Baby Toys

For a baby in their first year of life, playing with baby toys is both fun and an important way to help the development of vital skills, such as hand-eye coordination, learning to crawl and talk and how faces and feelings work.

This is a short list of some of the types of baby toys that can keep a baby interested and entertained, while also encouraging them to learn necessary skills.

Soft Baby Toys

Soft snuggling toys, like teddy bears or rabbits, are great babys’ toys at any stage past the first four weeks in their first year of life. Babies love faces, so teddies with clear facial features are best. Soft toys are brilliant for snuggling and holding onto as a baby learns to grip things with their hands or arms. When they’re older and beginning to show attachment to particular toys or to play favourites, a soft toy is often the first choice, especially to sleep with or carry around. Though advice suggests that babies should not sleep with a soft toy until roughly 3 months old, or when they move from a small crib or Moses basket to a bigger cot.

Baby Gyms or Soft Playmats

A baby gym or a soft playmat scattered with baby toys is versatile and can help develop a range of important skills. Tummy time encourages them to raise their heads, which help to strengthen neck muscles, as they learn to hold their head up on their own, or to keep it raised as they learn to crawl. A baby gym can help a baby learning to reach and stretch with a range of small baby toys, mirrors, bells or rattles. This also helps with the beginnings of hand-eye coordination and learning cause and effect with noise. For a slightly older baby, adding rolling or moving toys to improve crawling or walking is brilliant; babies and young children love to chase things.

Building Blocks

Building blocks are a classic baby toy that’s still entertaining children for hours at a time. While the stacking and knocking down may seem repetitive to adult eyes, it can be endless fun and giggles to a baby. Learning to balance blocks on top of each other improves hand-eye coordination and fine motor control

Books with Texture or Flaps

Reading with a baby is important from a young age as well as engaging. As well as sending them to sleep at night or for a nap, reading can help them with things associating words and images correctly. Books with textured patches are great for interactive storytelling, while books with flaps help babies to learn that things don’t vanish when out of sight. When learning to talk, reading with a baby can improve language skills and widen their vocabulary.

Baby Bath Toys

Take bath time to the next level with this submarine made 100% recycled materials.

When babies can sit up on their own, toys are a great addition to bath time, helping to keep a baby engaged and interested while being washed and cleaned. Floating toys, such as boats or ducks, are great for learning to reach and grab when objects are moving around, improving hand-eye coordination and fine motor control as well as fun to splash around with. Cups are fun for a baby to pour water into and out of, learning how liquids behave as they watch the water moving.