The Easter season is officially here! The weather is slowly getting warmer and signs of spring are beginning to pop up.

Easter basket ideas start to go through my mind as soon as I see the display in Pottery Barn Kids (by far one of my favorite set ups they do all year). Molly is deep into the toddler stage of life and some days I feel like her attention span lasts about 15 seconds. I like purchasing products that I can use with Molly and that she can play with independently.  Below are some Easter basket ideas of products that always seem to grasp Molly’s attention for a good few minutes.

Flashcards. I love it when educational products can be made into a game, especially for toddlers. My mom got Molly three sets of flashcards for Christmas and Molly has truly fallen in love with them. She has Shapes & Colors (Memory Match), Numbers 0-100, and Alphabet cards.

When Molly wants to play with others, we use the Shapes and Colors pack to either match colors or shapes. She can get very excited with this especially when she realizes that she’s “winning”. For independent play, Molly will take any of the packs and look at the cards and points to things she recognizes and says the letter, color, shape, or number.

What I really like about these products is how they will be utilized differently as Molly gets older. I know that one day she will go through the numbers pack on her own and say each number correctly, especially as she moves into preschool and kindergarten. Also, by having her play with flashcards so young she will hopefully feel comfortable using them with others or on her own to practice addition, subtraction, sight words, multiplication, etc.

The flashcards we use are from Staples, but you can purchase them at the Dollar Store, Etsy, or make your own.

Usborne Books. I’m completely bias and have no problem admitting to that. I LOVE these books! The last few years I have gotten Molly That’s Not My titles for Easter because she loves the kinesthetic aspect of these great books.

I was an Usborne consultant when I first started this blog three years ago, and continue to stay up to date with the newest releases on their social media and through my amazing book lady, Everyone’s Librarian (follow her on Instagram and Facebook).

The company offers an incredible selection of works for kids of all ages on pretty much any topic you can think of. The quality of the products are superb and truly grow with children.

For more details about these fantastic books check out my previous blog posts Wipe- Clean Collection, Touchy-Feely and Sight Words in One Book, Literacy in the First Year, Toddler Literacy, and Preschool & Kindergarten Literacy. To purchase books click here.

Bubbles. I swear the number one activity for babies and toddlers are bubbles. Molly gets beyond excited if she even sees bubbles and wants to play with them constantly. One of the greatest inventions for bubble loving kids are bubble wands. Not only do these bad boys shoot A TON of bubbles out, they also tend to light up, make noise/play music, etc. They are the total entertainment package.

Molly has had an Ariel one for a while now, and she will request to play with it pretty often. It’s super easy to refill with bubbles, is long lasting, plays “Under the Sea” and lights up. She’s had it for about 2 years and the thing is still going strong.

The Disney Store currently has a few different options right now just in time for spring and summer.

Card games. Growing up, I spent hours playing cards with my grandma and sister. I love that playing cards teaches so many life skills (taking turns, being a good loser). I would suggest starting slow with Go Fish or Old Maid.

Cards can be purchased from toy stores, the Dollar Store, etc. My current favorite is a 6 in 1 pack from Amazon. It has the traditional favorites for ages 3+ making it the perfect Easter basket addition for toddlers.

Coloring books and crayons. I think this is one of the most traditional and classic gift ideas for children, that is also inexpensive. Coloring books come in all varieties making them a versatile gift. When Molly was first learning how to color, we used jumbo Crayola crayons and that really made a difference. Now that she is older she can use regular size crayons, and she is currently obsessed with colored pencils.

One of my personal favorite coloring activity pack is actually from Party City. It’s a goody bag option and we bought them for Molly’s third birthday. It comes with mini markers, coloring pages and stickers all in a cute plastic case. They have every single character you can think of and they are priced really well. Check them out here.

Play Doh. I will admit that I was hesitant to bust out this classic toy with Molly. I was raised where Play Doh was an outdoors only activity, and since she discovered the stuff this winter, I had to cave and let her play with it inside.

While Molly likes to squish and smash the doh, she also really enjoyed cutting it with plastic scissors. I wanted to up our Play Doh game and I came across a really great accessory kit from Melissa & Doug that includes rollers, scissors, sculpting tools and more. This beauty is currently available on Amazon (click here) and makes a great basket addition.

New music. Toddlers are in the rhyming stage of life. They are learning nursery rhymes, singing the months of the year, and loving music. I often find Molly just bursting randomly into song (currently anything Frozen) especially in the car. Molly will often request to listen to Trolls since I put the soundtrack on my phone, and in my car we listen to Disney princess songs.

Whether you keep it old school with purchasing a CD or you stream music, downloading/buying some kid tunes are a great option. Disney has some great choices, but there are a TON of others too. If you were a 90’s kid like me, you probably remember Wee Sing, which is all available on iTunes.