Favorite Products for Toddler Fun!

GRAND products we really love for the simplest forms of toddler survival. Always open to your additions! These are for littles, but many the kids are still using in some form.

Product links are affiliate Amazon links which may help support GrandyCamp in a small way if you order from this blog post - we love keeping our site ad free so far! You could also pick up most of them at Michael’s with a coupon.

Crayola Twistable Crayons Slick Stix Make sure you are getting the Slick Stix version of the Twistables. They are chunky grip for toddlers and really lay down rich color, gliding across the page. So satisfying for a little on learning to “make a mark”. Make sure to have some large coloring sheets or paper – you don’t want them coloring elsewhere with these! I bought a piece of oilcloth for that end of the dining room table. Creatology Silky Crayons are a similar product - both are so much more satisfying than a waxy crayon. - Karen Ritz

Melissa&Doug Water Wow Water Wow is a series of spiral bound, reusable, water-drawing cardboard books. At 10x6 inches, they are handy for travel, but we love them at the dining room table during dinner prep (actually, any time)! They come with a refillable water pen, and when the child “paints”, color and hidden images appear. There are four black and white scenes (or numbers or alphabet pages) to each book, which quickly dry and are “repaintable”. No chemicals and no mess. Promotes fine motor skills, early writing skills, drawing skills and visual discrimination. There are a range of subjects (16 at this writing) – Under Sea, Vehicles, Animals, Farm Animals, Fairy Tales, and letter and number practice. – Karen Ritz

Stickers are always fun to play with (Grace prefers to wear them). Ann removes several at once for her toddler Grand, Henry, and sticks them to the edge of the counter so they are easier for him to grasp. Did you know you can print your own stickers with sticker paper? Or use printable magnet sheets for playing with them on the fridge? You could use the kid’s art, or something teachable. - Ann Lund

Sprinkles Sprinkles always change the mood. You don’t even need to be a baker – they turn apple and banana slices into a party! The teeny tiny round ones are my favorite (do you think they’d work on broccoli?), but there are so many fun choices on Amazon for anything you’d want to celebrate. - Karen Ritz

Balloons Tie those silver helium balloons to their feet as infants (eye stimulation in motion). Blow up a dozen colorful ones to have them chase around the floor while crawling or toddling (I know you know enough to pick up any pieces of popped balloons). Play a game with balloons and ping-pong paddles, dollar store fly swatters, or use a paper plate attached to a wooden tongue depressor or paint stick. More balloon games on our Toddler Help! Pinterest board, and how about frozen dinosaur eggs made with balloons? Again, always a party (I’ve blown up a bunch while they are napping and piled them outside the bedroom door). - Karen Ritz

Floor Ping Pong When Jack was 2, he and I sat on the floor across from each other, feet out (touching at first), and played with a small plastic ping pong ball and paddles from the dollar store. Great for hand-eye coordination and he never tired of squealing and jumping up to chase after a stray ball.

Colander Crowns They both worked quite a while on these - sticking both ends of colorful pipe cleaners into the holes of a colander. Tah-dah! A silly crown!

Glow Bracelets for the tub! Check Michael’s, a Dollar store; Grandma Colleen even found them at Menards!

Pom Poms Great practice in small motor skills to have a pile of colorful pom poms and tongs or toast tongs to pick them up and put them in a jar or separate them by color.

Bubbles So many choices here – we usually buy the larger wands for the most volume in one swipe. The littles LOVE bubbles - hard to say who will tire first – you in the waving, or your Grand in the chasing. And remember the bubble mower?! There are also fun Bubble Gloves now, but they don’t work so well with tiny hands. - Karen Ritz

Sidewalk Chalk 48 Washable Bright Crayola Colors. Nothing better than drawing outside, and leaving Mom and Dad a welcome home message on the driveway! The new chunky chalks are so easy for a toddler hand to hold, and the soft texture is so satisfying for making a mark. - Karen Ritz

Magnifying Bug Jar We make sure to have these with us for nature walks or backyard handy. So fun to have the magnifying feature, though I super glued the lens as it has a tendency to pop out. So much better than the dollar store version. There is such a thing as a bug vacuum with a jar attachment FYI! - Karen Ritz

Kids' Binoculars The littles are happy with a version made out of toilet paper tubes - tape them together, decorate and add a string for around the neck. These are my favorite fairly good, durable kid binoculars (they will be dropped) in every favorite color for once they get the concept. We keep them by the window, and take them on walks - so much to see and talk about! - Karen Ritz

Toy Trucks I bought these at Target for $5.99, great for boys and girls and have stood the test of time. Here Jack is two, constructing with a plate of cinnamon sugar. These have been great with sand, snow (yes, I have brought that inside on a tray), our “Rainy Day Dirt” concoction, water beads, excavating dinosaurs, and just plain car wash in the sink with dish soap.

We want to hear about YOUR go-to products for Grand fun! Even better if you've got a picture of it "in use!", but no worries if you don't. Comment below or send to Karen@GrandyCamp.info More fun shopping finds at www.amazon.com/shop/grandycamp