Play Time
Holztiger Holztiger Wooden Animal Trunk Raised ...
$22.00Holztiger’s Elephant with a raised trunk 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...
Matchstick Monkey Teething Toy Grey
$18.00Ideal to develop your baby's motor skills and provide a safe soothing relief for aching gums. Made from BPA free, FDA and CE certified food grade silicone. ...
3 Sprouts Play Mat Bag Owl
$25.50A great toy storage bag which doubles as a play mat - an easy way to keep toys in one place, ready for play! The sturdy cotton and handles make...
Baghera Baghera Ride On Toy Car Speedster Sil...
$190.00Let your child experience driving something special, with this great ride-on speedster! It is built to last with a padded seat, sturdy metal body, and rubber tires. Some simple self-assembly...
Playforever Playforever Luft Toy Car Slate Grey
$50.00Playforever draws inspiration from classic and iconic racing cars and racing planes from the 1920s, as well as in 1960s New York. Combining decades of research with technical car design...
Zoli Chubby Gummy Teethers Mist Blue and A...
$14.00The Chubby Gummy is the ideal tool to soothe your baby when they are going through their teething phase, while also introducing dental hygiene. Suitable for infants 6m+ Includes two...
Micro Kickboard Micro Kickboard Maxi Deluxe Pro Scooter
$155.00The Micro Kickboard Maxi Deluxe Pro Scooter offers wide front wheels, a cool chopper-style handlebar, and five trendy color combinations. Besides its unique new look, this classic kickboard scores high with...
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...
Bunnies By the Bay Bye Bye Buddy Plush Toy Bunny Grey
This security blanket is ready to be on the go. With a handy loop on the back to attach to the car seat, stroller or crib you're sure to never...
Bunnies By the Bay Silly Buddy Plush Toy Bunny Grey
$19.00Lots of pacifiers lost? Say no more, this cute silly buddy will be the solution to this problem. Floppy, sloppy, silly and soft, this playful pacifier holding silly buddies, tie...
Jellycat Jellycat Bashful Grey Elephant
$25.00Bashful Elephant has an amazing sense of smell, thanks to that tremendous trunk! If you’re doing some baking, don’t be surprised if you feel a supersoft nudge and find a...
Jellycat Jellycat Bashful Medium Kitty Grey
$28.00So, so soft and ever so pretty, Bashful Kitty is a brilliant soft toy buddy for bedtime. This dreamy cat, with her cloudy-soft fur and sugar pink nose, is just...
Playforever Playforever Verve Viglietta Toy Car Grey
$35.00Speeding through the hills of Tuscany, warm breeze on the open roads lined with lush vineyards and silver olive groves, our Viglietta racing car personifies freedom and liberty: memories of...
Gund Gund Animated Flappy The Elephant Plu...
$45.00Gund Flappy the Elephant is an adorable singing animated plush with two different play modes. Press the left foot to play an interactive game of peek-a-boo, and the right to...
Doona Doona Liki Foldable Trike S3 Grey Hound
$250.00Get ready to roll with Liki, the world’s most compact folding trike. The sleek urban design of the Liki Trike allows you to be safe and have fun, as it...
Chewbeads Baby Gramercy Stroller Toy Grey
$16.00100% silicone baby car seat toy and stroller toy attachment. The soft and flexible design adds a great distraction for curious babies who like to touch, tug, and chew on...
Chewbeads Baby Gramercy Stroller Toy Light Grey
$16.00100% silicone baby car seat toy and stroller toy attachment. The soft and flexible design adds a great distraction for curious babies who like to touch, tug, and chew on...
Malarkey Malarkey Chew Cube
$14.00The Malarkey Chew Cube is the mom-created modern rattle and teether. It provides four-way sensory stimulation, including soft, textured teething edges for tender gums; large flexible holes to help baby...
Jellycat Jellycat Nimbus Hippo
$22.50Nimbus Hippo is marshmallow-soft in scrambly lilac-brown fur. This cuddly calf has a tasselly tail and a beany bottom for sitting upon! With perky petal ears and a squidgy snoot,...
Jellycat Jellycat Book If I were a Rabbit Grey
$13.50If I Were A Rabbit is a beautiful board book that's so much fun to read together. Encouraging tots to think and create, this bouncing bunny is a story star....
Jellycat Jellycat Hudson Husky
$32.50 – $70.00Loyal, loving and a little bit lazy, Hudson Husky is taking a break! Silvery-grey and creamy-white, with a waggy tail and tufty ears, this snowy sweetie has sky-blue eyes. Flopsy...
Bear Company Belly Blanket Lil Spout Grey
$48.00Lil' Spout 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 tail. The...
Holztiger Holztiger Wooden Animal Sitting Cat
$12.00Holztiger’s Sitting Cat 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 Made in Europe Suitable...
Matchstick Monkey Teething Toy Shreddy Shark
$18.00Perfect for tiny hands to grip, these adorable teethers help to soothe your baby's sore gums. The BioCote Antimicrobial Technology helps keep germs at bay, whilst textured bumps get teething...
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.