Play Time
Little Chew Freezer Teether Chamomile
$20.00Our Chamomile teether is made from a soft silicone, freezer toy that will help to soothe sore and itchy gums as much as it will entertain your baby. The simple...
Little Chew Freezer Teether Chamomile Blush
$20.00Our Chamomile teether is made from a soft silicone, freezer toy that will help to soothe sore and itchy gums as much as it will entertain your baby. The simple...
Eeboo French Bingo Language Game
$22.00Reinforce French vocabulary with a game that utilizes auditory and visual learning styles. Players see the image, the name of the item in French, and hear it pronounced by the...
Eeboo French Vocabulary Flash Cards
$16.00These cards introduce French with eight basic vocabulary words in each of seven categories: nature, vehicles, market, animals, clothing, colors, and home. Each card is printed with the word, an...
Jellycat Freya Pony
$65.00Freya Pony has a rich toffee coat with a silky blonde mane and tail. Standing tall and proud, this delightful pony has elegant feathers on her soft beige hooves. With...
Gibbs Smith Frida Counting With
$10.00Introducing Spanish/English bilingualism, Lil’ Libros encourage parents to read to their children at the earliest age—focusing on subjects they are familiar with, while making it fun and rewarding for both...
Sonria Slime Frog Playground Slime
$19.99This slime is infused with lemon essential oil for a mood boost. Scent: Green Apple Candy Texture: Icee Slime Size: 7 fl oz. Shelf Life: 3 MONTHS With a shrink band as...
Oli & Carol Fruit Teething Ring
$22.00This Fruit Teething Ring is the healthiest teether for newborns! Made with 100% natural rubber and hand painted with natural pigments. Perfect as a teether, bath toy and sensory play...
Janod Fruits & Vegetables Basket 24 Pieces
$40.00It’s time to play shopkeeper. Turn your playroom into a kitchen, restaurant, or farm with 24 beautifully crafted solid wooden fruits and vegetables and imitation wicker basket. Includes 2 carrots,...
Tender Leaf Toys Fruity Basket
$28.00A handcrafted wicker basket with bunch of grapes, half a kiwi fruit, slice of watermelon, pear, plum, and tangerine. Age range: 3 Years And OlderProduct size: 6.1 x 6.1 x...
Tender Leaf Toys Fruity Blender
$56.00Pretend to be a real smoothie stall with take-away style beaker, stripy straw, and wooden stirrer. Cut the fruit with the wooden knife and pop it all into the stylish...
Jellycat Fuddlewuddle Medium Dino
$30.00Jellycat’s Fuddlewuddle Dino is the perfect cuddly companion for your little one anywhere, whether it is snuggling in bed at night or during a nice stroll in the park. Product...
Kiko+ & gg* Gakki Musical Instruments Trio Toy
$52.00Three different sounds for your child to enjoy. Each set consists of a circular drum, a triangle that sounds like a crow and a square with bells that make different...
Hape Garden Vegetables Toy
$22.00There’s nothing healthier than fresh vegetables! Trim the stems and then use the play knife to cut the green pepper, tomato and more. The vegetables are held together with self-stick...
Kiko+ & gg* Gatcha Gatcha Bingo Machine
$56.00This adorable toy looks like an old-timey gumball machine, but it’s actually a bingo machine! Turn the star and see which numbers appear from 1 to 50, then match...
Kiko+ & gg* Gatcha Gatcha Gumball Machine
$46.00A cute wooden re-make of the traditional metal & plastic gumball machine. Turn the star and see what comes out next! If it gets stuck just give it a...
Tender Leaf Toys General Stores
$170.00A magnificent market stall with shelves and 2 inter-changeable mini platforms so that it can be adapted to any kind of store. A pretty striped canopy can be lowered to...
Tender Leaf Toys General Stores Till
$56.00Ring up all your groceries with this fun and colorful wooden till with a scanner. Slide your credit card along the groove, pop one of 5 printed receipts into a...
Janod Geometric Shapes Box Wood
$26.00This appealing, cleverly designed box is the perfect way to start learning colors, with geometric shapes (triangle, circle, square) that your child has to push into the box through the...
Smart Games GeoSmart Educational Building Set
$170.00The GeoSmart Educational Set is a learning kit featuring 100 pieces and 6 different geomagnetic shapes. Build original constructions, animals, vehicles or just about anything you can imagine. Also includes...
Smart Games GeoSmart Flip Bot
$59.99GeoSmart Flip Bot is a 30-pieces geomagnetic construction set that includes turbo motors to help your remote-controlled vehicle zoom, spin, and flip over! An ideal STEM magnetic construction set, GeoSmart...
Smart Games GeoSmart GeoSphere Building Set
$49.99Use the squares and triangles to create your own geosphere and other original structures. GEOSMART is the future of geomagnetic play. An ideal STEM magnetic construction set, GEOSMART enables fun...
Smart Games GeoSmart Moon Lander
$58.00Embark on your very own lunar expedition with the rocket-fuel power of geometry! Grab all the magnetically connecting geometric pieces, plus the motor, wheels, receiver, transmitter, panels, tube connectors, and...
Omy Design & Play Inc Giant Coloring Poster - Surf & Skate
$20.00Join the fun world of skaters and surfers from the West Coast with this giant coloring poster! A whimsical trait with many fun details, a great illustrated discovery poster to...
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.