Play Time
Corolle Constance Ballerina
$96.00Constance Ballerina is all dressed up and ready for ballet class with her friends! Part of the ma Corolle collection, Constance is a 14-inch doll with a soft body designed...
Le Toy Van Construction Car Set
$40.00Under construction, imagination at work! This best-selling wooden construction set brings building-site adventures to life with nine colorful play pieces, including a digger, cement mixer, dump truck, roller, front...
Plantoys Construction Set
$60.00The Construction Set is a 40-piece set that can be easily assembled and reassembled to create any imaginable form. 2-in-1 wrench, and screwdriver included. Construction Set Details: Age: 3 years+...
Tender Leaf Toys Construction Site
$32.00A collection of construction vehicles, including dump truck, front loader, excavation digger, crane truck, road roller. All with moving parks and painted in realistic and contemporary colors. Standard wheel width...
Mud Pie Construction Toy Set
$24.00Description Construction or train themed wooden set comes in acetate tube. Ages 3+. Dimension: pieces approx 2 1/2" x 3" Material: PINE WOOD
Phaidon Press Cookies! An Interactive Recipe Book
$22.95Bake cookies from scratch inside this interactive recipe book - sift the flour, whisk the sugar, crack the egg, pour the chocolate chips, and more! Simple yet factual recipe text takes...
Hape Cooking Essentials Toy
$34.00It’s time for dinner! Help to get things ready by trimming, peeling and chopping the vegetables and grating the cheese on your own cutting board. The separable ingredients and different...
Plantoys Cooking Utensils
$36.00Cooking Utensils is the perfect toy for fun pretend to play to encourage your little chef’s imagination and creativity! Cooking Utensils Details: Suitable for infants 2 years+ Includes spatula, turner,...
Maileg Cosy Bambi - Off White
$48.00The cosy bambi style is a classic item from Maileg. It has a sweet and calm expression and can be used for either decoration or play. Sizes Height: 8.86in,...
Maileg Cosy Basket Small
$44.00Give your tiny friends a cozy place to rest with this charming basket bed designed especially for the Chaton Kittens. Soft, snug, and perfectly sized, this padded basket creates a...
Candylab Cotswold Gold Toy Car
$38.00In a quest to overcome the rush for your afternoon tea - or tee? Must take the unpaved shortcut? Does your antiquing passion require copious amounts of comfortable travel? The Cotswold has...
Candylab Cotswold Royal Blue Toy Car
$38.00In a quest to overcome the rush for your afternoon tea - or tee? Must take the unpaved shortcut? Does your antiquing passion require copious amounts of comfortable travel? The Cotswold has...
Tender Leaf Toys Cottontail Cottage Dollhouse
$190.00The Tender Leaf Toys Cottontail Cottage Dollhouse is a delightful countryside cottage with a natural wood roof, shutters, cut-out windows, and space in the attic to make a bedroom. Includes...
Maileg Couch Mouse Mable
$40.00Every home needs a soft, cozy place to relax—and the Mouse Family Soft Couch is just that! Perfectly sized for little mice to cuddle up together, this charming miniature sofa...
Gibbs Smith Count On Florida
$12.99Introduce babies and toddlers to iconic symbols of the Sunshine State with Nicole LaRue’s quirky, modern illustrations. This bright board book makes learning about Florida as easy as 1,...
Tender Leaf Toys Counting Carrots
$30.00Learning how to count has never been more fun with the carrot stacker. Teach your child to count to 10 with the numbered carrot rings. This toy also encourages color...
Tonies Counting Songs Audio Play Figurine
$19.99A select compilation of the most popular traditional children’s songs, with a focus on counting. Tonies Counting Songs Audio Play Figurine Details: Age: 3 years+ Includes 27 Counting Songs Total Run...
Maileg Cowboy Mouse on Rocking Horse Little ...
$44.00A fantastic set for hours of play. A cowboy mouse dressed in jeans, scarf and cowboy hat riding on his rocking horse. Please see the small tail hole that is...
Olli Ella Cozy Dinkum Unicorn Sugarpie Pink
$44.00Meet Unicorn Sugarpie, the coziest unicorn buddy in a delightful pink hue! With soft blush fur, shimmering wings, and a twinkling purple horn, this magical plush is ready to spark...
Tikiri Crab Natural Rubber Rattle
$18.00This rubber rattle from the ocean buddies collection. Easy-grip for smaller hands. Each marine animal character has an enclosed rattle that creates a soft sound when shaken. Sound Toys, like...
Hape Creative Peg Puzzle
$30.00Creative Peg Puzzle is the perfect toy for your growing child, challenging them and introducing critical thinking while also being fun and they feature bright colors!_x000D_ Suitable for children 18m+_x000D_...
Tonies Creative Tonie - Red Medium
$19.99Whether an enchanting bedtime story or your own magical adventure, Creative-Tonies can store up to 90 minutes of custom content. Just upload audio using your computer, smartphone or tablet. With...
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.