A list of 15 toys you will not regret buying for your baby, plus a review and description of each toy. Know what to get for baby gifts!
Updated November 2019
With all of the toy options out there for you to get for your baby, it can certainly become overwhelming. While it is fun to get toys for your baby, you only have so much money and so much space for toys, so you want to be sure you are getting something that is worth taking up both.
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Favorite Toys for Baby
This is a list of toys you will not regret getting for your baby. These make great gifts for your baby and great gifts for your nieces, nephews, and friends.
LeapFrog Music Table
Age Range: 6 Months and Up
Review: If I were restricted in life to five toys only for my children, the Leap Frog Music Table would be one I chose. It has great value for many different ages. Brayden got it at 7 months old. It has been loved by all three children. It teaches colors, shapes, music, numbers, cause and effect…
Buy Again?: Definitely yes.
Fisher Price Shape Sorter
Age Range: 9 months and up
Review: I honestly am not sure what I think about this toy. I do remember Brayden playing with it a lot. He liked it so much that a good friend bought one for her son and he loved it. It wasn’t really used by Kaitlyn a lot, but it might just be that it wasn’t out as much for her. It is fun because they can empty it and fill it back up again, which babies love. Brayden spent lots of time working on putting the shapes in the holes.
Buy Again?: Yes
Fisher Price Rock a Stack
Age Range: 6 months and up
Review: This is a great toy that is enjoyable across the ages. The young baby will enjoy just holding and mouthing the rings. As she gets older, she will start to try to play with the toys as it is intended to be played with. Then she will use it to learn colors and as bracelets and whatever else strikes her imagination. I know I have mentioned this toy on the blog in the past and many people have commented how much they love it. This toy is great for learning spacial relationships.
Buy Again?: For sure. This is a great toy for baby.
Popup Toy
Age Range: 9 months and up
Review: Pop up toys are a great toy for a baby to have to work on fine motor skills and learn cause and effect. This one is not too difficult for baby to do alone, either.
Buy Again?: Yes, I would buy this again. It is a really fun toy that the child likes well into the toddler years.
Blocks for Baby
Age Range: newborn and up
Review: These are fun blocks for baby. They teach colors and textures and have letters and numbers.
Buy Again?: Yes.
Car Seat Toys
Age Range: newborn and up
Review: We have several different car seat toys. I am not going to list every individual toy–I will list those that are extra popular. Car seat toys will hang from the bar of the car seat. I also use them to change out toys that hang from the bar on our gym for baby. That is actually my favorite use of them.
Buy Again?: Yes. There are so many out there. It is hard to choose one! Just look around and see what you think your child will like. Car Seat Toys. Here are some that we have.
This first one has a couple of features I think are nice. One is a hanging crinkle toy that the ears are crinkly, which babies love. It also has a teether on it.
I have talked about this one on the blog before. This toy is quite versatile. An activity spiral attaches to the car seat and keeps baby entertained.
Wrist Rattles
Age Range: newborn and up
Review: When I first saw these toys, I thought they were pure genius. A baby can play with this because he won’t drop it over and over and over… I found them when Brayden was too old, but I was sure to get them for Kaitlyn. While Kaitlyn and McKenna have both had enjoyment from them, they didn’t use them like I envisioned. I really think Brayden would have, but not the girls. They were not concerned enough with playing with toys at that young of an age; they were content to look at everything around them.
Buy Again?: If you have a really busy baby who is too young to hold on to toys, yes, this would likely be good. If you have a content baby, there are better toys for when they start holding on to toys.
Rattles and Teethers
Age Range: newborn and up
Review: This is my favorite group of toys for baby right now. I have a good friend who left her Sassy phone at our house one day. McKenna played with it, and loved it so much I thought I would get it for her. When I looked on Amazon, I found this set. McKenna loves it!
Buy Again?: Definitely. This is likely to turn into my favorite gift to give to babies.
Gum Ball Machine
Age Range: 6 months and up
Review: This was a gift from my parents. This is a fun toy to teach baby about cause and effect. Yesterday, Brayden and Kaitlyn were playing with this toy and laughing hysterically, so I guess it has lasting power.
Buy Again?: Yes, I would buy this again.
Sassy Teether
Age Range: birth and up
Review: This was given to McKenna by some friends of ours, and it is one of her top five favorite toys. Probably top two. It is great for teething (as the name suggests). I also like that they can hold on to the toy in a variety of places, which is great for early learners.
Buy Again?: Definitely yes.
Links
Age Range: Newborn and up
Review: This is a toy that was very popular for all three children. They are fun on their own. You can also use them to link a toy to an object to prevent it from flying on the ground. You can link things to a shopping cart, the car seat, the stroller, etc.
Buy Again?: Definitely. This has to be about the best $5 I ever spent.
Baby Hammer
Age Range: 12 months and up (according to the manufacturer)
Review: This was a gift from my sister. Brayden has always loved tools, even from infancy. For his first Christmas, my sister got him this. He loved it. It lights up and makes noise when they hit things with it, so it is good for cause and effect learning.
Buy Again?: Yes
Little Tikes Baby Piano
Age Range: 6 months and up
Review: This was also a gift from my sister. This is a great toy for cause and effect and music. Later on, you can also use it to teach colors. My children have all loved this simple toy.
Buy Again?: Yes. There are definitely fancier pianos out there, but this is one of the least expensive out there.
Activity Walker
Age Range: 6-9 months and up
Review: This was a gift from my cousin. This is one of the most popular toys we have. The babies love to sit by it and mess with all of the gadgets. The walkers (toddlers) love to walk with it because it is a bit safer to walk with when they are learning. The older toddlers and preschoolers love to run around with it and it is often a variety of other things like a lawn mower.
Buy Again?: For sure!
CONCLUSION
These are some of our toys that our babies have loved/love. There are a lot of toys out there for children, though! I am always amazed to visit the homes of other people and see that we have very few toys that are the same, and their toys are fun and educational, too. So by no means is this list “the only toys for baby” or anything. They are just what I have experience with.
LOVE these toy reviews! Thanks for doing them. Any advice on a 9 1/2 month old who refuses to nap now because she has learned to stand in the crib? I keep waiting for it "to pass" but its been almost a week now. She just hops right back up every time I go into lay her down. Someone tell me this will pass…:)
Thanks so much for these reviews! My son is 18 months and it's so hard to buy him toys! He's still developing his preferences so trying to decide if he will like a toy or not can be frustrating. Your little people reviews have been very helpful. I didn't play with them as a child, but I've been thinking of getting some for my son. Your opinion is very helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.Oh, and roberjen, this will pass!! 🙂
Thanks for the reviews! My 7 month old is getting the leap frog music table from my parents for Christmas and I can't wait! I wanted to add four toys to your list that I love. The first one is the Fisher Price Soundstage. We got it at 6 months and it is one of our favorite toys. It's a little pricey but I think it is well worth it. The next one is the Fisher Price amazing animals sing and go choo choo. I had a hard time finding it. It retails for around $30 I think but Amazon is selling it for around $100 I think. I was unable to find it in stores but "googled" it and found in on a website. I am giving it to William for Christmas and cannot wait for him to open it. Our neighbor has it so we have been able to play with it some. The train is fun but the animals that go in it are even more fun. I think the name of the the third toy is Roll Arounds and Fisher Price makes them and they are little balls. One set that we have are clear and have different things inside of them. The other set that we have are textured. They are the perfect size for William to hold in his hand. I think he is going to learn how to crawl by chasing them around. The last toy I found at COSTCO and it is a set of textured bouncy balls. There are two large ones and 4 small ones. We love them and have loved from since William was around 4 months old. I am also thinking about getting William the playskool ball popper for Christmas. Does anyone have a review on this toy?
roberjen, it will pass 🙂 Since she just pops back up, I would probably just leave her be and wait for her to get over it. Some might do well with a stern "it is nap time now, not playtime."Just be sure she gets lots of time to stand during waking hours so she feels less of a need a naptime.
You are welcome Janelle!
Anna, thanks for your ideas! Iwill check those out. I love toys 🙂
Hi Valerie,Thank you so much for everything you write – I have no idea how you find the time! I am about to go back to work after a 15 week maternity leave (2nd child), and am not ready to get back into that hectic lifestyle with 2 kids. Oh well… it is what it is. I was wondering if you review custom made products? I have something I'd love for you to look at called The Pumpkin Sack, but TOTALLY understand if you are not interested. I don't want to put a lot of detail here so I'm not using your site that way, but let me know if there is a way I can get you more info if you are interested. Let me know your thoughts and thanks for even considering! (oh, and sorry for posting here… I didn't see another way to contact you so it wasn't a comment for everyone to see).
Sure, just post your email and I will email you about it and you can give me the link. As soon as I get it, I will delete your email address off the site.
Thanks for this. i have to buy some some kids toys for this christmas. musical toys
Thank you so much for the toy reviews! I used them to figure out what to get my 10-month old for Christmas. This made it so much easier!
Totally agree with this list of toys 🙂 My youngest has a few of these that she will play with on a daily basis!
Thank you for sharing that and adding your thoughts! With all of the toy option out there, it is nice for people to be able to really choose things that will last and hold interest.