Early childhood development is often enhanced by the type of toys and entertainment that parents provide for their babies and toddlers. As a result, modern toys are designed for function as well as for age appropriate entertainment. Here are 10 of the top baby toys.
1. Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy
The Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy is a colorful rendition of a radio that plays seven classic, child friendly tunes. The large handle, which is in the shape of rainbow colored caterpillar, is just the right size for a baby to easily grasp and carry. The toy also features large interactive buttons that allow babies to turn on the music and scroll to their favorite melody. The Take Along Tunes lights up when on, and parental reviews attest that the toy keeps their little ones entertained for hours.
2. Baby Einstein Bendy Ball
The bendy ball by Baby Einstein adds to nursery playtime fun with a colorful design and flexible plastic material that babies can mash at will. The ball also includes a nested ball chime that sounds off like a bell when shaken. Although the product gets good reviews from many parents, some parents claim that the design has flat plastic edges that are too sharp for playing babies.
3. VTech Spin and Learn Color Flashlight
The VTech Spin and Learn Color Flashlight makes play time for toddlers educational and fun. The toy plays about 50 different songs that teach youngsters about animals, colors and counting. A cute ladybug button helps small hands to turn the toy on and off with ease. The interactive toy lights up in five shades when operational. Parental reviews indicate that toddlers love the stimulating sounds of the VTech flashlight, but they claim the sounds are overwhelming for adults even though the product has a low and high volume control feature.
4. Manhattan Toy Sensory Teether Activity
The Manhattan Toy Sensory Teether Activity is a visually stimulating labyrinth of colorful plastic tubing that is ideal for teething babies. The design enhances eye and hand coordination in babies as well as provides a safe, BPA free surface on which to chew. The 25 year old patented design of this toy is still winning awards like the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award.
5. Wimmzi® Tutti Frutti Teether Toys
The Tutti Frutti teether toys by Wimmzi® come as a set of three food grade silicon teething rings in the shapes of fun fruits like grapes, watermelon and bananas. The teething toys are designed to provide soothing relief to babies’ gums, and the products’ size allows children to reach even their back gums for relief. The colorful and visually stimulating toy may even positively promote the consumption of real fruit as the child grows. The toys are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning, and they are freezer safe for extra teething relief.
6. Nuby Icybite Hard and Soft Teething Keys
Nuby might just have the keys to babies’ relief during their teething phase. The bright, multi textured plastic keys contain soft and slightly harder surfaces that soothe gums and help with tooth eruption. The non-toxic, BPA free toy keys on their ring can be place in the refrigerator to provide gentle cooling action for baby gums. Parental reviews claimed that their children loved the actual keys, but the key ring that is made of hard plastic can cut babies’ gums if chewed. Taking the keys off the key ring may solve the dilemma for some parents.
7. Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks
Future designers and engineers often get their start learning their shapes by playing with blocks as children. The Fisher Price baby block set offers a colorful and fun option that helps babies sort and match a variety of shapes like circles, squares and triangles. The toy features a bucket with a shape sorting lid and a sturdy handle for easy carrying. Consumer reviews advise parents to make sure that products like this one do not contain harmful chemicals, because little ones love to chew on the blocks while playing with them.
8. ALEX Toys Alex Jr. Baby Builder
The Alex Jr. Baby Builder is a fun and educational play set that allows babies and toddlers to try their hands at construction. The soft plastic pieces come in a variety of shapes that connect and pop apart with a snap. The 26 piece set comes in multiple colors that provide visual stimulation, and its design enhances motor skills. The Alex Jr. Baby Builder is also an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award winner.
9. VTech Chomp and Count Dino Toy
The Chomp and Count Dino Toy by VTech features a fun, green colored dinosaur that happily eats play food fed to it by accommodating toddlers. The interactive toy plays songs and facilitates the learning of numbers and colors by asking children to feed the dinosaur specific amounts of play food. The toy is recommended for little ones ages 12 to 36 months.
10. Sassy Wonder Wheel Activity Center
The Sassy Wonder Wheel Activity Center is pure entertainment for babies who must endure the confinement of high chairs for meal times. The bright, cheerful wheel contains colorful beads that rattle and move when little ones spin it. The toy has a suction cup bottom that allows it to be firmly attached to plastic high chair surfaces. Some parents advise consumers to keep careful watch over children who use this toy because their fingers can get stuck in the wheel’s turning mechanism resulting in pinched digits.
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