Play Time
Phaidon Press Boats Are Busy
$9.95The first book of boats for the youngest enthusiasts, featuring 15 different boats and a bonus nautical flag per vessel. From sailboats to ferry boats, tankers to clippers, young...
Abrams Appleseed Book Super Pooper and Whizz Kid
$9.99Introducing two new potty pals kids and parents will adore, Super Pooper and Whizz Kid: Potty Power! is a humorous potty-training book with a hip sensibility and a playful take on...
Mudpuppy Coloring Book Andy Warhol
$9.99Mudpuppy's Andy Warhol Coloring Book features the iconic pop artist's greatest hits ready to be colored in and customized by young artists. Introduce well-known classics like Andy's Campbell's Soup Cans...
Abrams Appleseed B is For Babar An Alphabet Book
$9.99B Is for Babar takes readers through an alphabet of fun with Babar and his family. Arthur plays the accordion, Flora feeds the fish, and more! Young children will love...
Penguin Peekaboo Apple Book
$9.99Ingela P Arrhenius’s unmistakable, enchanting artwork, combined with an ingenious slider mechanism on every page, make this a totally irresistible board book for toddlers. Young children will be captivated by...
Penguin Peekaboo Farm Book
$9.99Ingela P. Arrhenius’s unmistakable, enchanting artwork, combined with an ingenious slider mechanism on every page, make this a totally irresistible board book for toddlers who love farm animals. Young children...
Chronicle Books Let’s Look at Numbers
$9.99This book is the perfect introduction to counting, part of a brand-new series of board books Let's Look At ... and with beautiful artwork from bestselling author and illustrator Marion Deuchars. Make learning...
Chronicle Books Let’s Look at Shapes Board Book
$9.99Let’s look at shapes! With beautiful artwork from best-selling author and illustrator Marion Deuchars, this book is a fun and lively introduction to simple shapes. Boardbook 24 pages 11 images...
Chronicle Books Finger Puppet Book Hug Me Little Puppy
$9.99Share your love with this huggable finger puppet book! The sweetly reassuring stories in the Hug Me series celebrate all the things a parent's arms can do for their child, from playing...
Chronicle Books Finger Puppet Book Hug Me Little Bunny
$9.99Share your love with this huggable finger puppet book! The sweetly reassuring stories in this brand-new series celebrate all the things a parent's arms can do for their child, from...
Chronicle Books Finger Puppet Book Hug Me Little Bear
$9.99Share your love with this huggable finger puppet book! The sweetly reassuring stories in this brand-new series celebrate all the things a parent's arms can do for their child, from...
Penguin Who's Hiding in the Rain Forest Book
$9.99There are lots of animals in the rain forest. Where are they hiding and what are they doing? In this innovative lift-the-flap book, little ones can pore over the beautiful...
Penguin Who's Hiding on the Savanna Book
$9.99There are lots of animals on the savanna. Where are they hiding and what are they doing? In this innovative lift-the-flap book, little ones can pore over the beautiful collaged...
Chronicle Books Let’s Look at Opposites
$9.99Part of the Let's Look at... series of board books from bestselling author and illustrator Marion Deuchars, this book is the perfect introduction to the world of opposites.From up and down penguins...
Penguin Who's Hiding at the Beach Book
$9.99There are lots of creatures at the beach. Where are they hiding and what are they doing? In this innovative lift-the-flap book, little ones can pore over the beautiful collaged...
Abrams Appleseed Book In Your Cozy Bed
$9.99From Jo Witek and Christine Roussey, the team behind In My Heart and the Growing Hearts series comes this soothing bedtime board book, In Your Cozy Bed. Told from the point of view...
Simon & Shuster My First Big Book of Princesses
$9.99Color with whimsical PRINCESSES in this jumbo coloring book featuring nearly 200 pages of kid-friendly coloring images with chunky bold outlines! Collect them all more in the My First Big...
Simon & Shuster My First Big Book of Dinosaurs
$9.99ALL DINOS ALL THE TIME! Dive into the prehistoric world of DINOSAURS with this jumbo coloring book featuring nearly 200 pages of large coloring images with chunky, bold outlines for...
Simon & Shuster My First Big Book of Unicorns
$9.99Color for hours with wacky UNICORN art in this jumbo coloring featuring nearly 200 pages of large kid-friendly coloring images with bold, chunky outlines! Collect them all more in the...
Hape Art Paper Roll
$10.00Perfectly sized for Hape art easels. Perfect for drawing, painting, and other creative expressions.
Kid O Wooden Book Things That Go
$10.00Kids on the go learn to identify their favorite modes of transportation on land, sea, and air - from a helicopter to a baby carriage. Made from wood from sustainable...
Gibbs Smith Moby Dick A BabyLit Ocean Primer
$10.00Little Master Melville teaches little ones the language of the sea in Moby-Dick: An Ocean Primer. From ships and sailors to squawking gulls and moody good captains, Alison Oliver’s brilliant...
Candylab Candylab Dart Wagon Toy Car
$10.00Peachy and pink, The Dart a sweet little addition to our Candycar line. Everything is just peachy keen with The Dart. Materials: Solid Beech Wood, water-based paint and clear urethane coat. ...
Candylab Candylab B Berry Toy Car
$10.00Get berry excited for our little Candycar. This lilac Candycar, is the berry best addition to your Candycar collection. Materials: Solid Beech Wood, water-based paint and clear urethane coat. ABS...
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.