The Best Sesame Street Toys for Babies and Toddlers

This Elmo toy rattle from Bright Starts is about to become your little mover and shaker’s new BFF. With flexible Oball construction, a ton of finger holes to grab and colorful handle beads to touch, squeeze and twist, the Sesame Street sensory toy will hold baby’s attention and help them flex their fine motor functions. Plus, the BPA-free material is safe for babies 3 months and up to put their mouths on (because you know that’s already going to happen). Parents, Elmo thinks tummy time is going to be a lot more fun!

Age recommendation: 3 to 12 months

Does your little one have a color they love? Red like Elmo? Yellow like Big Bird? This hands-on Magna-Tiles Sesame Street toy for toddlers—complete with one Elmo and puppy face hexagon tile, 10 three-inch square tiles teeming with famous muppet and animal friends and six equilateral triangle tiles in every color of the rainbow—lets them build, stack, spread out, stick together and color in their favorite characters, all while they practice verbal and creative thinking skills and hone their hand-eye coordination. The easy wipe-clean and color-again design, plus four ultra-clean washable pens from Crayola, means this set will keep your toddler busy for hours.

Age recommendation: 3+ years

The gang’s all here in this premium 10-pack of poseable Sesame Street toy figurines. Like baby dolls, figurines offer kiddos a blank slate to inspire some of the most imaginative, open-ended play sessions. With no set of rules to stifle their fantasies, they can act out scenes from some of their go-to episodes or create exciting new storylines for Bert, Ernie, Abby, Rosita, Grover and Gabrielle. Parents, siblings, family members and friends can get in on the fun too, which helps encourage that all-important social and cooperative play.

Age recommendation: 2+ years and up

Rubber duckies are cute, but we’ll do you one better with Glo Pals’ Sesame Street bath toys, which bring water-activated light-up toys to your toddler’s tub. This particular set spotlights 4-year-old Julia, the show’s first puppet with autism, who’s ready to splash and play in her own unique way. Simply pop one of the colorful cubes into the compartment on Julia’s back and add her to the tub (head first, face down to make sure all the air bubbles escape and she lights up as intended), along with the rest of the orange and yellow cubes. Want to brighten bath time up a whole lot more? Check out the whole crew of Sesame Street Glo Pals, including Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo and, of course, Julia!

Age recommendation: 3+ years

Are you on the hunt for a stuffie to bring all your Sesame Street-adoring sidekick’s dreams to life? Well, everything you want and need (including a gently washable surface!) is baked into this googly-eyed plush pastry chef. From his on-point chef’s hat to his button-boasting apron, Cookie’s outfit invites your child to practice basic dressing skills and pretend they’re a pastry sous chef alongside one of the greats. We love all the tactile details too: a cord for toddlers to tie and untie, a zipper, a snap button and a removable chocolate chip cookie to make sure the monster is well-fed. Just don’t blame us if your kiddo’s first word ends up being “cookie!”

Age recommendation: 1+ years

With this Elmo toy phone, featuring 12 easy-press buttons for your smooth talker to dial up their Sesame Street buddies (from Gonger and Oscar to Tamir and Rosita), your kiddo will be engaged and entertained for a good long while. Like the show that inspired it, the phone plays songs and repeats learning phrases to level-up their counting and rhyming skills and help them recognize numbers, colors and shapes. When it arrives, take advantage of the phone’s “Try-Me” mode, which lets you trial the features and land on a comfortable and safe volume for your little.

Age recommendation: 2+ years

Have a cutie who adores dinosaurs almost as much as they do Elmo? Then this is the Sesame Street toy you need to add to your cart. All your creative creature needs to do is press Elmo’s hand to jumpstart the music and get the furry red guy grooving. His arms move, his body sways and he stomps his feet. As “If You’re Happy and You Know It” plays, your dance squad will feel inclined to shake it like Elmo. Fun times and exercise? What more can you ask for in a musical toy? Soft, huggable fabrics, maybe? Done. He’s dressed in a velvety plush dinosaur costume and stuffed with 100 percent recycled fill.

Age recommendation: 18 months to 4 years

One of the things we love most about Sesame Street is how the show handles adversity and helps little ones develop healthy coping habits—and off screen, that’s what this Sesame Street craft toy can encourage. The storybook lets Cookie Monster, Abby and Elmo introduce toddlers to the idea of “calming jars.” Once you’ve gotten through the tales aimed to tame your toddler’s tantrums, you can help them put together their own personalized self-calming jar. The kit comes with an instructional pamphlet, plus all the supplies needed for tricked-out sensory jars—the plastic bottles, stickers, foil stars and hearts, glycerin, glitter, water dye and more. Your little one will love personalizing their own.

Age recommendation: 3 to 5 years

We love ride-on toys for kiddos on the move, so you know we couldn’t pass up an Elmo toy ride-on. With your child as a passenger, this primary-colored plane—piloted by Elmo—is ready for take-off. The propeller whips around and at the push of a button, your curious commuter can trigger noises that sound just like an airplane would when it lifts off and lands on the runway. The interactive lights, music and recognizable taglines can really set the stage for memorable imaginative play sessions. Once your toddler tires of flying in the sky, you can fold it up for easy storage or let their younger brother or sister have a turn (that built-in handle on the seat’s back keeps the rider safe and allows the toy to pull double-duty as a push walker for littles still “earning their wings”).

Age recommendation: 12 months to 3 years

Stacking toys are a huge hit with babies and toddlers, so we couldn’t end this list without a suitable stacker from Sesame Street. This stacking toy, using trash cans from Oscar the Grouch’s beat, lets your little one stack and nest to their heart’s content. Once they’re done, you can help them put the wobbly, weighted grump on top to preside over the entire tower. Not only are the colorful cups fun to play with at home, but they’re also super portable. Just nest them and their folded-arm leader and load them up into a tote or travel bag. This writer has even used them as a baby bath toy while on a Disney vacation with the family!

Age recommendation: 3 to 12 months