Play Time
Hape Walk A Long Snail Pull Toy
$34.00Hape’s Walk-A-Long is the perfect toy for your little walking explorer, with a pull-string so that he/she can take a friend for play on-the-go! Suitable for children 12m+ Includes snail...
Tender Leaf Toys Wall Decor
$18.0010 accessories to give your dolls house interior a facelift! All have double-sided sticky tape on the back. Age range: 3 Years And Older Product size: 9.84 x 8.66 x...
Maileg Washing Machine Mouse
$26.00Every busy household needs a helping hand for the laundry - a washing machine is the right solution. It is made in metal and painted in off-white color, with many...
Stockmar Watercolor Paint 20ml Basic Set of 6
$62.00Stockmar Watercolor Paints make their mark with their excellent scumbling properties, natural transparency and lightfastness. The color range follows the extended version of Goethe's "Theory of Colors". Each tone has...
Stockmar Wax Block Crayons in Tin Case 16 Colors
$34.00Stockmar Wax Blocks, made from the same materials and available in identical colors to the stick crayons, have outstanding drawing properties and appeal to the senses. Their size and flat...
Stockmar Wax Block Crayons in Waldorf Tin Case...
$20.00Stockmar Wax Blocks, made from the same materials and available in identical colors to the stick crayons, have outstanding drawing properties and appeal to the senses. Their size and flat...
Stockmar Wax Crayons Combo Standard Tin Case 8...
$40.00Stockmar Wax Blocks, are made from the same materials and available in identical colors to the stick crayons, have outstanding drawing properties and appeal to the senses. Their size and...
Stockmar Wax Stick Crayons in Waldorf Tin Case...
$20.00Elegant design with an attractive packaging and pleasant fragrance, Stockmar Wax Crayons appeal to the child's senses. How the colors shine and how versatile they are! Whether drawing, painting, generously...
Penguin We Are Together Book
$17.99Celebrate the power of love and friendship in this beautiful book by Britta Teckentrup. With vibrant artwork and peek-through pages, this is a picture book to treasure. Age: 3-7...
Wee Gallery Wee Galley Art Cards For Baby Jungle ...
$16.00Babies are fascinated with black-and-white designs. Right from the start, these art cards begin developing a baby’s visual perception. Printed on sturdy board, these cards will stand up to baby’s...
Tender Leaf Toys What's Up Wooden Face Playset
$40.00This set includes a wooden face shaped base, 2 hair buns and 28 magnetic facial parts to convey lots of emotions, from happy to sad, sleepy to excited! Encourages Social...
Ooh Noo Wheelbarrow Toy
$180.00Made in Europe, entirely out of wood from European forests, the ooh noo Toy Wheelbarrow helps kids develop important gross-motor skills in a complex process that requires strength, coordination, balance,...
Tender Leaf Toys Wild Pines Train Set
$120.00This 30 piece track allows for creative layouts and endless storytelling. Accessories that move include an engine and 3 carriages holding 27 small logs of various colors. A logging truck...
Londji Wildlife Memory Game
$20.00Perfect for Nature Lovers- Wildlife Memory Game comes with 32 beautifully illustrated cards all packaged in a heavy mat board box with elastic closure for tidy keeping. High-quality, matboard cards...
Manhattan Toy Wimmer Ferguson Clip and Discover Shapes
$28.00Help little ones recognize shapes and entertain them while they're on the go. In true Wimmer-Ferguson fashion, each shape has simpler black-and-white graphics on one side and more complex color...
Manhattan Toy Wimmer Ferguson Double Feature Mirror
$50.00One side features a mirror for self discovery, while the other side has high-contrast black & white graphics that help baby with visual & multi-sensory development. This toy has ribbon...
Erzi Wok Party Wooden Toy Set
$28.00This assortment is designed to enable children to gain skill in handling chopsticks applied to cooking and serving functions. Includes 1 wok, 2 small dishes, 4 chopsticks, 1 pair of...
Bajo Wood Eco Auto Transporter
$90.00Coming through! This brightly-colored auto transporter is perfectly engineered for little hands and designed with safety and sustainability in mind, this beautiful heirloom-quality wooden toy is recommended for toddlers. It's...
Bajo Wood Eco Car Blue
$26.00This eco car is perfect for playtime and it provides a comfortable grip for little hands! Made In: Poland Product Size: 9 x 5 x 6 cm Age: 1.5 years...
Bajo Wood Eco Limo Yellow
$26.00This eco limousine is perfect for playtime and it provides a comfortable grip for little hands! Made In: Poland Product Size: 9 x 5 x 6 cm Age: 1.5 years...
Bajo Wooden Animal Gorilla
$64.00This adorable wooden Gorilla is lightweight and easy to play with. Their limbs can be moved so your child can imitate the real movements of the living endangered species. They...
Bajo Wooden Animal Panda
$64.00This adorable wooden Polar Bear is light weight and easy to play with. Their limbs can be moved so your child can imitate the real movements of the living endangered...
Bajo Wooden Animal Polar Bear
$64.00This adorable wooden Panda is light weight and easy to play with. Their limbs can be moved so your child can imitate the real movements of the living endangered species. They...
le toy van Wooden Baker's Basket Crate
$23.00A crate of wooden breads including a pretzel, an iced bun, a croissant, a pain au chocolate and a swirl bun. Age: 2 years+ Encourages creative interactive play Material: Ethically made...
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.