Play Time
Janod Green City Puzzle 100 Pieces
$22.00Raise your child’s awareness of environmental issues with this Janod Green City 100-Piece Puzzle, featuring renewable energy sources and recycling systems! This French-made puzzle shows how we can reduce our environmental...
Tender Leaf Toys Greenhouse and Garden Set
$110.00This set is ideal for encouraging green fingers. A traditional plywood greenhouse with base has an opening door, and 2 removable roof panels. It can be filled with 2 seed...
Little People, Big Dreams Guessing Game Who Am I
$19.99Discover history’s favourite characters in this guessing game with a difference, from the creator of the bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS books. An innovative new game from the multimillion-copy bestselling phenomenon...
Gund Gund Animated Alora The Unicorn Plush...
$45.00Gund Animated Alora The Unicorn is ready to sing and clap with babies as they learn their numbers and ABCs! Baby GUND is proud to present Alora, a whimsical...
Gund Gund Animated Flappy The Elephant Plu...
$45.00Gund Flappy the Elephant is an adorable singing animated plush with two different play modes. Press the left foot to play an interactive game of peek-a-boo, and the right to...
Gund Gund Animated Flora The Bunny Plush Toy
$45.00Gund Animated Flora The Bunny – a sweet, smiling bunny with two different play modes. Press the left foot to play an interactive game of peek-a-boo, and the right to...
Gund Gund Happy Birthday Puppy Animated Toy
$40.00Animated Birthday Puppy Sings Happy Birthday! Candle lights up. A perfect cuddle buddy for your little one. 3 AA replaceable batteries are included Size: 10in H x 7in W x...
Gund Gund My First Sports Bag Playset
$30.00Start training future sports stars early with the Gund My First Sports Bag Playset! This adorable 5-piece playset contains four different sensory-stimulating plush toys, all designed with special features for...
Plushies Gusto Gator Plush Toy 16.5 Inch
$32.00Grand Flopsies is an expanding category for the Flopsies series - still as adorable as other Flopsies, but in a brand new, bigger size! Gusto Gator is a silly alligator...
Haba Haba Bad Rodach Building Blocks
$46.00Haba Bad Rodach Building Blocks allow you to recreate the town with its characteristic skyline. The different turrets, roofs, and staircases allow young builders to vary their constructions. At the...
Haba Haba Clutching Color Snake Toy
$20.00Haba Clutching Color Snake Rattle is the perfect toy to entertain your little ones as well as to help them work on their grasping skills. The Snake Rattle offers limitless...
Haba Haba Clutching Larum Toy
The Haba Clutching Larum is a versatile toy for your little one. Twist, bend, shake. A beech wood rattle on an elastic chord. Clutching is easy for small hands. Encourages...
Haba Haba Clutching Magica Toy
$20.00Haba Clutching Magica teether is the perfect toy to entertain your little one as well as to help them work on their grasping skills! Haba Clutching Magica Details: Suitable for...
Haba Haba Coburg Building Blocks
$60.00Calling all master builders! Here is a chance to show what you can do as an architect. Block by block, a magnificent city arises. There are no limits on your...
Haba Haba Doorway Theater Toy
$69.00Raise the curtain! Put on a true production with the HABA Doorway Theater! The Doorway Theater stimulates children's imagination and creativity! The theater is wonderfully detailed with a cute porthole at...
Haba Haba Glove Puppet Gallivanting Goose
$20.00Spirits always rise, when Gallivanting Goose waddles onto the stage. And after the show children can't wait to cuddle with the soft and snugly glove puppet. Haba Glove Puppets...
Haba Haba Happy Quartett Block Set Toy
$26.00The Haba Happy Quartett Block Set is perfect for baby's first blocks! Not only does each vibrant and colorful block make a different sound but they are also super soft!...
Haba Haba Kaleidoscopic Blocks Set Toy
$60.00Add a bit of flavor to your child's next block creation with this beautiful set of Haba Kaleidoscopic Blocks! Made from solid beech wood and sturdy plastic. This is just what...
Haba Haba Multicolored Activity Spiral Str...
$20.00This cheerful, colorful mobile captures the baby's attention with its shapes, textures, and effects. Easy to wind up around the handle of a baby carrier or attach to a crib....
Haba Haba Musical Eggs Toy
$40.00Shake it up with the Haba Musical Eggs! Five brightly colored beechwood eggs, all with different sounds! One jingle, rattle, twitters make for some great fun for all and breed...
Haba Haba My First ABC Clutching Puzzle Toy
$20.00A, B, C, D, E, F, G... This colorful clutching puzzle lets children playfully learn the alphabet by puzzling the large, easy to grasp knobs into the puzzle frame. Haba My...
Haba Haba Rainbow Whirls Pegging Game Toy
$45.00The Haba Rainbow Whirls Pegging Game is a classic and Montessori learning favorite! The rings can also be stacked on the pegs, making this set ideal for free play. Perfect for little...
Haba Haba Town Maze Magnetic Puzzle Game
$24.00The Haba Town Maze Magnetic Puzzle Game will keep your kiddo entertained by teaching them colors and shapes. The colorful balls are trying to find their way home to their...
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.