Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow is a versatile toy perfect for your growing little one. Toddlers can use the rainbow for stacking and sorting, and as they get older your children...
Send your little explorer twirling and whirling into a delightful sensory adventure! Each Fat Brain Toys Whirly Squigz is made of 100% high-quality silicone that's colorful, pleasant to touch,...
Fat Brain Toys Sensory Rollers are the perfect toys for your little one to fascinate their senses! Hands of all ages reflexively reach, grab, and explore their fascinating, rubbery...
Fat Brain Toys Pip Squigz is the perfect toy to give to your little one to use in any environment, to stick on everything from walls, to bathtubs, to windows, and...
Fun to feel, beautiful to admire, and amazingly durable so you never lose a single shape, the Fat Brain Toys OombeeCube truly is early tactile learning perfected. Fat Brain Toys...
It's a stacking toy with a spin—literally!Drop the vibrant discs onto the threaded corkscrew pole and go ooooh as they spin fast and smooth to settle onto the reversible base....
The Sophie Bath Toy by Calisson from the Sophie La Girafa is the perfect addition to the tub to make bath time fun! Floats When squeezed, the Sophie bath toy...
Stack, roll, stick, and sip! Each of these six colorful, squishy cups features a suction cup on the bottom, a suctioning brim at the top, plus endless creative-play possibilities all...
Grimm’s Hand-painted Small Houses is the perfect toy set for your little builder to create cities or villages with houses, barns, towers, and more! Authentic Grimm's Handpainted Small Houses Toy...
Little explorers can’t help but get sucked into the sensory excitement of these bendy, rattly, chewy, suction-cup creations!Their vivid textures instantly inspire little fingers to grab and feel while their...
Every bunny needs a best friend. This friend will hop out of the beautiful gift box to greet you. They arrive wearing a stripped frosted orange top but you can...
Beautiful simplicity stacks up into endless possibilities!At first glance, it's a stacking toy. But look a little closer - feel, explore, and experiment a little further - and quickly you'll...
Little explorers can’t help but get sucked into the sensory excitement of these bendy, rattly, chewy, suction-cup creations!Their vivid textures instantly inspire little fingers to grab and feel while their...
Little fingers can't resist these beautiful buttons of the Fat Brain Toys Dimpl! Built safely into the sturdy ABS plastic frame are five vibrant silicone bubbles in varying sizes and...
Fat Brain Toys Tobbles is the perfect toy for your creative & curious little one! Tobbles is multi-use a toy with limitless possibilities; this toy can stack, spin, wiggle, and...
Play is essential for children because it contributes to their intellectual, physical, emotional and social development. When children play, they exercise their creativity, develop their imagination, master their dexterity, improve their cognitive ability and build physical strength. Experts agree that the best kinds of play allow kids to set their own goals, negotiate challenges, develop and share ideas, and make their own rules.
But how can we make sure our kids are getting enough healthy, unstructured play time when they’re growing up in an overscheduled and stressful environment, when parents are overly focused on producing high academic achievers, and safety concerns prevent us from letting our kids roam around freely and unsupervised? Perhaps the best thing we can do for our kids is to make sure they have the right kinds of toys at home to make play time most rewarding.
First and foremost is safety. Safe toys for young children are sturdy, without sharp parts or splinters, free of pinching hazards, and easy to clean. If the toy will be used by an infant, it’s important that parts aren’t small enough to become a choking hazard.
Toys must be made from non-toxic materials and coated with lead-free paints. You should steer clear of antique toys, second-hand toys and homemade toys that have not been tested and approved by a certified testing lab, or may have been produced before the current regulations governing toy manufacturing were in effect.
In addition to being safe, a good toy will match the child’s appropriate stage of development and abilities.
The best baby activity toys for infants between 0-6 months are things they can reach, grasp, suck on, shake, and make noise with. Some age-appropriate toys for little babies are squeeze toys, teething toys, soft dolls, textured balls, and board books.
Infants between 6-12 months are starting to crawl, sit up and pull themselves to a standing position. They are capable putting things in and out of containers and placing objects on top of each other. Some of the best baby activity toys for this age group are dolls, vehicles with wheels, bath toys, large beads, nesting toys, large soft blocks, wooden blocks, and push & pull toys.
As your child continues to grow, look for toys that will encourage them to explore, create, pretend, imagine, and learn from trial and error.