Play Time
Le Toy Van Ice Creams
$30.00Roll up, roll up! Serve up an icy treat with this sweet set of four, hand painted, ice-cream cones, from our inspired pretend play foods collection. Lovingly crafted from solid...
Janod My Pastry Workshop
$36.00It’s time to make a snack! This baking set will enable your child to become a real little chef! To make great cakes, you need: an egg, some chocolate, some...
PlanToys PlanToys Classic Train
$30.00Choo, choo! The PlanToys Classic Train is the ultimate addition to any rail set or transportation play scenario. Using the magnets, children can connect the trains for a more dynamic...
PlanToys PlanToys Planworld Car Set
$50.00Take a ride around the city with the New PlanWorld Cars! Designed using a unique combination of solid wood and PlanWood, this play set includes 5 different vehicles: a grey...
PlanToys PlanToys My First Camera Orchard
$15.00Get picture-perfect views of your surroundings with this PlanToys camera. Point, focus, and click the camera and see the different images through the kaleidoscope lens! Age: 18 months+ With a...
PlanToys PlanToys 50 Unit Blocks Set
$75.00A great way to stimulate children’s interest and desire in building things. Consists of 12 shapes. Age: 3 years+ The PlanToys 50 Unit Blocks come with 50 pieces in 12...
Le Toy Van London Bus
$70.00Explore the big city in style with this classic London bus toy.This iconic wooden toy is a multi-award winner and a long-time favorite. With its brightly painted exterior in bold red...
Le Toy Van Popcorn Machine
$50.00It's showtime! This stunning, toy popcorn machine will bring the cinematic experience right into your home. Full of nostalgia and fun, this award-winning toy is a firm favorite. Le Toy...
Tender Leaf Toys Wicker Shopping Basket
$50.00Go shopping just like mom and dad! A gorgeous handcrafted wicker basket containing a bar of chocolate, a bottle of lemonade, a continental salami, some cheese, a baguette in a...
Tender Leaf Toys Rainbow Birthday Cake
$26.00A wooden rainbow birthday cake topped with 6 brightly colored candles. Each cake slice is held together with velcro. Cut open the cake with the cake slice to reveal the...
Tender Leaf Toys General Stores Till
$56.00Ring up all your groceries with this fun and colorful wooden till with a scanner. Slide your credit card along the groove, pop one of 5 printed receipts into a...
Candylab Candylab Seagull Blue Toy Car
$32.00Candylab Seagull Blue Toy Car: Taking inspiration from the huge superchargers, bold colors and playful graphics that defined 1970s racing, the Seagull 5 is a powerful machine that will give you...
Candylab Candylab Pizza Van Toy Car
$20.00Pepperoni, Hawaiian, or just plain cheese – the new Candylab Pizza Van is cooking up the best pies in the CANDYCAR® World. Wood fired from a wooden van, Enzo’s can’t be...
Candylab Candylab Cupcake Van Toy Car
$20.00There's never been a SWEETER wooden toy. Please welcome the Candylab Cupcake Van: complete with groovy graphics and an adorable squishy topper. Sprinkle this CANDYCAR® into any playset or collection! ...
Candylab Candylab Citron Macaron Van Toy Car
$20.00Oh la la! Get ready for the cutest addition to the toy collection - the Candylab Macaron Van. This handcrafted beech wood toy is perfect for little pastry chefs in...
Candylab Candylab Fire Truck Toy Car
$30.00The Waterville Fire Department has been serving the neighborhood since 2022. This Big Rig features stunning red paint and a removable wooden ladder. Clear the streets when you hear this engine nearby,...
Kiko+ & gg* Oekaki House Magic Drawing Board Car
$72.00Oekaki means "drawing board" in Japanese. This beautiful magic board allows you to draw with the magnetic pen, erase and draw again endless times onto a 4 colored background. Use...
PlanToys PlanToys Colored Snap Camera
$20.00PlanToys Colored Snap Camera is a great way to encourage imaginative play. It has 3 different lenses: clear, yellow and blue with a viewfinder to see through. Kids will enjoy...
PlanToys PlanToys Kaleidoscope
$26.00View the world through an artistic lens with the wooden PlanToys Kaleidoscope! Little ones can put their favorite objects inside and experience a swirling explosion of brilliant colors. They can also...
Beyond123 Wooden BBQ Party Game
$22.00Create a delicious BBQ dish with this fun and challenging game of skewers and skills! This game is an exciting way for younger players to develop their hand-eye coordination,...
Candylab Candylab Mini Drifter Zebra Toy Car
$12.00Candylab Mini Drifter Zebra is ready for the next mountain adventure this tiny truck is geared up with a 5th wheel for that flat tire that we wish we would...
Goki Wooden Vehicle Dump Truck
$96.00Goki's wooden dump truck is a great toy for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of solid wood with real rubber tyres. Colored with water-based...
Indigo Jamm Wooden Sammy Steam Toy Train
$80.00Indigo Jamm Sammy Steam Train is a large solid built push-along train and passenger carriage. Complete with three removable wooden passengers that can be assigned to their correct colored 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.