Play Time
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!...
Manhattan Toy Playground Adventure Activity Center
$137.00Playground-themed fun all in one wood activity center! Discover four quadrants packed full of playful activities including 20 gliders on seven different tracks, an abacus track, five beads runs, two...
Manhattan Toy Deep Sea Adventure Activity Center
$137.00This wood activity center is packed full of exciting features! Includes 4 quadrants in the shape of a jellyfish with a variety of activities for baby: gliders, bead runs, spinning...
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...
PlanToys PlanToys Baby Walker Orchard
$126.00Cruise through early developmental stages with the PlanToys Baby Walker - Orchard! This toy can help develop fine and gross motor skills while encouraging children to walk on their own...
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....
Sabo Concept Wooden Castle Building Blocks Light Pink
$125.00Let your child's imagination run wild with this beautiful Castle Building Blocks Set that features all the shapes needed to build their own castle, city, race track, or whatever their creative minds...
Kiko+ & gg* Tsumiki Building Blocks House
$110.00Tsumiki means "building block" in Japanese. This doll-house-shaped wooden block set has beautifully soft colors. A magnetic cover conceals a magical world of shapes just waiting to be piled up,...
Egmont Wooden Garage with Crane
$100.00So much to discover with this lovely wooden garage. Use the crane with the magnetic hook to load the containers on the trucks. Age: 3 years+ Includes 2 cars, road...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Little Land Yachts ...
$100.00Your child is the captain of these vessels, as they sail the Seven Seas -- rolling along on any smooth surface! Included on board each is a captain of the...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Rainbow Bowls Sorti...
$100.00This open-ended game is a fun challenge for young children! The Rainbow Bowls Sorting Game comes with six colored bowls, each of which has three matching wooden pieces in the shape of...
Goki Wooden Vehicle Dump Truck
$96.00Goki's wooden dump truck is a great toy for entertaining your little one, perfect for endless hours of imaginative play! Made of solid wood with real rubber tyres. Colored with water-based...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Rainbow Paste...
$96.00Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Pastel is a versatile toy perfect for your growing little one. Toddlers can use the rainbow for stacking and sorting, and as they get older your...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Rainbow Natur...
$96.00Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Natural is a versatile toy perfect for your growing little one. Toddlers can use the rainbow for stacking and sorting, and as they get older your...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Rainbow Monoc...
$96.00Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow Monochrome is a versatile toy perfect for your growing little one. Toddlers can use the rainbow for stacking and sorting, and as they get older your...
Brio Parking Garage
$96.00Parking Garage is the perfect addition to any BRIO World, connecting the railway and roadways together in a single destination. Each of the three levels of the Parking Garage...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Rainbow Toy
$96.00Grimm’s 12 Piece Rainbow is a versatile toy perfect for your growing little one. Toddlers can use the rainbow for stacking and sorting, and as they get older your children...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Stacking Boxe...
$90.00These unique variations and markings are proof of quality, not defects. Enjoy the markings that make your Grimm’s toy unique! Toddlers will love stacking and nesting the six colorful boxes,...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Large Rainbow Set o...
$90.00Toddlers will love stacking and nesting the six colorful boxes, which fit perfectly inside one another, all while developing color recognition and hand-eye coordination. As kids grow older, these boxes will...
Guidecraft Sensory Rainbow Blocks Set 18 Pieces
$89.95An adventure in color, light and sound! Encourage sensory exploration by combining blocks to form new colors and sounds, or stack the blocks in a different order each time to...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Color Charts Rally
$85.00Limitless designs! The 29 color chart pairs open up a world of creativity and help children develop a new appreciation for color. The children can test the domino effect, match...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Natural Wooden Cars
$82.00This Cars work quite well off-road and are suitable for rides in the countryside. Vehicles don’t need a full car wash after that, but can easily be cleaned with a...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Colored Wooden Cars
$82.00This Cars work quite well off-road and are suitable for rides in the countryside. Vehicles don’t need a full car wash after that, but can easily be cleaned with a...
Indigo Jamm Wooden Sammy Steam Toy Train
$80.00Indigo Jamm Sammy Steam Train is a large solid built push-along train and passenger carriage. Complete with three removable wooden passengers that can be assigned to their correct colored and...
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.