Christmas Gift for 1 and 3 Year Old

Get a Lego table. I have had mine for 6 or 7 years now and both of my children have loved playing on it. It can be used with big duplex legos and regular size legos

A train table is perfect. My daughter used hers until she was 6. I agree with getting it used. I got my daughter's Santa gift last year (she was 2) for $40 from another mom on this site. It was a Dora talking dollhouse with ALL of the accessories which would have cost WAY more new. She knew no different and still play with it daily a year later.

I see somebody has already mentioned a pop-up tent, but that was, hands down, the most long-lasting, popular and creative toy we ever had. I have a girl - forts, castles, playing house, scary stories, sleepovers, you name it, was done in that little tent. Flashlights are very cool in there, be sure and get those, or what we had at first was a battery-powered Coleman lantern, just like the real thing and it had a remote. We have passed it down to my great-nephew so it has a whole new life (but I kept the lantern ;o).

My 2 boys will be exactly the same age as yours...Just recently my 2.9 yr old is really into 'pretend play'...So my inlaws saved a kitchen they made for my SIL and we plan on repainting and fixing it up a lil' and giving to the boys for Christmas. Yes not exactly a 'boy' toy. But at this point other than having a jungle gym this seems to be the best fit for BOTH boys.

We have plenty of block sets and right now the 1 yr is all about destroying his big bros 'creations'!! Not something I would really want to wish on anyone else...But that's just my 2. Yours might play nicely together!!

You can always yardsale or craigslist it that way you can get something 'big' and if they don't like it...Oh well right!! In fact, my older son's first Christmas we only got him yardsale toys...the grandparents spent the $$ on the new stuff. He didn't even know any better. And to tell you the truth as it stands today, they are both playing with the yardsale stuff over the news stuff. Oh that gave me an idea...You may already have one but my 2 love the Little tikes car, the one they use their feet to push with. The 1 yr old pretty much just pushes his bro in it. He doesn't know how to use his feet quite yet..more of an outside toy, I know so they wouldn't get to really enjoy it until the summer. Same thing as our sandbox..

good luck happy shopping..let us know what you choose

Last year for Christmas, I got my two year old this block set:
http://www.rootinridge.com/page8.html

I got the 100 piece unit block set. The guy is local to Austin. I don't know if he ships or if it would too expensive to ship out to you. Maybe you could find something similar made in your area.

My kids love, love, love them. They play with them probably every day. They build forts and buildings. They stack them and topple them. They empty out the box and climb inside. Then they fill it with animals and cart them around the room. It's endless. My daughter is 5.5 and loves them as much as my 2 year old.

The other thing that's a really great investment is a parachute. Endless fort building opportunities there.

We also really do love discovery toys. We haven't gone wrong there yet.

A large box. Buy them a gift but give them a large box. Like a lawn mower box. Take out all the staples and it is fun until it breaks. My kids played with a lawn mower box for a year! It was a fort, a train, a hideaway and Mommy's savior sometimes. Boys love big sturdy boxes. My sisters and I had an entire "block" of cardboard condos. cb

We got our kids a train table when they are 3 and 1 (and I was pregnant) and that thing was the BOMB!! They LOVED IT!! I dont remember what brand it was, but we got it at BJ's for only $100!! And my daughter (the 3 year old) even loved to use it as a runway for her fashion shows!! lol....but it was the best investment...that and the Step 2 Kitchen set :o).

If you want a big thing that two boys will love, I have two suggestions:

1. Train Table - my son loves the one from Imaginarium: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3931028 It comes with lots of tracks and special features and tons of trains. My son and his cousin play with it together and there are plenty of trains to go around (though they still fight about them, of course!)

2. A play kitchen - don't think of it as girly, since many boys love it! Step 2 makes the best ones, I think. Everyone I know who has one loves it - we have one at our house and one at my parents' house and both are great. Here is a link: http://www.step2.com/product-selector/index.cfm?002=52&am... It will last a long time

I also work for Discovery Toys. We have a lot of really great toys and games for little boys. We have a fun playhouse that they would enjoy and get a lot of use out of: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...

We also have a lot of great smaller gifts if your family is asking for recommendations on what to get them. Please take a look at my site for everything available: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao

The train table will be a big hit! You do not have to spend all that $$ and get the "Thomas" brand one either...costco usually sells one and the Imaginarium set is great... and the train tracks fit the Thomas Trains!

~I Velcro-d our set down when we got it for our boys when they were little because they would destroy the track and not be able to play with it til hubby or I re-built it for them and that got real old, real fast...now that they are older they have more fun building the track themselves:)

When our boys were little, the train table and the block table were huge hits! Worth every penny. When they were about 5, the train table was less interesting, so my husband took the track and made a huge track and put the pieces on a large piece of pressboard (4 ft x 6 ft). He used double sided carpet tape to attach the pieces. Every couple months, he'd rearrange the pieces and set the board up a new way. The tape allowed flexibility in the layout but kept the pieces from getting dropped and damaged, and chipped.

One of my son's favorite things was an indoor bouncer. I purchased one at Academy Sports for $45. You do need to have the room for it but he LOVED it and so did all his friends. I purchased the plastic colored balls and put inside it and it was his favorite. He played on it daily. What little kid doesn't love bouncing? The only negative for us was that the dog (lab) liked to get in it (even though we told her no) and she eventually popped it when we weren't home. Otherwise very durable and FUN! You can see the one we purchased at this link: http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=...

My kids both loved the Thomas the Train set (there is one by Brio as well). We also had the train table, which was so nice to have out. Ikea used to have a less expensive table too, or one could be made fairly inexpensively.

If they are already playing with wooden trains and love them, get them a train table! My 3 kids all love to play with trains, we have thomas, generic wooden ones,all kinds of train! also geotracks! Although if I could, I would have refused to let more than one "type" come through the doors! There are wooden, metal, plastic with batterie, different sets with batteries - just today we put together a thomas set and could find the right thomas for the track, ugh!

Or, the kitchen set! Our kids play in their kitchen every day. I think that is the one thing I feel I really got my monies worth on! Or, santa did...

I once made a kitchen play area out of cardboard boxes covered in large sheets of paper which I drew on. She played with that more than anything I ever bought and it lasted for as long as we lived in that house, which was about another year after I made it. Cost me basically nothing. Your kids are so young, you can get away with this.

several years ago I went on line to toys R us and found a moon walk that I liked. I had it sent from Toys R Us to their home (grand children) to this day it is used by my daughter and her family even if a few kids get together for the day. Her friends thought she had rented it when my daughter had a birthday party for my grandson. My daughter has told me it sets up very fast and goes down fast. it is enclosed in a bag like a large duffel bag and can store in bag when not in use. check it out and see if this might be something that you would like to get.

Do you have Cozy Coupes? that was the one toy that was played with until the kids were probably nine or ten. Of course, by then they were crazily pushing each other down the driveway with feet hanging out the front.... Two of those for races. It is the MOST popular car in the USA.
A kitchen set -even for boys. And fake food. Another constant in our house that was played with until nine or ten. Get the good kind-some with Velcro and the plastic knife so you can "cut" them.
My son enjoyed the tool table set-ups also but the kitchen got more use-maybe because he had sisters.
A playhouse.
A pop up tent. Since you have two boys get one with a tunnel that maybe connects to another tent or space. SO MUCH FUN! and they fold flat. Just expect to find toys, sippy cups and stuffed animals inside it at all times! We still have ours and all kids are teenagers. We still have the fake food, too. Fake food in a tent-nirvana!
We have a Lego table that had a flip top-one side was for the large Legos, the other had smaller pegs for the regular Legos. Then there was a shelf that was flat and it was all interchangeable so there could be three different surfaces. Came from a developmental toy store. That is in my 18 yr olds room with a gaming system on it-still being used!
If there is room-a fort!!
Good luck. Have fun.