Play Time
Holztiger Holztiger Wooden Animal Drake Swimming
$12.00Holztiger’s DrakeSwimming 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: 2.6 ×...
Wobbel Waldorf Balance Board Natural/Foliage...
$199.00What is WOBBEL? It is a sturdy, beautifully crafted beechwood rocking balance board, a seat, a safe haven, a bridge, a house, a step, a slide, a yoga aid, a...
Hansa Creation Realistic Plush Animal Parrot Green Blue
$33.00Hansa Portraits in Nature is a hand-crafted collection of realistic plush animals. Artists working in a socially responsible and environmentally responsible studio create each Hansa animal from portraits of the...
Hansa Creation Realistic Plush Animal Parrot Red Green
$33.00Hansa Portraits in Nature is a hand-crafted collection of realistic plush animals. Artists working in a socially responsible and environmentally responsible studio create each Hansa animal from portraits of the...
Holztiger Holztiger Wooden Animal Spinosaurus
$16.00Holztiger’s Spinosaurus is a great toy animal for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Suitable for children 3 Years+ Made of hardwood Colored with water-based...
Rubbabu Cleanupper the Dump Truck Toy
$29.00The Rubbabu Dump Truck is a colorful, soft and safe truck made from our signature natural rubber foam with a soft velvet-like flocked finish. It has a body that lifts...
Rubbabu Little Vehicle Toy Bus Green
$10.00The Rubbabu Little Vehicle Green Bus - is simple, safe, and fun. With soft rubber foam wheels and a tactile fuzzy body this toy soon becomes a favorite. Easy to roll, safe...
Rubbabu Choo Choo Train
$10.00The Rubbabu Choo Choo Train is the smallest sized train and some say the cutest. Made from soft rubber foam with rubber wheels. Size: 3.5" Length Safe for ages: 0+...
Tikiri Baby Triceratops Natural Rubber Toy
$20.00Trice the Baby Triceratops rubber toy from the My First Dino Collection is beautifully decorated and is perfect for toddlers, both as a toy and as a teether. Age Recommendation:...
Rubbabu Little Plane Rubber Toy
$10.00These Rubbabu Little Planes come in bright appealing colors with soft wheels that will delight little ones. These airplanes are sized for little hands and safe for babies and toddlers. ...
Oli & Carol Rubber Teether Eli The Clover
$15.00Eli the Clover is designed with an ergonomic shape making it easy to hold and chew on. Including a range of textures, such as raised spots or ribbing, making it very pleasing...
Bling2o Swim Goggles Raptor Blue Grey
$24.00These swim goggles are unique, fun and perfect for those days out in the water. Product Details: Adjustable strap Antifog polycarbonate lenses with UV protection Silicone. Latex-free. Ages 3...
Bling2o Bling2O Swim Goggles Carnivore Brown
$24.00These swim goggles are unique, fun, and perfect for those days out in the water. Bling2O Swim Goggles Carnivore Brown Details: Adjustable strap Antifog polycarbonate lenses with UV protection Silicone....
Scoot and Ride Highwaykick 1 Convertible Scooter Kiwi
$130.00Scoot & Ride HighwayKick 1 is a 2-in-1 kickboard that provides a seat for its littlest riders. When your child is ready, the seat easily folds into the handlebar converting the...
Scoot and Ride Highwaykick 1 Convertible Scooter Forest
$130.00Scoot & Ride HighwayKick 1 is a 2-in-1 kickboard that provides a seat for its littlest riders. When your child is ready, the seat easily folds into the handlebar converting the...
Jellycat Jellycat Odyssey Octopus
$18.00 – $130.00Dive to the depths for high adventure with wonderful Odyssey Octopus! Squishably soft in sea-moss green, with eight super-squiggly springy arms, Odyssey loves to give cordy cuddles. A splendid friend...
Playforever Playforever Playforever Midi Bonnie ...
$55.00From Wedges to Mary Janes; vivid colour blocking to bright two tones, just like the rest of our Midi range, Bonnie’s design is inspired by the bold colour and shape...
Maileg Maileg Mouse Chair Set Green
$30.00These two chairs are the perfect place for your small Maileg friends to take a rest. It fits beautifully into the mouse castle. The chairs are delivered flat packed, very...
Tonies Toniebox Starter Set
$99.99Your lovable little storytime friend Meet the Toniebox - a new audio system designed for little listeners. Turn it on, pop a Tonie on top and let the audio...
PlanToys PlanToys Kaleidoscope Camera Green
$16.00PlanToys My First Camera is the perfect toy to inspire your little photographer! Point, Focus & click the camera and see different images through the kaleidoscope lens! PlanToys My First...
Scoot and Ride Kids Helmet
$60.00The Scoot & Ride Kids Helmet comes in a beautiful array of colors to perfectly match your child’s Scoot & Ride kickboard! The innovative magnetic lock system keeps the helmet...
Scoot and Ride Baby Helmet
$55.00The Scoot & Ride Baby Helmet comes in a beautiful array of colors to perfectly match your child’s Scoot & Ride kickboard! The innovative magnetic lock system keeps the helmet...
Angel Dear Angel Dear Security Blankie Blanket Dino
$16.00A perfect little security blankie and tagalong for your child. The delicious cashmere-like material is perfect for babies and toddlers to snuggle. Each blankie features a sweet animal head that’s...
Candylab Candylab Big Sur Green Toy Car
$45.00Carved out of solid beechwood with a real metal roof rack, The Big Sur is our clearest nod yet at the bygone era of big, clumsy, and extremely charming vintage...
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.