A beautifully natural grasping toy to keep the baby's interest. The beads--held together by an elasticized string--can be safely moved about to provide a tactile experience. Feels so great to children...
Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Monochrome 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...
This Blue Pull Along Truck from Grimm's is impressive, simple in design, and easy to load. Perfect for young builders and truck lovers Authentic Grimm's Pull-Along Truck Details: Age: 1 year+...
Grimm’s Set of Lollipop Bowls is the perfect versatile toy for your little one! Your toddler can have endless fun stacking, sorting, nesting, and using the bowls for imaginary play!...
Grimm’s Fire 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 can use...
Your child is the captain of these vessels, as they sail the Seven Seas -- rolling along on any smooth surface! Included on board each is a captain of the...
Grimm’s Stacking Tower Boat is the perfect stacking toy for your little one! Your toddler can have endless fun stacking the boat to create different forms and lovely colorful structures...
This unique Semicircle Platform Building Set opens the door to a world of new possibilities for budding architects! Included are 11 wooden half-round pieces, each of diminishing size. These versatile platforms can be...
Whether the sports car, pick-up, van, bus, or limousine, these slim classic wooden cars travel comfortably over narrow bridges (10684, 10686) and are perfectly sized for easy grasping by small...
These pebble blocks are perfect for balance and stacking challenges, decorating scenic play, making a stony puppet show landscape, and building cairns. This four-piece set is painted in gorgeous graduated...
This Set of Boxes is a versatile toy for children: they can stack and sort the boxes by size and color, build with them, use it as dollhouses or carports,...
Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Natural 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...
Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Pastel 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...
Toddlers will love stacking and nesting the six colorful boxes, which fit perfectly inside one another, all while developing color recognition and hand-eye coordination. As kids grow older, these boxes will...
Large Water Waves Stacker is a unique, clever, and versatile Waldorf-inspired stacking and nesting puzzle/toy, hand carved from a single piece of wood. These nesting waves represent the element of...
This tall and colorful stacking toy features 10 brightly colored rings on a blue base with a natural wooden dowel at its center. A classic wooden toy that grows with the child,...
Grimm’s Set of Bowls is the perfect versatile toy for your little one! Your toddler can have endless fun stacking, sorting, nesting and using the bowls for imaginary play! Authentic...
From easy to challenging, these building block sets are a constant companion throughout childhood! Due to the non-varnished surface, young children are able to stack the blocks easily and the...
This open-ended game is a fun challenge for young children! The Rainbow Bowls Sorting Game comes with six colored bowls, each of which has three matching wooden pieces in the shape of...
Awaken your child's curiosity with this colorful little Rainbow Ball has a velvety soft texture will engage a baby's senses. A toy that infants and toddlers will use over and...
This set of Rainbow Wooden Peg Dolls includes 12 peg people in a variety of rainbow hues. Authentic Grimm's Pastel Rainbow Friends Details: Includes: 12 peg dolls Size: Figures - 2.5...
This Cars work quite well off-road and are suitable for rides in the countryside. Vehicles don’t need a full car wash after that, but can easily be cleaned with a...
Grimm’s 6 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...
These 7 little rainbow friends in 7 matching bowls are a wonderful Waldorf toy for any kiddo! These friends have simple forms to allow little ones' creative spark. Play with...
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.