Play Time
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Pebbles Blocks Fire
$23.00These pebble blocks are perfect for balance and stacking challenges, decorating scenic play, making a stony puppet show landscape, and building cairns. This four-piece set is painted in gorgeous graduated...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Set of Bowls Outsid...
$32.00Grimm’s Set of Bowls is the perfect versatile toy for your little one! Your toddler can have endless fun stacking, sorting, nesting and using the bowls for imaginary play! Authentic...
Grimm's Authentic Grimm's Wooden Large Truck ...
$34.00These rugged vehicles are impressive, simple in design, and easy to load. They work quite well off-road and are suitable for rides in the countryside. Vehicles don’t need a full...
Candylab Candylab Ambulance Toy Car
$12.00We’ve got a mini medic here to lend a helping hand! This Red and White Candycar Ambulance is first on the scene. Suitable for 3 years+ Materials: Solid Beech Wood, water-based...
Candylab Candylab Red Racer #5 Toy Car
$10.00Part of the Candylab new Candycar line, a cute 3 inches long. One of two of our racers, who said speed comes with size? Materials: Solid Beech Wood, water-based paint, and...
Lubulona Lubu Town Summerville Maxi Stacking Toy
$60.00The Lubu Town Pack Summerville is a great, educational and creative construction toy set for boys and girls. This unique toy with a modern design in red and turquoise allows...
Maileg Maileg Wooden Firetruck
$18.00This classic Maileg Wooden Firetruck is crafted with sustainable wood and is hand-painted so the painting style may vary. Perfect for little hands and their imaginary adventures. Pull these fun cars back, and...
Le Toy Van Red Wooden Tractor
$40.00Down on the farm discover this shiny red wooden tractor and detachable trailer. Perfectly scaled for popular brands of toy animals and farm characters. (not included) Encourages children to use their...
Bajo Wooden Classic Fire Engine
$30.00This wonderful wooden firetruck has a little ladder that goes up and down with a cute bell that jingles when it drives. The vibrant red color will be sure to...
Bajo Wooden English Double Decker Bus
$30.00This wonderful English Double Decker gives your children double the fun and and lets them work their imagination twice as hard! This sweet English car has twice the windows to support...
Bajo Wooden Formula 1 Racing Toy Car
$45.00These beautifully painted racing cars will bring any child joy and keep them well entertained. The vibrant paint will keep anyone's attention and the colorful rubber ring around the wheels...
Bajo Wooden LR Racing Toy Car
$42.00Young motoring fans will love going for a drive with Bajo's LR Racing Car. Made from solid wood, this cool car can easily turn left and right and is ready...
Bajo Wooden Toy Airplane
$38.00Little pilots will love making these wooden toy airplanes soar into the sky. A chunky wooden toy that's perfect for little ones to play. Sturdy enough to become a favored...
Bajo Wooden Toy Car Camper with Surfboard
$30.00This camper with its little cute surfboard is ready to it the beach. For all those budding beach babes, this sweet little camper will bring hours of creative play, as...
Bajo Wooden Toy Car with Blocks
$26.00This small yet fun wooden toy car with blocks is great for any child. The blocks can easily be removed and put back. This little car trucks along, moving swiftly...
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.