Birthday gifts for a toddler, under $25.

Made from recycled milk jugs, indestructible, and the tipping bed is endlessly satisfying. Indoor-outdoor, dishwasher-safe.

The starter grocery haul for any play kitchen. Wooden, sturdy, and it makes the pretend meals feel real.

A recycled-plastic tea service that survives being actually used, indoors and out. You will be served many, many cups.

A wooden stethoscope and the whole little bag. Every stuffed animal in the house is about to get a checkup.

Wooden food halves held with velcro — the satisfying thunk of 'chopping' carrots. First kitchen, first pretend job.

Ten colors and the basic tools. It's Play-Doh — it always lands, and the tub keeps it from becoming carpet.

French-designed puzzles that are genuinely lovely to look at while they're being done. Art you're allowed to step on.

Paint with plain water, it dries, do it again. The no-mess restaurant and airplane hero. Buy the four-pack.

Markers that only color on the special paper — never skin, walls, or the good couch. Grandparent-house magic.

Fat wooden pieces with knobs a small hand can manage. First puzzles, first little wins.

Lift the flap, find the animal, send it back. Forty years old and still the first book a one-year-old asks for twice.