First Birthday Presents

Sarah MacLaughlin, a child development expert and author of “What Not to Say: Tools for Talking with Young Children”, says the best first birthday presents are those that stimulate and surprise your bub’s mind.

“Babies’ brains develop so quickly — something like a million neural connections per second. To keep them interested, you have to add sensory or mobility features to the mix.”

Similarly, Shannon Lockhart, the manager of the early childhood education foundation HighScope, says it’s all about appealing to the senses to help them develop a lifelong love of learning.

“The more senses that you can appeal to within an experience, the more learning is going to happen.”

We couldn’t agree more — which is why we stock some of Australia’s most beloved and educational toys for one year olds. According to New York Magazine, it’s best to opt for toys that help build your baby’s major muscles, get their bodies moving and their minds working!

With this in mind, we recommend these toys to commemorate your little one’s big milestone

• Our Rainbow Pounder teaches children about colours and counting. Your little one can hammer all the colourful pegs through the wooden bench and then flip it over to start again! This is a great way to get their arms moving and work on their hand-eye coordination.  

• Our Walk & Ride Ice Cream Truck Sorter will give your bub their very first job — toddling around the house selling ice cream to family members! This wooden walker features an easy-grip handle and wheels for pushing around the house (or even the backyard). Plus, there are wooden ice creams your baby can sort through the holes in the body, so it’s a two in one toy!  

• Our Pound & Tap Music Bench introduces your little one to the world of music. This beautifully made music set allows your baby to explore the different sounds a xylophone can make, and they can hit the colourful balls on the top to discover what sound each ball makes. This music set is perfect for developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination while helping them gain a love of music.  

• Our Paddie Rider Lambie will be an adorable addition to your baby’s playroom! This cute ride-on trike looks just like a lamb, with a cushioned wool-look seat and all. Your child can use their looks to push themselves around the house and hold onto the handlebars behind Lambie’s floppy fabric ears. We also have a zebra option for those who love African animals!  

•  Our Rainbow Stacking Flowers will add colour and fun to playtime each and every day.  Made from plantation-grown timber, the stackable flowers are designed to enhance colour recognition, develop fine motor skills and work on hand-eye coordination. Your little one can spend hours stacking and unstacking the flowers on the wooden pole — and feel a sense of accomplishment when they finally get the order right!

As you can see, we have lots of fun first birthday toys to choose from here at My Happy Helpers. Shop the range and checkout online for fast and free shipping over $199.

At 12 months, your baby will be getting more confident using their hands and fingers. This is no time to slow down learning fine motor skills — even if your little one is focusing on finding their feet and wandering around without mum or dad’s help!

For your bub’s mountain of 1st birthday presents, consider investing in some fun little brain teasers and toys to help them continue developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Our Mini Stacking Toy is a great starting point — inspired by the Montessori learning method, this timber stacker features three rings that they can place over the wooden peg in the middle.

Each ring is made of three different types of wood, so your little one can develop a sense of colour and size to place the rings in order from large to small at the top.

To help improve your baby’s grip strength, you might consider our adorable Mushroom Screw toy. All your baby needs to do is screw the head of the mushroom onto the base using rotational movements of their wrists. Designed to help improve your baby’s five-finger grip and fine motor skills, this mushroom toy is made from sustainable plantation wood — smooth and safe for your baby’s playtime.

Missing a few essential toys for your baby’s toy collection? We have an incredible Wooden Starter Set complete with puzzles, wooden blocks, dual discs and a ball in a cup, all perfect for developing fine motor skills and sensory development.

Your little one can work on their problem-solving skills to complete the puzzle and gather more hand-eye coordination by stacking their blocks and successfully placing the ball in the cup.

There’s no limit to the skills your little one can learn with these adorable brain teasers! Shop 1st birthday toys for your child online with My Happy Helpers.

Want to take home the prize for being the best grandparent or aunty? No matter how you’re related to the birthday boy or girl, you’re no doubt looking for a unique 1st birthday gift to surprise the bub and please the parents.

Here are some of our most exciting 1st birthday gift ideas to make sure you bring home the gold

• The Goki Ride on Car has some serious Great Gatsby vibes with a classic 1950s style. With a secure seat, sleek silver finish and rubber tyres to ensure the birthday boy or girl can move safely around the house without noise or damage, this stylish little hotrod is sure to raise a few eyebrows.  

• The Petilou Activity Table will keep the bub entertained for hours on end. Packed with multi-sensory features to engage young, curious minds, the one-year-old can master the centrepiece bead maze, sort through shapes on the table, pound a xylophone and so much more! It even features the alphabet around the outside of the table to introduce the little one to their ABCs.  

• The Petilou Africa Stacking Animals Set will challenge the birthday boy or girl by seeing how high they can stack the adorable African animals. Featuring a giraffe, lion, elephant, zebra, monkey, rhino, cheetah, crocodile and parrot, the little one can learn about different animals around the world and learn how to connect shapes to build towers as high as possible. This set also comes in an ocean theme with dolphins, penguins, turtles and more!

Want to keep birthday shopping simple and affordable? We offer flexible payment options like Afterpay so you can stock up on toys for the birthday boy or girl and repay it over eight weeks. That way, you can buy something truly special that the little one will cherish for years to come.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things in life that bring the most joy — especially for mums and dads. Among our 1st birthday toy collection, we also have some cute essentials to make day-to-day activities more fun, like our Bunnykins Feeding Gift Pack featuring a cuddly plush toy for the baby and an adorable feeding set for breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Parents can never have enough bowls and utensils for their growing child, which is why we love this all-in-one gift pack. The melamine bowl has cartoon rabbits bounding around the rim and a forest scene in the centre featuring the ABCs. Their child can learn to feed themselves more effectively with the easy-grip spoon and at the end of their meal, they can enjoy the Bunnykins scene at the bottom.

Mums and dads can even ask the little one what each of the letters are as they grow and learn their ABCs, encouraging their learning even at mealtimes.

We also stock Bunnykins Suction Bowl & Spoon sets to prevent accidental spills, knocking bowls off tables… or even throwing food around the dining room.

We have lots of adorable dining sets available — find something truly special to gift the little one in your life online with My Happy Helpers!

Whether you’re stocking up on toys and essentials for your own bub or looking for the perfect gifts for the little angel in your life, you’ll find everything you need online with My Happy Helpers. We stock thousands of fun and educational toys to surprise and inspire the new one year old.

Shop online today — we offer free shipping on eligible orders over $199 and flexible payment options like Afterpay.