The Hape Rotating Music Box is a soothing and gentle toy that will encourage baby to experience music in a unique and interactive way. It plays delightful musical notes as...
PlanToys Assorted Fruits & Vegetables Set is the perfect toy for your growing little chef! Let them explore the world of cooking with 5 colorful fruits and veggies! PlanToys Assorted...
PlanToys Hammer Balls is a toy specifically designed for your baby’s small hands. It can help develop hand-eye coordination, improve dexterity and build physical strength. PlanToys Hammer Balls Details: Age: 12 months+...
Paint, write, or draw with chalk. This adjustable-height double-sided wooden easel has a place for everything. Includes 3 paint pots, double-sided easel with blackboard and magnetic whiteboard and paper roll....
Hape’s Dumper Truck toy is the perfect toy for your growing toddler. Move the pieces of the truck around to reveal different creative play! Made of Wood, PP, POM, ABS...
The Sophie Bath Book by Calisson is the perfect addition to the tub to make bath time fun! Features: Book consists of 8 pages filled with different kinds of...
Carved out of a single block of hardwood, these six Water Waves Nesting Blocks nestle together to create a stacking toy as well as a simple nesting puzzle. Children love...
Holztiger’s Giraffe is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of hardwood Colored with water-based acrylic paint Dimensions: 5.3 inches...
Holztiger’s Giraffe with raised head is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of hardwood Colored with water-based acrylic paint...
PlanToys Dancing Alligator is a great push & pull toy for your active little one! When pulled along, the alligator moves his head and tail up and down making a click-clack...
The PlanToys Double Drum features 2 differently-sized drums and a pair of drumsticks. The drumhead is made from fabric coated with natural rubber, making for a gentle yet realistic musical...
The Deluxe Grand Piano is a real 30 key electronic piano that will enable your child to explore the wonder of music and create their own mini-symphonies. This piano has...
People are waiting for their cargo! Use the magnetic crane to load containers onto the train. Then press the button on the engine to drive around the oval track and...
Holztiger’s Gorilla is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of hardwood Colored with water-based acrylic paint Dimensions: 4.3 × 1.1...
Hape’s Shopping Cart is the perfect toy to give to your imaginative toddler! This toy encourages coordination, creativity and fantasy story telling! Suitable for children 3 years+ Made of Wood,...
Bon Appetite! Your future chef will learn to feel comfortable and familiar with cooking in their pretend kitchen with this seven-piece basic cooking set. Hape’s Chef’s Cooking Set is the perfect...
Hape’s Pyramid of Play is the ideal toy to get your little one to start practicing matching shapes and colors! Suitable for children 18m+ Includes five nesting blocks, each with...
Holztiger’s Brontosaurus is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play!_x000D_ Made of hardwood_x000D_ Colored with water-based acrylic paint_x000D_ Dimensions: 7.9 inches...
Fat Brain Toys Squigz are fun little suckers! They are flexible fellows and committed joiners. Squigz and fellow Squigz have one chief enterprise - creating things. Willingly, they assemble...
Tubby and ticklish, Harry Panda Cub is such a cuddly chap. His charcoal-grey and creamy fur is velvety-soft and so beary snuggly. Harry's beany feet help him sit up, and...
Grimm’s Monochrome House is the perfect versatile toy for your little one! Your toddler can have endless fun stacking the house, and as they grow your children can use the...
Holzinger's Dolphin Jumping is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of hardwood Colored with water-based acrylic paint Dimensions: 16.5 x...
With this 54 pieces cargo railway deluxe set, the freight and cargo world is almost complete. An action-packed BRIO train track world filled with mechanical and loading functions through the loader...
Practice sorting and counting the different colors and shapes included with the Sorting Bus! Serving as a push-and-pull toy, children can both actively play with this vehicle and also develop...
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.