Playing with your baby is much more than just time for fun. The best baby toys help develop new skills and encourage your baby to learn.
These days, some toys come with all the bells and whistles – literally. Navigating your way through the toy aisles to find what’s best for your baby can feel overwhelming.
If you are looking to “baby smart,” you want to choose the best toys that captivate your baby’s attention while they develop key skills and abilities.
Knowing how to play with these little people and what will best entertain and encourage their growth is the key to finding the best baby toys.
Playing with your Baby
Playing with your baby is about much more than the best baby toys. It is primarily about your interactions with your young one as you teach them about the world around them.
As babies develop, they become increasingly interested in their environment, exploring objects, and interacting with the people in their little world. Every loving and playful experience is a chance for your baby to learn.
Provide your baby with lots of exciting things to look at, full of color and soothing sounds. That will help your baby explore the world and develop visual skills. Allow your child toys that they can kick or hit, like a rattle or mobile. It improves their gross motor skills.
As your baby grows, you can read to them, or provide them with materials to help develop language. Give them plenty of objects to touch and play with to develop fine motor skills and encourage their budding creativity and imagination.
Don’t worry too much if your baby doesn’t seem interested immediately. You will learn their individual needs and interests as they grow and provide them with a stimulating environment full of fun.
What to Look for in the Best Baby Toys
As you are on the hunt for the best baby toys to add to your registry or fill your playroom with, there are a few things to keep in mind. The American Academy of Pediatrics published a report to help you choose the best toys for your growing baby.
Look for toys that match your baby’s development. For example, giving a three-month-old a toy full of lights and colors may be too stimulating for their young minds. In the same way, a one-year-old may become bored with the simpler toys designed for younger learners.
In your search for toys, you want to choose one that encourages the growth of your baby’s skills and abilities.
Additionally, the best baby toys will help pretend play, strengthen fine and gross motor skills, and develop language in your child.
Ironically, there is no need to look for “educational” toys only. Your baby will learn from a variety of experiences, and educational games or toys target only one aspect. As a result, be sure your baby has a variety of toys to develop social and emotional skills as well.
Keep toy safety in mind, and never give your baby toys that are beyond his or her development with small parts that may be dangerous. Report toy safety concerns at SaferProducts.gov and get information about toy recalls here.
No one toy is the key to success for your baby. By providing them with a variety of the best baby toys and playing with them regularly, you give them the best experience.
How We Reviewed for the Best Baby Toys
To offer a quality unbiased opinion, we chose a variety of the most popular and highly rated baby toys on Amazon. We read their descriptions and consulted verified customer reviews.
You will find a sampling of a wide range of toys, based on a variety of categories to give you several selections from which to choose.
Additionally, we looked at a variety of professional reviews from websites such as Parenting and Best Reviews Guide to give you the complete information.
That helped us to narrow the list to the best baby toys for your little one.
The Best Baby Toys for Pretend Play
Pretend play through toys such as dolls, animals, cars, planes, or food helps children learn how to interact in real-world experiences. This imaginary play is key in a child’s development of social and emotional skills.
These baby toys are all top-rated options for pretend play.
Vtech Turn and Learn Driver
This toy from Vtech is perfect for encouraging imaginary play. Ideal for any child age six months to two years, your little one can pretend to drive using the steering wheel toy. While they “drive,” they can press buttons that introduce animal and vehicle sounds to your little learner.
The imaginary signal level and gear shifter include fun sounds, music, and an introduction to opposites. With three different modes, this toy can grow along with your child. More than 60 songs, sounds, and phrases keep this toy from getting boring.
Customers love the variety of buttons, levers, and sounds that keep children engaged and entertained.
If you are looking for a toy that encourages imaginary play in babies and toddlers alike, this is a great selection.
Munchkin Float & Play Bath Bubbles
These bath bubbles from Munchkin are another great toy to encourage pretend play. Each floating bubble has characters that rattle, bobble, spin, and shine. The easy-to-grasp design is perfect for any baby or child over the age of four months.
This bath toy stimulates baby’s sense of sight, hearing, and touch. The bubbles are easy to dry and mold resistant. The cute penguin and turtle characters are an adorable addition to pretend play during bath time.
Customers especially love this bath toy because they are easy to clean and do not get moldy like many other bath toys.
If you’ve been on the hunt for the best baby toys for the bath, you cannot go wrong with these.
The First Years Stack and Count Cups
These classic sorting and stacking cups are an iconic baby toy and with good reason. The brightly colored cups stack together, with small holes in the bottom that make them fun for water play as well.
This toy may seem simple, but babies love to fit the cups together, stack them up, turn them over, or hide things beneath them. The numbers on the bottom of each cup help develop early math skills like counting and number recognition.
In addition, this pack of eight cups is free from BPA, lead, and phthalates and perfect for babies aged six months and up.
Parents love how versatile these stacking cups are, perfect for all kinds of imaginary play and fine motor development. In addition, they are easy to clean and perfect for children to play with even beyond the baby years.
If you are looking for a simple and inexpensive toy that entertains babies of all ages, these will not disappoint.
The Best Baby Toys to Develop Fine Motor Skills
Blocks, shapes, and puzzles support fine motor development. With these toys, even the youngest children can begin to cultivate problem-solving skills and even early math skills as well.
Sassy Developmental Bumpy Ball
This bumpy ball from Sassy is a great toy to develop fine motor skills. Not only that, but the bright colors and bold patterns will develop baby’s focus and strengthen vision.
The bumps on each ball encourage reaching, grasping, and transferring from hand-to-hand. Also, the variety of materials develop tactile sensitivity. As your baby grows, this bumpy ball works to develop gross motor skills like coordination and balance.
This toy is a great choice. Customers love that this small toy keeps babies engaged with its bright colors, textures, and easy to hold design.
If you are searching for a bright toy to keep baby engaged while developing early fine motor skills, this is a great choice.
Fisher-Price Baby’s First Blocks
Baby’s first blocks from Fisher-Price are a classic toy that develops fine motor and problem-solving skills. These ten colorful blocks are easy to sort, stack, and drop into the bucket that also serves as storage.
Not only will this toy develop fine motor skills like grasping, holding, and shaking, it is an excellent introduction to colors and shapes as well. These blocks will strengthen baby’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
Parents love that this toy is not overly difficult to play with but is very versatile with lots of applications for little learners.
If you are looking for a shape sorting toy that is tried and true, this is a great option.
Manhattan Toy Winkel
Manhattan Toy makes another excellent option for developing baby’s fine motor skills. The maze of soft tubes is eye-catching and also perfect for teething.
This toy promotes fine motor development through clutching and two-handed play while the middle cube makes a quiet rattling sound. It is lightweight enough for even the smallest baby to grab onto.
Refrigerate this toy to provide your baby with relief from sore teeth and gums while teething.
Parents find it is easy for baby to hold onto and provides great relief from teething.
If you are on the search for the best baby toy for newborns and babies having trouble teething, this is a great choice.
The Best Baby Toys for Language Development
Toy letters and books, as well as other electronic games, develop language skills in your baby. The best baby toys allow you and your child to interact and have fun together as they develop new skills.
Teaching your baby words gives them the best start in life. Check out the best baby toys to promote language development.
Teytoy My First Soft Book
Reading books with your baby is one of the top ways to develop language, and this set of books from Teytoy is a great start. The washable cloth, strong stitching, and non-toxic materials make these great early readers.
These baby books are full of bright images with vivid patterns and colors and full of information about animals, numbers, vehicles, and vegetables. Above all, reading with your baby develops language and reading skills, communication skills, and sensory skills.
Moms love these colorful books for their babies. Also, they are easy to clean and lightweight, making them perfect for the diaper bag.
If you’ve been hunting for great baby books, these are an excellent selection.
Vtech Lil’ Critters Moosical Beads
This musical baby toy from Vtech is a perfect combination of sensory play and language development. The plush cow has a variety of fabric textures and colors to keep baby’s attention.
The talking and singing toy comes with more than 30 songs, melodies, sounds, and phrases to teach babies shapes, colors, numbers, and letters. The easy to grasp ring and spinning buttons also help strengthen fine motor skills.
This musical toy will both delight and educate your little one. Parents find it is a great attention grabber for their babies, even at only a few months old.
If you want a toy for your baby that musically teaches language skills, this is a great choice.
Leapfrog Scout’s Learning Lights Remote
Leapfrog’s learning lights remote allows children imaginative play while learning valuable language skills. Each channel teaches first words and phrases, numbers, pretend play, shapes, weather, and more.
The bright colors and lights on the buttons entertain children with more than 65 songs, tunes, and audio responses. In addition, children can interact with Leapfrog’s beloved Scout as she sings and teaches them all kinds of early learning concepts.
Parents find it is great to keep their babies entertained, and an excellent way to reinforce new learning skills.
If you are looking for a great interactive toy to develop language skills, this is a great choice.
The Best Baby Toys for Gross Motor Play
Toys that include physical activity improve your baby’s gross motor skills and also help as they grow physically. For this reason, look for toys that allow your baby to play with balls, to push or pull, and to strengthen their legs and arms as they develop.
These are some of the best baby toys for gross motor play.
Vtech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker
This Vtech sit-to-stand walker is perfect for babies and toddlers as they grow, from nine months to three years old.
This baby walker has a removable play panel for even the youngest child to use before they begin to walk. The panel has musical piano keys, colorful spinning rollers, shape sorters, and light-up buttons. This walker plays more than 70 songs, sound effects, and fun phrases.
As your baby grows and begins to walk, this walker helps them develop gross motor skills. The sturdy wheels work on both carpeted and hard floors.
Parents are impressed with just how much this little walker can do. They found it is both a great sensory toy and a walking aid for learning toddlers.
If you are searching for a walker that doubles as a sensory toy, look no further than this one from Vtech.
Fisher-Price Sit-Me-Up Floor Seat
Even young babies need gross motor development, and this seat from Fisher-Price is a perfect selection. It is a comfortable solution to give babies support as they sit up and interact with the world around them while helping them to strengthen and stabilize.
This seat is easy to assemble and has soft, washable fabric. It has a crinkle butterfly toy and flower teether. As a result, reaching and pulling for these toys is a great way to strengthen little arm muscles.
Parents love the support it gives to their young babies as they learn to sit up while allowing them to look around and interact.
If you are searching for a seat that also strengthens gross motor skills, this is the perfect selection.
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Play the Day Away with the Best Baby Toys
You cannot go wrong choosing from this list of the best baby toys.
If you are looking for the best toy for pretend play, then The First Years Stack and Count Cups is an excellent choice. Similarly, the best baby toy to develop fine motor skills is the highly-rated Fisher-Price Baby’s First Blocks.
If you are looking for a toy to give your baby a head start with language, we recommend Leapfrog Scout’s Learning Lights Remote. Additionally, for gross motor play, be sure to purchase Vtech’s Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker.
No matter which of these baby toys you choose for your little one, they are sure to have fun with these top-rated choices.
Do you have any of these great baby toys? Any we should add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below.
Last update on 2021-01-15 at 17:08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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