Easter Basket Ideas for Toddlers Australia

The egg theme feels festive, but the puzzle works any time of year. Once the basket is done with it, it still behaves like a normal sorting toy for a rainy day.

Start with three or four eggs lined up beside their pairs. Twelve at once is a lot of pieces for a first go.

Set the carton in the basket as the centrepiece, or hide the eggs around the room and let the basket be their home at the end.

Check the connector pegs and interior shapes for wear, confirm the egg size against the listing's age grade and smooth any rough seam edges before handing them over.

The eggs can be hidden for a mini hunt, then reused as storage once the dough is out. Few basket fillers stretch that far.

Open one or two colours first and let the child squish and roll before adding more to the pile.

Spread the nine eggs through the basket and around its base so the child finds them one by one.

Play-Doh contains wheat, so check allergy notes on the pack. Verify the age grade and keep an eye on children who still mouth objects.

It turns decorating from a messy tabletop art project into a quick activity a preschooler can mostly manage themselves, and the finished eggs look genuinely good.

Use hard-boiled eggs, or wooden or plastic egg shapes for something reusable. Lay down newspaper and do it at the table.

Gift the bunny together with a few eggs to decorate. The two together are a complete Easter-morning activity in one basket.

It takes batteries, so check the battery compartment is secure, keep it away from children who mouth parts, and supervise the marker use.

A rattling egg is about as close to a universal toddler toy as you can get. With forty of them in ten colours you can share them at a playdate and still have plenty left over.

Start with two or three and shake along to a favourite song. Add more eggs as the child gets the hang of shaking and handing back.

A handful of shakers works as the filler layer under the main gift, and the drawstring bag keeps them together after Easter.

Inspect for cracked plastic and loose parts before first use. The eggs are mouth-sized for some children, so supervise little ones who mouth objects.

Oversized eggs read instantly as "Easter", and because they are reusable they are one of the longer-lasting things you can put in a basket.

Let the child open and close them a few times empty first. The hinges can be stiff for small hands.

Use one giant egg as the centrepiece with a note or small gift inside, then scatter the rest around the house for a hunt.

Check the hinge strength, seams and painted finish. If you fill them, use age-appropriate contents and keep small fillers away from children who mouth.

Half the fun is not knowing which colour truck is inside, and pull-back cars genuinely work, which is more than many novelty eggs can say.

Show how the pull-back works on a smooth floor. Carpet slows the little trucks right down.

Hand them out one egg per child at an egg hunt, or put the whole dozen in one basket for a truck-obsessed kid.

The trucks are small, so check their size against the age grade. Inspect them for breakage, as pull-back mechanisms can wear with use.

It is a two-stage toy: the hunt, then the collection. The figures can be matched up, lined up and played with long after the eggs are empty.

Tip the eggs into the basket and let the child open them one at a time. Count the dinos as they come out.

A big handful of dino eggs looks fantastic buried in natural shredded paper or fake grass at the base of the basket.

The dino figures are small pieces, so follow the age grade closely and check each one for sharp edges after opening.

A puppet that fits on a small finger is an instant character. With nineteen animals you can do barnyard chaos, a jungle story or a whole puppet school.

Start with five or six animals lined up in front of the child and let them choose. Fewer choices make better stories at first.

Scoop the puppets into the basket like a plush popcorn layer, or bundle ten of them as a quick extra gift for a second child.

The puppets have small stitched parts, so check the eyes and seams and follow the age grade for children who mouth objects.

A bucket that folds flat is the rare Easter item that doubles as the basket itself, then moves on to the beach or sandpit for the whole summer.

Show how they pop open and fold flat a couple of times. The folding hinge is part of the fun.

Use one orange or purple pail as the actual basket container and stack the other two buckets with shovels inside for a complete set.

Check the folding hinges and the shovel edges. Plastic handles cope fine with sand, but check them for splits before and after use.

Every basket needs one thing that has nothing to do with educational value. This is the gift that makes older kids, teens and even dads laugh out loud.

No setup needed. It works straight out of the box, which is exactly the point.

Tuck it on top where it gets spotted first, or save it as the last item found in an egg hunt.

Handmade items vary, so check the eyes and stuffing are secure before giving it to small children. It is best aimed at older kids and grown-ups.