Play Time
Baghera Baghera Ride On Twister Toy Black
$150.00A Multi-directional ride-on toy, fun and easy to use. Compact, robust, and quiet, this ride-on is constructed from durable and heavy plastic. The black twister ride-on is perfect for your...
Plushies Jani The Savannah Giraffe 52 Inch
$148.00Jani means "leaf" in Swahili, the language of Botswana. Jani lives in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, northwest of Gaborone. Giraffes use their long necks to eat leaves high up...
Micro Kickboard Micro Kickboard Maxi Deluxe Scooter
$145.00This Micro Kickboard Maxi Deluxe Scooter version has an anodized stem for extra protection against wear and tear, a unique, silicone-injected footplate for improved grip, and an adjustable T-bar, meaning that...
Tender Leaf Toys Wooden Mini Chef Bird's Nest Cafe
$140.00A romantic wooden tea set featuring a pretty bird motif on the saucers and the side of a solid wood teapot. A pretty cupcake and tea bag, 2 cups and...
Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks Tints 42 Piece...
$140.00Tegu’s Magnetic Wooden Blocks Tints 42 pc are the perfect toys for your little builder to create any structure by connecting the colorful blocks, the ideal set for imaginative play!...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large 4 Elements Bu...
$140.00Grimm’s Large 4 Elements Building set is the ideal versatile toy for your little tinker, perfect for creating a variety of different structures like mountains, bonfires, sculptures, rolling oceans, and...
Rattan Bunny Chair
$139.00Poppie's bunny chair is all ears. Cute, adorable and fun to play tea parties with. 1 Piece For Kids aged 2 years+ Made out of rattan: environmentally responsible, fast growing...
Magna-Tiles Magna-Tiles Dino World XL 50 Pieces
$138.00Something tropic-cool has arrived! This Magna-Tiles Dino World Magna-Tiles set is larger than life with oversized tropical-themed tiles — our BIGGEST tiles ever — plus all six of the Magna-Tiles®...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Shapes and Colors B...
$138.00Seven colors and five different geometric forms offer a wide range of color, coordination, and building combinations. Children experience and discover geometric properties through play. Ideal for Kindergarten: For example,...
Manhattan Toy Tree Top Adventures Activity Center
$137.00This wood activity center is packed full of exciting features! Includes 4 quadrants in the shape of a tree with a variety of activities for baby: 6 tracks with animal-themed...
Tender Leaf Toys Blue Bird Service Station Set
$136.00This magnificent Bluebird garage and service station with its unique clear acrylic central panel has lots of play from all sides that your kids will surely enjoy. Age range: 3...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Counting with Colors
$135.00A colorful arithmetic box for preschool, school, and for arithmetic fun for the whole family: place funny colored numbered snakes, add and subtract, form a multiplication chart, identify prime numbers...
Erzi Wooden Play Food Shop Big Box
$132.00A big box of play food to set for your pretend play store and kitchen. Contains 1 large and 1 small display crate; 2 yellow-red apples; 2 green apples; 2...
Sunnylife Sunnylife Mini Lucite Backgammon Neon
$130.00The range of luxurious and limited edition Lucite games in the new gleaming Neon colorway is inspired by the warm sunshine beaming through the sky on a hot summer's day. ...
Le Toy Van Le Grand Garage
$130.00Let imaginations run wild with this wooden toy garage. An exciting three storey wooden toy garage with 2 spiral ramps and a working lift. The garage includes a car, helicopter...
Magna-Tiles Magna-Tiles Metropolis 110 Pieces
$130.00The Magna-Tiles® Metropolis 110-Piece Set comes in a blend of highly translucent magnetic shapes in fog-free, vivid hues. Stainless steel rivets and sonic welding ensure that each and every...
PlanToys PlanToys Parking Garage Toy
$130.00The Parking Garage has 3 floors of parking space, a working elevator tower, a helipad, 2 cars, and an electric charging station. A perfect toy for pretend play. Age: 3 years+...
PlanToys PlanToys Wooden Fire Truck
$130.00This product is designed to excite your child's imagination and story-building capability. The Fire Truck is equipped with a rotating and extendable ladder, a fire hose, and a fire extinguisher....
Bajo Noah's Ark
$130.00This gorgeous, heirloom-quality playset is ethically crafted from wood sustainably forested in Poland. Designed with a removable roof, nine pairs of brightly-colored animals plus figurines of Noah and his wife...
Hape Deluxe Scientific Workbench Education...
$130.00Hape's 79 Piece Deluxe Scientific Workbench contains everything children as young as four need to conduct over 15 experiments and demonstrate key scientific principles. Learn more about science with this...
Hape Master Workbench
$130.00Hape’s Master Workbench is the perfect toy for your little builder! It includes shelves and storage to keep all their tools within reach and organized! Suitable for children 3 years+...
Magna-Tiles Magna-Tiles Classic Clear Colors 100 ...
$126.00Welcome to the big time. The Magna-Tiles Classic 100-Piece Set gives children next-level building opportunities with even more magnetic tiles in bright, vivid colors for their most incredible creations ever. Larger-than-life...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Mosaic
$126.00The elemental cubic form of these blocks inspires children to build simple walls, foundations, fences, stalls as well as houses, towers, and castles. The basic shape is also very useful...
PlanToys PlanToys Baby Walker
$126.00Cruise through early developmental stages with the PlanToys Baby Walker! This toy can help develop fine and gross motor skills while encouraging children to walk on their own two feet....
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.