The best Christmas toys for 2021

Need some inspiration for baby and toddler presents this year? Look no further than our shortlist of the best Christmas toys of the year

Baby wearing Christmas outfit

by Sophie Knight |
Updated on

If you're looking for the best toys to buy your baby or toddler this Christmas, where do you even start?! With so many choices it's hard to know which one your little one will love, and the ten thousand adverts on the TV don't help (except to make your toddler shout "PAW PATROL MUMMY!" at you all day long).

Related: The best toys on Amazon

All is not lost - that's where our shopping experts at What's The Best come in. Our team of toy experts have been busy working with Father Christmas' elves to bring you a list of the top Christmas toys for 2021. You don't have to travel all the way to the North Pole to pick the right gift for your bubba, thanks to these handy tips and tricks.

How to choose the best Christmas toys

It may be too early for Father Christmas to have figured out who has been added to the naughty list, but it's never too soon for parents, grandparents, uncles or aunties to start shopping for the most magical day of the year.

Whether you're looking for a bestseller that is bound to be loved by a toddler or a game that you can play as a family, here's how to choose the right Christmas toy.

Read the reviews: It may sound simple, but reading about other parents experiences with toys will help you conclude whether or not this is the right gift. Many reviews will outline positives and negatives to toys as well as dish out details about delivery and packaging.

Decide on a budget and stick to it: The best advice that we could give to any new parent is sticking to a budget - with so many different teddy bears, games and interactive toys to choose from, Christmas can end up costing you a small fortune.

Will it help your child's development: Buying a gift that is slightly outside the age recommendation for baby's and toddlers might sound like an investment, but it may actually do more harm than good. Toys have age recommendations for a reason - the right age group will encourage exploration and problem-solving, the wrong age group could not stimulate them, or worse, be unsafe.

All that's left to do now is discover our top picks of the best Christmas toys for 2021.

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Best Toys Christmas 2021

Bright Starts 5-in-1 Your Way Ball Play, Mat & Activity Gym1 of 9

Bright Starts 5-in-1 Your Way Ball Play, Mat & Activity Gym

This playmat can convert into a ball pit, coming with 35 colourful balls and grows from newborn to toddler. Review: "The activity gym arrived on time and well packaged. It's very colourful and has lots of props to keep baby engaged. Started keeping my 4 week old in the gym for 5 mins to start with. I have placed a baby changing mat as a base and place baby on the baby changing mat for extra cushioning. Now at 4 months old, it's a daily routine that my baby plays in the activity gym twice (and if I am lucky thrice) a day. That's 40 minutes to get the chores done!! As a new parent I really appreciate getting that time."

Fisher-Price Grow-with-Me Tummy Time Llama2 of 9

Fisher-Price Grow-with-Me Tummy Time Llama

The plush supportive wedge is suitable from birth upwards and includes 13 sensory discoveries to keep your baby's senses engaged. There are detachable teethers for when little ones start teething.Review: "Great quality toy and perfect for encouraging my 3 month old to do tummy time."

Disney Official Toy Story 4 Talking Forky3 of 9

Disney Official Toy Story 4 Talking Forky

Everyone wants a Forky - and now he can be yours this Christmas. Forky wobbles and walks and has 11-character phrases, including special phrases when paired with Woody or Bo Beep. Review: "My wee niece loved this toy."

Fur Real Friends Cubby The Curious Bear Interactive Plush Toy, Ages 4 and Up4 of 9

Fur Real Friends Cubby The Curious Bear Interactive Plush Toy

Every year at least one makes it to the top of Christmas lists and Cubby Bear will definitely be one of the most loved toys this year.Review: "Bought it for my 4 year old daughter and she loves it, Cubby have some cool movements, face movements are my favourite, its quite cute."

Juno Interactive Baby Elephant5 of 9

Juno Interactive Baby Elephant

This interactive elephant can do all sorts of things. The trunk responds to your touch, and while it might not feel exactly like a real elephant, it is impressive. Her personality and confidence grow the longer you own and pet her. Review: "My daughter loves this elephant. He is very cheeky! It has good movement and a variety of different sounds and effects. The only thing is so far we have not been able to get it to do what he's told. I need to take some time to read up more. He liked to throw the nut across the floor a lot, which my daughter loves!!

Paw Patrol 6053389 Chaseu2019s Ride u2018nu2019 Rescue6 of 9

Paw Patrol 6053389 Chase’s Ride ‘n’ Rescue

This amazing Paw Patrol transforming cruiser is going to be popular with every toddler in the country this year. Kids can unfold the cruisers to reveal three exciting rescues.Review: "Really good and a lot bigger then expected, my 2 year old loves playing with this and when it extends its pretty awesome, the figures are great too for the price."

Fisher-Price Linkimals Smooth Moves Sloth £307 of 9

Fisher-Price Linkimals Smooth Moves Sloth

This interactive Sloth is cute and gets your baby moving and learning with the exciting lights, music and groovy dance moves. Review: "My one year old grandson absolutely adores this toy - he and his five year old brother have a wrestle over who gets it first."

Children's Wooden Workbench8 of 9

Children's Wooden Workbench

This classic wooden workbench is perfect for the little woodworker in your life.Review: "My son loves this. Great size, lovely quality, perfect for what we wanted."

Vtech Baby Little Friendlies Moosical Beads9 of 9

Vtech Baby Little Friendlies Moosical Beads

With 12 happy melodies and three sing-along songs, this Moosical cow encourages motor skills, sensory and language development and even their discovery and exploration. Review: "My baby (4 months) absolutely loves this cow, it's the perfect size for him to hold, the buttons on the front spin round and they are easy for babies to push. There are little rings on the side for teething babies to chew and the songs he sings are really cute. The whole family knows the 'I'm a soft and happy cow' song now and we can't help but sing it every time we switch him on!"

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Sophie Knight is Editor of WhatsTheBest and Contributing Editor for Mother&Baby, Closer, Heat, Yours, and Empire websites.

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