Video:5 Gift Ideas for a First Birthday

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Transcript:5 Gift Ideas for a First Birthday

Hi I’m Ken Levinsohn for About.com and today were going to talk five gifts that make great birthday gifts. We're here at the Learning Express Toy Store in Bedford NY. A child's first birthday is a special day for not only the child but also for the parents. There are many great gifts that are appropriate for first birthday. Many of these are fun and educational and interactive for the parents.

Look for First Birthday Gifts that Encourage Development

To start with at a lower price point this is the Pound and Play from Early Years. The beauty of this toy, kids get to match up the balls with the colors and then take the hammer and pound it through. The ball will come out the bottom and the kid is encouraged to put it in the right spot according to color.

Moving up to a higher priced item from Early Years its something called Lace a Shape. Lace a shape encourages tactile exploration and motor skill development. These are lacing blocks so a child takes the blocks that each one has a little hole in it and they try to lace it on to somewhat of a shoelace.

Our next selection is something called Daisy Maxi from Querchetti. This also starts at about 12 months. This is a basic color sorting and stacking toy. 12 months is the age when they pile things on top knock them down and redo it. As you can see here the cubes have holes in them and little pointy things and the kids have to try and put one in the other and get them to stack up they can match color, they can separate colors.

Interactive Toys are Great Choices for a Child's First Birthday Present

Another great toy called Dress Me Emily from Kidozzle and Dress Me Josh. Obviously Emily is for girls and Josh is for boys and this is a toy where children learn about buttons and straps and laces and Velcro and all those things that a child needs to learn at about 1 and 2. Both Emily and Josh are first great dress me dolls for kids.

Our final selection is something we’ve been selling for years here at Learning Express and one of our favorites. This is the Funtime Tractor from iPlay. Funtime tractor is an interactive toy which is a farm tractor and a little wagon and little animals. The beauty of this toy is the child has to fit the right animal in the right spot and when they do they get the sound that the animal makes. In addition to the animals making noise when a child pushes down on the tractor it plays an old favorite.

If you use this as a guideline, finding great gifts for a child’s first birthday will be very easy. To learn more about parenting and other topics please visit About.com and thanks for watching.