PlanToys Rabbit Racing Car is the perfect toy for your little racer for endless pretend play! Includes turning wheel that gives the same movement as a real race car when...
Hape’s Shake and Match Shape Sorter is the perfect toy for your growing infant, helping them to develop multi-tasking skills! Suitable for children 12m+ Includes shape sorter with bead-filled blocks...
Sacha Snow Tiger is romping across the ice to meet you! With warm grey and creamy stripes, this scamp is warm against the winter. Our sweet snow tiger is wonderfully...
PlanToys Pounding Bench is the perfect toy for fun play to encourage your excited little one to burn off energy! When all the pegs are pounded, your child can just...
Three colourful buckets featuring water drainage providing fun interactions. Perfect for water play! Fill up the buckets with water, bubbles or carry your bath time friends around in the pails....
For the King of the Beasts, Bashful Flamingo is looking sweetly, well, bashful! He wants a caring companion to ruffle his luxurious caramel mane. Give this squeezy, butter-bellied big cat...
Tegu’s Magnetic Wooden Blocks Tint 14pc is the perfect toy for your little builder to create any structure by connecting the colorful blocks, the ideal set for imaginative play! ...
A gentle push or pull gets this butterfly’s wings fluttering and your toddler’s feet flying. Encourage la coordination Age: 12+ Months
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...
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...
Swellegant Sheep is fabaalous and knows it. With a rich, creamy fleece made of silky-soft fur, long, loping biscuity legs and superlong lashes, this glamour-lamb is looking divine! An elegant...
Baghera Ride On Speedster is ideal for budding little firefighters. It is built to last with a sturdy metal body, a metal bell, wooden ladders, and rubber tires. The car can...
Mellow Mallow Pig is a pink delight! This cushion-soft pig has a huge squishy muzzle, wrinkly legs, and stretchy-warm grey pink- perfect for dozy cuddles. Wee foldy ears, a little straight...
Get tangled up with gorgeous Odell Octopus! A squishy, splendid brick-red octopus, she has so much love to give! Smiley and silly, with bright, glossy eyes, she's a very friendly...
Jellycat’s Fuddlewuddle Lamb is the perfect cuddly companion for your little one anywhere, whether it is snuggling in bed at night or during a nice stroll in the park. Product...
Jellycat Bashful Pig perky porker is always rambling and scrambling around to find the tastiest treats on the ground! In baby pink Bashful fur, with a snuggly wiggly tail, you’ll...
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...
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...
Get your five-a-day in an adorable way with Amuseable Avocado! Scrummily green and soft, our veggie chum has a natty two-tone jacket in speckled fur. We love that squashy, suedey...
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...
PlanToys Stacking Wheel is the perfect stackable push or pull toy for your little one to use during playtime! PlanToys Stacking Wheel Details: Age: 12 months+ Includes 3 varying-sized cars...
Snoozy, yawny Smudge Puppy loves to flump on the floor and nod right off. A super cute pup in warm grey and cream, Smudge has delightful floppy ears, a waggy...
Most dinosaurs were scaly and tough, but Bashful Dino is the softest stegosaurus we’ve ever snuggled! He likes to stomp around so his squishy spines wobble, and practice his adorable...
Bashful Poodle comes from fabulous France, and has sugar-pink fur that you can’t help but cuddle. She skips down the avenue, fluffy ears flapping, and snaffles a croissant - what...
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.