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Buy it: Melissa & Doug Pasture Pals

Like many little girls, my daughter Ally loves horses. So she was thrilled to receive the Melissa & Doug Pasture Pals, which is a collection of 12 miniature horses in a wooden case shaped like a barn.

The set includes 12 different horse breeds and has an identification key on the back of the case. Each horse has a fuzzy texture on their body and soft mane and tail.

Ally loves playing with horse figures and this set was an easy and inexpensive way to increase her horse collection and get her a variety of horse breeds.

The horses are good quality and have stood up to over a year of play so far. The wooden case is a great way to keep track of all the horses and display them when not in use.

This is a great toy for any little girl who loves horses.

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Buy it: Puzzle Pairs by eeboo

The Puzzle Pairs by eeboo is an educational, fun and high quality matching game for young children.

Each Puzzle Pairs includes several two-piece picture and word puzzles that children match up based on different subjects. For instance, baby animals are matched with their mothers in Baby Animals Puzzle Pairs. In Alphabet & Numbers Puzzle Pairs, children match a letter to a picture/word that starts with that letter or a number to a picture with that number of items shown.

The Puzzle Pairs are sturdy puzzles pieces that hold up well to lots of use, even by young children. Each colorful puzzle piece features a picture and a word, so children who aren’t reading yet are still able to play and can start recognizing words.

My daughter Ally received the Baby Animals Puzzle Pairs when she was 2 years old and it was one of her favorite toys. She loved the cute pictures of the animals and finding out which baby goes with which mother.  We played it so often that we also got her the Opposites Puzzle Pairs. In Opposites, children match up words like “day and night,” “wet and dry,” and “empty and full.” Each word is illustrated on the puzzle piece. For instance an empty drinking glass and a full drinking glass are shown for “empty” and “full.”

There are also Puzzle Pairs available with Simple Words, Rhyming Words and Read To Me Pictures and Words.

The recommended age for these toys is 3 years and up.

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Buy it: Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel

My daughter Ally got the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel when she was almost 3 years old. And while she already loved to paint and draw, this easel took her to a whole new level of artistic creation.The easel, for ages 3 and up, has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other, with sturdy plastic trays on both sides to

hold crayons, markers, paint and chalk. In the middle of the easel is a wooden rod, which can hold a roll of paper. That paper can be fed through a slot at the top of the easel, pulled over the dry erase board and secured with clips to give your budding artist a continuous supply of paper for drawing and painting.

Ally, as well as my husband and I, have all loved this easel from the moment we got it. We put it in the corner of our living room and Ally was able to create a masterpiece whenever the mood would strike. The trays kept everything she needed right at her fingertips. And because the easel and supplies were always out and waiting for her, we found she started to paint and draw all the time.

We love that the easel was just the right size for Ally at 3 and would continue to work for her as she grew. When Ally was 3, she found it easier to paint and draw at the easel because she was in a standing position and also because the paper was securely held in place for her by colorful clips. Now that Ally is 4, we use the easel as a place to practice letters or paint more elaborate creations. The cups inside the painting tray keep spills and mess to a minimum.

The easel does not come with any art supplies or rolls of paper, but the Melissa & Doug Easel Companion Set comes with everything you’ll need to get your little artist started – from chalk and paints to a roll of easel paper. The extra rolls of the easel paper can also easily be found at most toy stores. We’ve never had any trouble finding another roll when we needed one.

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Buy it: Corolle Mon Premier Calin 12″ Baby Doll

Ally was 18 months old when I took her to pick out her very first baby doll. Without hesitation Ally reached out and picked the Corolle Mon Premier Calin 12″ Baby Doll. She named the doll “Baby” and it quickly became another member of our family.

But over the years I’ve realized what an excellent choice Ally made in that first doll.

The doll came with an adorable pink outfit and hat, which is machine washable. At our house her outfit has been washed countless times. This doll also has a very sweet face and eyes that open and close. Her head, arms and legs are vinyl but she has a soft body and she’s very easy to cuddle. Ally has slept with baby almost every night since we got her.

But what has amazed me is how well this little baby doll has stood up to years of play. Ally has taken “Baby” along to playdates, preschool, restaurants, grocery stores, camp-outs, doctor’s appointments and vacations and she’s still holding up great.

I would whole-heartedly recommend this as a first baby doll for any little girl.

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Buy it: Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-piece jigsaw puzzle

My daughter Ally, 4, loves putting together puzzles. But dumping out the loose pieces of a cardboard puzzle onto the floor and trying to assemble the puzzle using only the picture on the box as a guide can be pretty challenging for a 4-year-old.

That’s why I’m so happy that a friend a mine told me about the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-piece jigsaw puzzles, which she had purchased for her 4-year-old daughter.

These puzzles come on a wooden board that acts as a frame. The board keeps the puzzle together when it’s not in use; gives an instant hard surface to assemble the puzzle on; and most of all gives a frame for the puzzle so kids can have a better idea of where the pieces will go.

The wooden puzzle pieces are sturdy and thicker than the cardboard variety, which means the puzzle will last a long time. And Ally likes that the pieces kind of “snap” together, which you don’t get with a cardboard puzzle. The Melissa & Doug 48-piece puzzles feature colorful pictures with subjects such as pirates, horses, fairies, space or the rain forest.

These are the first puzzles that Ally has been able to assemble by herself. She has three of them and I’m sure we’ll be getting more.

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Buy it: Cookin’ Cookies Lunch Box Game

My daughter Ally, 4, loves to “help” me cook. And I always make a point of showing her how to follow a recipe and how you need all of the ingredients listed to make the finished product.

And one of Ally’s favorite games teaches the same lesson. Cookin’ Cookies Lunch Box Game is based on the idea of following a recipe and collecting ingredients, and Ally loves it.

Each player picks a recipe card at the beginning of the game to find out which kind of cookies they will be making. The ingredient cards are placed face down in the middle. Each player has a spoon with a suction cup attached, which the players use to grab and pick up the ingredient cards after everyone says “Ready, set, bake!” This is repeated until one player has collected all of their ingredients and wins the game. 

There are also Rotten Egg Cards. In the rules, if a player gets a Rotten Egg Card they put all their cards back and start over. But since Ally’s 4 and doesn’t like to lose, we’ve used the Rotten Eggs to mean that you just don’t get a card for that turn. And sometimes we don’t play with the Rotten Eggs at all.

Cookin’ Cookies, for ages 4 and up, is such a sweet, simple and inexpensive game. It teaches children how to follow a recipe but really, Ally just loves slapping her suction-cup spoon down on the cards and saying “Ready, set, bake!”

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Buy it: Real Home Innovations Storage Organizer

Being a 4-year-old means having lots of toys with lots of little pieces. There’s Playmobil, Legos, Hot Wheels, My Little Ponies as well as little dolls with all their little doll clothes, just to name a few.

To keep all of my daughter Ally’s little toys together and organized, I bought the Real Home Innovations Storage Organizer. This is a great product that fits easily into playrooms or kids’ bedrooms. Each organizer comes with 12 plastic bins, in two sizes, which can sit flat on the shelves or at an angle.

The bins are the perfect size for separating all your child’s little toys and keeping similar toys together. Ally has no trouble getting the bins on or off the shelves. I like that if she wants to play My Little Ponies, she can remove the whole bin of them at once and carry it to the rug to play.

And the bins make picking up a breeze. Since we keep our bins slanted, she can see which toys go in which bin. And even if your kids end up putting the toys away randomly, this organizer will still make things look neat. 

This organizer comes in pastel or primary colors and the bins can be arranged on the shelves in a variety of ways. The bins wipe clean easily and as of writing this, Ally’s organizer has stood up to two years of use and still looks like new. 

This organizer would also be great for sorting art supplies, since the smaller bins would be great for separating markers, crayons, scissors, paints, glue, etc. while the bigger bins could hold paper and coloring books.

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Buy it: Juvi Touch Table Lamp

When we tuck our daughter Ally, 4, in bed at night, she loves to look at her books for a while before falling asleep. 

However, since Ally can’t fall asleep with her light on, she used to call me or my husband upstairs to turn off her lamp when she was done looking at her books. Her old lamp used to have a switch that twisted on or off and it was too difficult for her little fingers to master. And while it wasn’t a big deal for my husband and I to go back upstairs to turn off the lamp, I found myself thinking that maybe it would make more sense to get Ally a lamp she could operate herself. 

So I started looking into touch lamps for Ally, which she could touch to turn on or off by herself. And I found a great one – the Juvi Touch Table Lamp.

This white lamp with a pink gingham shade fits in perfectly with our daughter’s room decor and best of all, it’s so easy to operate. Ally simply touches the base or the stand to turn the lamp on at three different brightness levels or to turn it off.

The other thing I love about this lamp is its price. At $39.99, which also includes the lampshade, it was by far the most affordable touch lamp I found. For some, the lampshade alone was that much. 

I would definitely recommend this lamp for any little girls’ room. Just be sure to note the dimensions of the lamp before purchasing it. I didn’t read the dimensions before we bought it and it was a little bigger than I expected. But we made it work.

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Buy it: KidKraft Large Kitchen

My husband and I bought our daughter Ally the KidKraft Large Kitchen for Christmas when she was about 20 months old. This has been one of those great toys that has grown with her and she continues to play with it every day.

When I decided that I wanted to get Ally a play kitchen, I went shopping around. Unfortunately I had a hard time finding a kitchen I liked. Some featured lights and sound effects, like a sizzling skillet and a beeping microwave. But I wanted a kitchen that would allow Ally’s imagination to take over and let her play her own way. Other kitchens featured certain characters, but I figured that as soon as Ally outgrew her love affair with Dora, than she would also outgrow her Dora kitchen. And some play kitchens seemed like they were the perfect size for toddlers, but would then be too small for Ally has she grew.

Then I found the KidKraft Kitchen and I loved it immediately for its size, its look and its simplicity.

The kitchen, which is listed online for about $155-$180, is made of very kid-friendly and durable wood in sweet pastel colors. My husband found it very easy to assemble. The kitchen features a refrigerator and freezer, stove, oven, microwave, sink, cupboard and clock. The doors open and close easily and the knobs on the stove and the hands on the clock can be turned.

As soon as we gave Ally her kitchen she started “cooking” up a storm. She mixed and stirred, “washed” her dishes, “cooked” her play food and stocked her refrigerator. And the kitchen didn’t make a sound. It was all Ally’s imagination at work.

Ally is now four year old and finds new ways to play with her kitchen all the time. And when Ally has friends over to play, the KidKraft kitchen is big enough to allow two or three children to play with it at the same time. The kitchen measures 42 inches tall, so Ally will not be outgrowing it any time soon.

The kitchen is recommended for ages 3 and up.

KidKraft also offers a variety of other play kitchens in different designs and colors. Each of Ally’s good friends has a different KidKraft kitchen and they have all gotten rave reviews from the kids and moms.

My husband loves that KidKraft can provide replacement parts, usually free of charge, if a part should break. But that hasn’t happened yet. The KidKraft Kitchen is one toy I know we’ll be handing down to Ally’s future cousins or even saving for our grandchildren. It’s a great buy.

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Buy it: Step 2 Sand and Water Activity Center

On a warm summer day, what could be more fun than sand and water? For my daughter Ally, age 4, the Step 2 Sand and Water Activity Center has been a go-to toy on warm days.

She received the sand and water table as a present on her second birthday and she’s has only loved it more as she has gotten older. The sturdy plastic table, which stands at just the right height for little kids, is divided into two sides – one for sand and one for water. Although Ally’s favorite part is mixing them together.

The table features roads and ramps and two bridges, and Ally enjoys running her toy cars and boats over and under them. The table comes with 2 bridges, 2 boats, 2 pots, 1 shovel and an umbrella for shade. The umbrella has held up well to our two years of use.

We’ve added a variety of sand toys over the years which keep the table age appropriate. As a two-year-old, Ally just loved digging in the sand with her shovel and splashing on the water side. Now she likes to mix the sand and water to make mini-sand castles; sift for rocks that she has buried in the sand and make up stories with her cars and boats that travel on the roads and under the bridges.

The table has a drain also and includes a cover that snaps on to keep the sand and toys contained and protected.

One of my good friends, a mother of a 2-year-old and a four-year-old, also got this table and loves it. She even empties it and moves it inside the house when the weather turns colder as an activity table for her girls. She puts the table in the corner of her kitchen and one week it will be filled with Matchbox Cars and the next week with Legos. She explained that it was a great way to contain these small toys and make the toys seem new and exciting by giving her daughters a new way to play with them.

Online I found the table listed at around $80 (depending on the seller) and it is definitely worth the price. The table holds up well to wear and tear. Our table still looks like new two years later.

The table is designed for ages 2-7.