Easter basket ideas for toddlers without the candy pile

The best Easter basket for a toddler is a small one with a few things they will use all spring: a board book, chunky crayons and a coloring page, a bottle of bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a bucket and spade, a sun hat and maybe one soft bunny. Candy is optional and mostly for the grown-ups. Several of the classic basket fillers (jelly beans, small toys hidden in plastic eggs, marshmallow chicks) are on the pediatric list of things toddlers choke on, so a lighter basket is also the safer one.

Below are basket ideas by age, a list of what to leave out with the reasons, books worth adding, and free ideas.

Easter basket ideas by age

Age	Ideas that work
Around 1	Board book, soft toy, bath toy, sun hat, big stacking cups or eggs, spring socks
Around 2	Chunky crayons and a pad, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a bucket and spade, a lift-the-flap book, big stickers
Around 3	Coloring pages, washable markers, a watering can and seed packet to plant together, a puzzle with big pieces, a kite

A good rule: one book, one thing for outside, one thing for making, one thing to cuddle or wear. That is four things and it fills a basket.

The basket itself can be the gift. A sand bucket, a toy wheelbarrow or a fabric bin they can use for toys afterward beats a wicker basket that goes into the closet.

Outside things. Easter falls in spring, so bubbles, chalk, a bucket, a kite, a small watering can and a sun hat all get used for months.

Making things. Chunky crayons and a pad of paper are the cheapest basket filler there is. If you add crayons or markers, the Art and Creative Materials Institute says products with its AP Seal are certified by board-certified toxicologists after toxicological testing. Our crayons vs markers guide covers which suits which age.

What to leave out

Easter baskets attract exactly the small, sticky, round things toddlers should not have. The AAP's choking prevention page lists hard, gooey or sticky candy, chewing gum, nuts, popcorn and marshmallows among the foods to avoid or modify for young children. In Easter terms:

• Jelly beans, hard candy and gum. All on the AAP list. Chocolate eggs are less of a hazard than jelly beans, but a toddler does not need them either.
• Marshmallow treats. Marshmallows are on the same AAP list.
• Small toys in plastic eggs. Plastic eggs make a tiny toy feel like a prize, which is the problem. The CPSC fact sheet on the Child Safety Protection Act explains that balls 1.75 inches across or smaller meant for children under 3 are banned, and that toys with small parts sold for ages 3 to 6 must carry a "not for children under 3" warning. If an egg filler carries that warning, keep it for an older sibling's hunt.
• Latex balloons. The AAP choking page names balloons among the objects that cause the most choking deaths in children.
• Honey treats for babies. Some "natural" Easter sweets are made with honey. The AAP recommends no honey for babies under 12 months because it can carry botulism spores, and says honey is safe from age 1.

One more practical tip: if older kids are hunting too, give the toddler their own color of egg filled with toddler-safe things (puffs, crackers, a sticker sheet for a 3-year-old) so nobody has to sort a pile of eggs on the lawn.

Books for a toddler's Easter basket

One good book outlasts every other thing in the basket. These are all in print and easy to find at a library or bookstore:

• The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen, a gentle origin story with lots to look at.
• The Easter Egg by Jan Brett, a rabbit's quest to decorate the winning egg, with detailed borders older toddlers love to study.
• Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, the two hares, a spring read-aloud that works year-round.
• Where's Spot? by Eric Hill, a lift-the-flap search that suits the egg-hunt mood for a 1 or 2 year old.
• God Gave Us Easter by Lisa Tawn Bergren, for families who want the religious meaning of the day told for small children.

For a 1-year-old, choose a board book edition: pages survive chewing. More book ideas for this age are in our gifts for a 1-year-old that aren't toys.

Free and homemade basket ideas

• Seed-planting kit. A paper cup, a scoop of soil and a few sunflower or bean seeds. Plant together on Easter afternoon and check it every morning.
• Homemade play dough in spring colors, kept in a jar.
• A spring photo walk. Print five photos of the toddler from last spring and slip them in a small album.
• A coloring page of them. Take a photo of your toddler in the garden or holding an egg and turn it into line art. Our guide to turning a photo into a coloring page for free shows how with free tools, and the printing guide keeps the lines dark.
• An egg hunt with no candy. Fill plastic eggs with stickers, puffs or pictures of family members. For a toddler, finding the egg is the whole fun.

If you would rather not make a page yourself, Colorkin makes coloring storybooks starring your own kids, drafted with AI illustration tools from your photos and checked and finished by a person. It is more of a birthday-sized gift than a basket filler, so for Easter the free page above is the better match.

For more seasonal ideas built on the same few-good-things rule, see our stocking stuffers for toddlers and the gift ideas hub.

Questions parents ask