What to put in a Toddler's Easter Basket (Besides Candy!)

Easter is so early this year, y'all! It doesn't feel right to start putting together an Easter basket in February, but that's when all the brainstorming and gathering started. Now that Forest's Easter Basket is complete, I figured I'd give you guys a glimpse at a few non-sugar-coma-inducing items that we are putting in his basket this Easter Sunday. I wrote a similar post for younger toddlers last year that you can read here. Some ideas for an older toddler’s Easter basket are: 

1) A DVD or movie. 

Now that Forest is over 2 and TV will magically not rot his brain any more (ha!) and we have been having months worth of rain here, we have been having fairly frequent movie nights.  

He loves movies so much and will talk your ear off about Bambi (his favorite- so cute!), Nemo, Frozen, Lion King or Monster’s Inc. When his grandparents gave him two DVDs for Christmas, he walked around holding them like a security blanket. Sharing one with his cousin Rayne was an inspiring act of sacrificial love if I ever saw one. He doesn’t even need to watch the movies; he’s happy just to hold them in his arms and memorize the covers. 

We have a DVD cabinet with glass doors which we’ve had to childproof otherwise he will take out all the movies and just stare at them for hours. Now he just stares at them through the glass. The highlight of his week is when the Netflix movie comes in the mail and he gets to place it in said cabinet. So, you get the picture? Child is obsessed. I myself have been a Disney collector for years so already have a pretty wide selection. However, I figured Forest’s Easter Basket was a great excuse to build on our current library. So we purchased the newly released The Good Dinosaur. 

I can’t wait to see his face when he gets his Easter Basket. He has been watching trailers,  reading books, and coloring his The Good Dinosaur coloring books for months now. 

If you're looking for something more educational, I HIGHLY recommend Leapfrog Letter Factory. It a super cute and ingenious introduction to Letters and their Phonics. With reinforcement from us, Forest knew all of his letter sounds after just 3 viewings. 

2) Coloring Books. 

The Dollar Tree has a great selection of little activity books. I picked up this small Sesame Street one and I know Forest will be excited. Anything with his boy Cookie Monster is a big hit. 

3) Flashcards. 

Forest is already a bit of a geek. He has a fascination with letters and numbers and loves flash cards. When I saw these Sesame Street  ‘Count’ Number Flashcards I thought they’d be a great addition to his Easter Basket.   

4) Stretchy Dinosaur. 

Forest received one of these as a party favor at a birthday party and was instantly obsessed. Unfortunately said dinosaur accidentally got sucked into the vacuum cleaner and didn’t live to tell the tale. I immediately phoned the friend to inquire where I could find a replacement and she pointed me to the Target Dollar Spot. I replaced his dinosaur undetected and then stashed another species away for Easter Morning.   

5)Stuffed Animal. 

Forest is obsessed with stuffed animals. He has plenty but for some reason I cannot help myself from getting him more any chance I get. My His Favorites are the Jellycat ‘Bashful’ line. He has the penguin, monkey, and lamb and they are the softest and sweetest stuffies in the land.  

They come in small, medium, large or giant size, but Forest loves the itty bitty small ones which are the perfect size for an Easter basket! We decided to stick with the Dino theme and got him this adorable little guy. 

6) Books. Y’all know I’m a huge proponent of books for gifts. If there is any collection larger than Forest’s catalog of stuffed animals it is his library of books. Now of course, there are plenty of Easter story books that would be great for an Easter basket but I’m pretty sure we covered most of them in Forest’s first 2 Easters. Same with bunny books. So I was a bit stumped for what book to get him this year. I saw this Cheerios Animal Activity book at Homegoods and thought it would be a good quiet independent activity for him to help with fine motor skills.

7) Lacing Toys. Another good  fine motor skill activity is lacing toys. Last year we put one of these simple lacing toys in his Easter basket but now that he’s mastered them I thought we’d move up a level and got him these animal lacing cards from Melissa and Doug. 

8)Puzzles. 

Melissa and Doug also makes great puzzles for all skill levels. Forest has recently been showing interest in more challenging jigsaw type puzzles so we decided to get him his first 12 piece jigsaw puzzle for Easter. 

9)Paint with Water. 

I promise I get no kick back for promoting Melissa and Doug items. They are just the best! My Mom and Dad got Forest this paint with water set for Christmas but it’s just a little above his skill level because it requires kids to dip the brush in the water, then the color before painting the picture. 
 
All Forest would do was dip his brush in the water and then spread water all over the picture, totally skipping the middle step to the process. When I saw that M&D also made a beginner version where all the kiddos have to do is literally paint with water,  I thought it would be a perfect addition to his Easter Basket. Their Water Wow line is also great, especially since they have a Bible Story version which is super perfect for this holiday. 
 

Well, Forest’s Easter basket itself is pretty tiny so these 9 items were all that would fit. I think it’s certainly plenty to keep him occupied this Spring. I predict that the DVD and the toy dinosaurs will be the biggest hits this year. 

Other easy ideas for a toddlers Easter basket are: Play dough, silly puddy, sidewalk chalk, Dinosaur eggs, crayons, stickers, bubbles, toy cars/trains, potty training supplies (new undies, a foldable potty seat, etc), number or letter magnets, a new toothbrush, or a new water cup. Are there any other great items that I’m leaving out? What’s in your kiddo’s Easter basket this year?