Play Time
Bear Company Belly Blanket Lil' Willow Fawn
$48.00The Lil' Willow Fawn Belly Blanket is great for playtime and tummy time providing a soft surface for your baby. Your little one will enjoy playing with the stuffed head and...
Sophie La Giraffe Fanfan the Fawn
$27.00Featuring a squeaker, Fanfan entertains baby and develops the baby's sense of hearing while helping to establish the relationship of cause and effect. It draws the baby's gaze by...
Jellycat Jellycat Bashful Medium Raccoon
$25.00So, so soft and ever so pretty, Bashful Raccoon is a brilliant soft toy buddy for bedtime. This cuddly raccoon, with her cloudy-soft fur and fuzzy brown nose, is the...
Jellycat Jellycat Bashful Monkey
$18.00 – $28.00Made of beautiful silky smooth Bashful fur in a scrummy creamy chocolatey color, this monkey swings through the trees as fast as can be, becoming a number one playmate- understandably!!...
Jellycat Jellycat Bashful Soother Monkey
$25.00Bashful Monkey clutches to this silky soft soother, it's just too irresistible to let go of! The soother is rolled up tight and presented with a ribbon, but once undone...
Jellycat Jellycat Fuddlewuddle Cat Medium
$30.00Fuddlewuddle Cat is a cocoa cutie, with scrumple-soft fur in warm mocha brown. With a long, lazy tail, squashy trumpet paws and double-cream ears and muzzle, this ruffly truffle will...
Jellycat Jellycat Maple Bear
$28.50Ambling in from the frosty forest, it's a marvelous Maple Bear! This gentle cub is syrupy-sweet in fuzzy toffee fur. With vintage charm and a snuggly tum, Maple Bear has...
Jellycat Jellycat Ring Rattle Smudge Elephant
$15.00Soft and soothing this doughnut-shaped rattle has a gently jingling tum! Take this poppet along for buggy adventures! Suitable from birth Hand-wash only; do not tumble dry, dry clean or...
Jellycat Jellycat Theodore Bear
$37.50A curly, burly bear for bedtime. Theodore Bear is irresistibly soft and a cuddling expert! The perfect first teddy for a little boy or girl, this loveable bear is such a...
Jellycat Jellycat Woody Bear
$30.00Woody Bear has just woken up from hibernation! Fancy a picnic, anyone? A soft chocolate cub with a beige teardrop snout, Woody sits sweetly with chunky paws poised. Ramble and...
Maileg Maileg Gantosaurus Large
$80.00Look at this funny friend! A Large Gantosaurus with big teeth has arrived and is ready to play with all of us. It is made in a soft mix of...
Maileg Maileg Soft Small Bunny Plush Toy Brown
$22.00This adorable and squishy brown bunny has a brown ribbon on his neck that adds cuteness to it. Your little ones will surely fall in love and will make playtime and...
Maileg Maileg Teddy Dad Doll
$24.00The Teddy bear family is a sweet collection of 3 different sizes of Teddy bears. They are made of soft linen and have a vintage look that will make the...
Maileg Maileg Teddy Mum Doll
$24.00The Teddy bear family is a sweet collection of 3 different sizes of Teddy bears. They are made of soft linen and have a vintage look that will make the...
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.