There's a good chance your baby is or will be inundated with toys.
But within that deluge, I found it was easy to end up with lots the same that didn't keep up with the lightening speed at which new interests and skills develop in baby's first year.
I also discovered some toys were one month wonders whilst others that supported the same skills lasted the year and in some cases are still played with 3 years later.
25 Essential Baby Toys
Looking back, the 25 types of toy to best entertain and stimulate baby in their first year are ...
- Soft balls
- Soft mirror
- Soft blocks
- Soft books
- Sets of loops
- "Squishy" puzzles
- Plastic keys
- Bouncer
- Gears & cogs
- Twisting puzzles
- Toy phone
- Instruments
- A frame walker
- Stacking cups
- Stacking hoops
- Roll alongs
- Push alongs
- Bead mazes
- Grabbing tags
- Magnetic stackers
- Pop up toys
- Shape sorter
- Walker with bricks
- Plastic tea set
- Peg jigsaw puzzles
Getting Best Value
Obviously, you don't have to go out and buy all of these - lots of them can be made or can at least be bought second hand. And you'll really get the best value if you buy things that grow with them - for example, baby will initially only differentiate black and white patterns but much better to buy a toy that has colour patterns as well so it will continue to entertain.I have organised the toys below by roughly when babies will be ready to start playing with them and what skills they will help your child to develop. I have also included some examples of our absolute favourites that are still going strong 3 years later.
Month by Month
From Birth
Soft Balls
Soft fabric balls with bells in and textured panels are great early on. Although they won't be interested in tags at first, they will be obsessed later, so worth getting them with tags. There are loads of gorgeous hand made balls on Etsy.
From about 4 months the sensory balls with little soft spikes are good such as these ones from Edushape.
Soft Mirror
Babies love mirrors from very early on and seeing and eventually recognising their reflection is really important in their emotional development. Play mats and nests usually have a mirror but it's nice to have a larger separate one that can be attached to wherever baby is.
Soft Blocks
Initially great for squidging and exploring texture, as soon as they start batting they can have sooo much fun knocking down your towers before later on in the year they start building their own.I can remember my Galt blocks
from when I was a child and Galt are still going strong with a range of different sets.Soft Books
In their first months babies will love the pictures and textures but there comes a point when they master the wrist movement of opening a flap and they are then fascinated by the movement and by all the "here it is - now it's gone" peekaboo games they can play with the flaps.
Again, Galt in the UK is the go to for soft books
- I bought them for all of my ante-natal group and they were a big baby hit - but Jelly Cat and Manhattan Toys also do nice ones.
Again, Galt in the UK is the go to for soft books
- I bought them for all of my ante-natal group and they were a big baby hit - but Jelly Cat and Manhattan Toys also do nice ones.Sets of Loops
Sets of tangled loops can be used initially as a rattle and then as wrist development builds up twisted and turned in all sorts of directions. They also make a great teether.
From 2 Months
Squishy Puzzles
Squishy puzzles - such as the deservedly popular skwish from Manhattan Toys - allow even young babies to explore how structures respond to their squishing.As their grasping and wrist movements develop the puzzles provide endless fascination as they are turned round and round in their hands.
From 3 Months
Plastic Keys
Plastic keys are a good basic rattle for grasping and for teething but can also become a first imaginary "one like mummy" toy.
Bouncer
Bouncers are a great way for babies to really enjoy moving about for themselves. I was sceptical of the benefits of those with activity centres attached but became a total convert after the pure pleasure I saw my daughter get from playing in a friend's for a whole afternoon!
We bought the Fisher Price Jumperoo, which we got loads of use out of it as my daughter was a late walker. It's certainly not cheap. You can get the Jumperoo for about £100 in the UK and in the USA
for about $100.They are all also fairly easy to pick up second hand and keep their value well so are resellable.
From 4 Months
Gears & Cogs
From about 4 months babies become fascinated by gears and cogs, loving that moving one thing moves other things. The twisting movement involved in turning them also helps wrist development.
There are all sorts of gear and cog toys from puzzles to activity cubes
and centres.
A bit similar to squish toys, twisting toys in which different parts move in different directions support wrist development. It's not everyone's favourite but we really loved the Woogle from Manhattan toys.
It's a pretty simple idea it's based on and you could probably make something similar yourself.
and centres.Twisting Toys
from Manhattan toys.It's a pretty simple idea it's based on and you could probably make something similar yourself.
From 6 Months
Toy Phone
It goes without saying that babies love your stuff and particularly anything you obviously love! So a copy cat phone with buttons that make noises are popular and may stop yours from being stolen and chewed.
Instruments
Basic maracas, tambourines and rain shakers for accompanying nursery rhyme sing alongs and just randomly shaking and bashing are good first musical instruments. Rain shakers are great as babies love watching the moving sprinkles - our's went everywhere with us for a while.
You do need a bit of caution with instruments as they can whack themselves and others with them but really not sufficiently to do any harm. Both maracas and rain shakers are great to make yourself as long as you ensure they're really securely fastened.
You do need a bit of caution with instruments as they can whack themselves and others with them but really not sufficiently to do any harm. Both maracas and rain shakers are great to make yourself as long as you ensure they're really securely fastened.
A Frame Walker
Children start pulling themselves up, cruising and walking at such different ages. Some will be starting as early as 6 months and it's then worth investing in an A Frame Walker. I love the traditional walkers with bricks but they are not as stable when babies are this young.I confess I hated the look of the plastic walkers but again was converted by the opportunity to play with someone else's. We had the V Tech walker which worked absolutely brilliantly for us and is so loved that we still have it.
which worked absolutely brilliantly for us and is so loved that we still have it.Stacking Cups
OK - stacking cups rock!
I promise you, that you will get more play out of this simple toy that you can pick up for less than a fiver than you will out of many more fancy ones.
They can be chewed, bashed, rolled, knocked down, used to hide things, slotted in side each other, built into towers, filled with water, filled with sand, used as a tea set ... the list is endless. Our's currently live in the bath and we love them.
Stacking Hoops
We got almost as much play out of our stacking hoops as we did out of stacking cups.
They are really valuable in hand eye co-ordination skills and later in size sorting and the rings make great rollers. There are some lovely wooden ones out there but we actually got most play out of a very cheap plastic set from our local toy shop. It had a round bottom so could be knocked over to add to the fun and because it was plastic could go in the bath and the sand.
They are really valuable in hand eye co-ordination skills and later in size sorting and the rings make great rollers. There are some lovely wooden ones out there but we actually got most play out of a very cheap plastic set from our local toy shop. It had a round bottom so could be knocked over to add to the fun and because it was plastic could go in the bath and the sand.
From 7 Months
Roll Alongs
Balls are obviously great rolling toys but little wooden roll-alongs are also wonderful once babies start to crawl or shuffle themselves around. I like the wooden ones rather than the plastic as the wood allows them to make clackety-clack noises as different parts move around.
We had some lovely ones from Plan Toys.
We had some lovely ones from Plan Toys. Push Alongs
The next step on from roll alongs are basic push alongs. As all babies seem to adore vehicles of all sorts, small simple trains, trucks, cars, buses and diggers that can be easily grasped and pushed with one hand are a good idea.
Bead Maze
Lots of kids love bead mazes that support the development of pincer, wrist turning and problem solving skills. We had some very simple ones targeted at rising ones that were fun but really didn't last - I wish we'd got one complicated maze as my daughter had hours of fun with these at nursery until she was over two.
as my daughter had hours of fun with these at nursery until she was over two.From 8 Months
Grabbing Tags
At a certain point as babies start to master a fine pincer movement they become absolutely obsessed with tags of all sorts - the tinier the label on their clothes the more fascinating it is is to grab between finger and thumb.It's worth buying their first soft balls and blocks with tags on, even though they won't be interested initially, as this way the early toys will support the later stage of development.
It's also a good idea to keep your eyes open for any inventive toys around that will support this interest and skill. We got given this Lamaze Stacking Rings
toy - unfortunately, no longer generally available - in which you use all the different tags to grab rotating hoops, which was a really big hit.Alternatively, there's usually lots of great ideas for this type of play posted on Tuesday Tots.
Magnetic Toys
Even young babies really "get" gravity - they take enormous delight in knowing that if they drop something it falls. So they are also equally delighted by the discovery that magnets can act against gravity. It may seem very young but I promise you that they will really enjoy exploring magnetism even at this early age.The trick is to buy - if you can find them - creatures or fun objects that are magnetic rather than a big horse shoe magnet. We had some brilliant Lamaze stacking bugs which we still use for all magnetism experiments.
Lamaze
now do a new version which comes with loads of tags - so a real double whammy, tags and magnets in one toy! From 9 Months
Pop Up Toys
Galt in the UK have been making the classic pop up for years - I had one as a child - 
and there are now all sorts of pop up toys based on their model of you pressing something down and something else popping up.They can provide hours of entertainment and help babies develop an understanding of cause and effect and interdependence of separate objects.
and help babies develop an understanding of cause and effect and interdependence of separate objects.Although, I remember mine very fondly they're not of interest for that long so I would definitely buy a simple one such as Galt's classic pop up which is only around £5 in the UK.
An alternative pop-up toy which will may entertain - although our's wasn't a great success and I don't think they are as interesting - are jack in the boxes.
Shape Sorter
Shape sorters combine babies' increasing fascination with "posting" things through slots and the start of their ability to match shapes. There are all sorts of different shape sorters out there in all sorts of different forms from balls to cubes to buses. To make it last, my advice would be to get one with as many different shapes as possible and which has multiple sides that can be easily turned over so that children develop the idea that when they can't match it one side they look on another.
Walker With Bricks
The classic walkers with bricks are great to get when babies are cruising quite confidently as they don't tend to be as stable as the A frame walkers. The great thing about them though is that you are obviously not just getting a walker, you're getting a set of bricks as they start to develop their building skills and a "delivery cart" which can be used to "transport" things and transporting things is something all babies love!I would recommend researching them thoroughly via Amazon reviews before buying as the reviews are usually great at flaggin slippy wheels, poor quality bricks, bad balance etc.
We had this one from Pintoy
which we have had loads and loads of use of and is still going strong.
which we have had loads and loads of use of and is still going strong.From 10 Months
Plastic Tea Set
By the end of the first year babies are starting to get into imaginative play and love making cups of tea for you. You can get all sorts of fancy tea sets with buttons and whizzy lights and noises but I would go for a no frills plastic one that can go in the bath, the sand, mud etc.
Only note of warning, if you use it in the bath, do sterilise it every now and again to prevent any mould growing inside.
Peg Jigsaw Puzzles
Peg puzzles are incredibly good for shape recognition, which is a really important foundation for later reading skills, but you won't get that much play out of them as they'll quickly move on to more complex shapes. So even though 10 months is early to be playing with them I would recommend getting them from now so you get the most possible play out of them.Bigjigs
and Melissa and Doug both have some nice wooden peg puzzles but it's definitely worth looking out for them second hand or from a toy library if you have access to one or organizing a regular "jigsaw swap" with friends.I would love to hear your thoughts on the list - have I missed something? Or is there anything you wouldn't include? And if you've got great posts on baby toys sitting in your archive, do link them up below.
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