Play Time
Sabo Concept Wooden Rainbow Toy Mustard
$58.00This set of 7 gorgeous rainbow stacking elements come nested inside each other. Let the creativity of your child grow as they can building mazes and tunnels for cars, making mountains and...
Sabo Concept Wooden Rainbow Toy Marsala
$58.00This set of 7 gorgeous rainbow stacking elements come nested inside each other. Let the creativity of your child grow as they can building mazes and tunnels for cars, making mountains and...
Sabo Concept Wooden Multicolored Cubes 24 Pieces Set
$54.00These 24 pieces of wooden cubes set are made out of linden tree covered with water-based paint that you can see the structure of wood through. Together with deep unconventional...
Bajo Wooden Animal Polar Bear
$64.00This adorable wooden Panda is light weight and easy to play with. Their limbs can be moved so your child can imitate the real movements of the living endangered species. They...
Goose Grease Wooden Doll The Organic Family II
$36.00The Organic Family set includes a gender neutral family, perfect for a new baby gift or nursery. Hand-chiseled from Urapán wood on an electric lathe, these classic wooden peg dolls are finished with USA-made non-toxic water-based paints....
Wee Gallery Wooden Stacker Bear
$28.00This sweet bear is ready to stack like this and stack like that! These Wood Stackers are designed to help the baby's hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and imagination with the added...
Uncle Goose Uncle Goose ABC Blocks Italian
$46.00Expand your knowledge of Italy and the Italian language. Enjoy the embossed Italian design that surrounds two letters on each block. Two other sides reveal one number and one animal...
Uncle Goose Uncle Goose ABC Blocks Arabic
$46.00Arabic. One of the world’s oldest written languages. The original expression of geometry and algebra. These colorful blocks feature each letter of the Arabic alphabet, with two debossed letters per...
Candylab Candylab School Bus Toy Car
$20.00Don’t sleep in, or you’ll miss our School Bus! (AKA the COOL Bus.) This big yellow bus is ready, bright and early to pick you up. We know that school looks a little bit different...
Bajo Wooden Toy Car with Boat
$36.00Take your speedboat to the lake on the back of this chunky SUV/off roader. The vibrant car and detachable trailer pair well with adorable blue boat promoting fun and imagination....
Kiko+ & gg* Machi Tiny Wooden Town
$36.00Be the mayor of your own tiny town! Machi- Tiny Town : Be the mayor of your very own mini town. Run things your way on two magnetic chalkboards by...
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.