effort to get a few minutes of one-on-one time with each child, as well as to get some stuff done myself, I stock my arsenal with quiet time toys so awesome my kids won’t even mind being shooed away to play with them.

Even if you have one child, how great would it feel to set her up with an engaging and educational activity they love while you check some things off your to-do list?

Gift Guide #8: Best Toys for Quality Dramatic Play

Why am I so enthusiastic about this list, and dramatic play in general? Because I truly believe that this type of play is absolutely VITAL to kids’ development.

It teaches so many wonderful things – literacy through vocabulary and story-telling practice as well as social skills such as empathy, turn taking, and the identification of emotions.

It can even incorporate lots of practical mathematical problem solving skills, and much, much more. Plus kids absolutely love it, which means carefully selected, engaging toys can lead to hours upon hours of both independent and cooperative play.

Gift Guide #9: Best Toys for Art & Craft Lovers

I believe every house with kids should have a stocked art drawer (in a perfect world, an entire art closet!)

I absolutely love gifting my kids art supplies because I know that while using them they’ll be flexing their creative thinking skills and likely spending a lot of time doing so independently.

Plus – big bonus – because these supplies get used up, they don’t contribute to a huge pile of toys that will inevitably lead to power struggles between me and the kids over clean-up time.

Gift Guide #10: Best Dolls & Accessories for Girls AND Boys

Dolls are wonderful for dramatic play, teaching emotions, and fostering nurturing and empathetic qualities in children.

With the awesome variety of dolls out there made with boys in mind too, there’s no reason not to take advantage of those benefits for all of our kids.

These are our favorite dolls for all different kinds of play (and, of course, their accessories too).

Of course, there really is no way to make a complete gift guide around dolls without a section on princesses, castles, and all things Elsa and Anna too.

Gift Guide #11: Best Toys for Vehicle Lovers

If my son actually saw this list he’d be sure to beg me for every item on it.

And, honestly, it would be hard for me to resist. I’ve found that a dozen matchbox cars, a good quality truck with some interesting moving parts, etc. can usually buy me a good chunk of independent play from the kids.

Whether your child gets most excited about cars, trucks, trains, planes, or construction vehicles – you’ll find something for them to love here.

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