Play Time
Goki Wooden Vehicle Breakdown Lorry
$36.00Goki's wooden breakdown lorry 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...
Candylab Candylab Carbon 77 Toy Car
$28.00Muted, discreet gray with a hairline bright red stripe. The wolf in sheep’s clothing, lucky number 77 will be the star on the imaginary quarter-mile circuit. Materials: Solid Beech wood,...
Candylab Candylab Orange Racer GT 10 Toy Car
$28.00In a bright orange, race striped livery, it riffs on the pure soul of a classic sports car if there ever was one. They don’t come to much more American...
Guidecraft Starter Triangle Fractions
$30.00Developing minds increase their understanding of numbers and one-to-one correspondence sorting the tactile fraction shapes of Starter Triangle Fractions. Colorful rubberwood shapes are in the quarter, third, half and whole...
Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks Sunset 24 Piec...
$70.00Tegu’s Magnetic Wooden Blocks Sunset 24pc are the perfect toys for your little builder to create any structure by connecting the colorful blocks, the ideal set for imaginative play! Dimensions:...
Eguchi Eguchi Wooden Music Box Over The Rainbow
$50.00A melodious tune from this box would soothe anyone including little babies! No details spared to make this beautiful box of sound. Made of walnut, beech, and leather. Product Dimension:...
Tegu Magnetic Floating Stacker Big Top
$40.00Magical forces attract and repel for unexpected stacking play. Take it all apart for construction play. Eleven stack-able, mix & match pieces. Two fun characters! Suitable for children ages 12+...
Tegu Pocket Pouch Prism Magnetic Wooden Bl...
$30.00Tegu’s Pocket Pouch Prism is the perfect travel toy for your little builder to create any structure by magnetically connecting the colorful blocks, the ideal set for imaginative play! Dimensions:...
Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks Tints 14 Piece...
$42.00Tegu’s Magnetic Wooden Blocks Tint 14pc is the perfect toy for your little builder to create any structure by connecting the colorful blocks, the ideal set for imaginative play! ...
Holztiger Holztiger Wooden Animal Small Running...
$12.00Holztiger’s Small Running Tiger 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:...
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.