Finding toys for your growing baby isn’t as easy as it sounds! Children go through different developmental stages, and the right and age-appropriate toys can help with their physical and mental growth.
Generally, any toy that encourages children to move their bodies and use their minds is better than games on a screen. Safety is still our top priority when looking for baby toys, so no toys with buttons, beads, or any other parts that could become choking hazards.
To help you decide which toys are perfect for your little one, we’ve gathered intel from paediatricians and fellow mums on the best toys for babies at every age.
The first 6 months: Tummy Time Floor Mirror
For the first six months, babies aren’t able to do much other than observe their surroundings. Due to blurry vision, babies can’t see colours clearly, so anything with bright and interesting prints can help sharpen their developing vision.
Mirrors are a great toy for babies six months and below because they can stimulate your little one’s early self-recognition and vision skills.
One of the best mirrors for babies we’ve seen is the Tummy Time Floor Mirror. It’s an easel-shaped mirror that’s easy to set up and stands on the floor while it engages your baby’s growing vision.
The mirror is attached with a rotating and crinkly bee and ladybug rattle that will grab your baby’s attention.
6 months to 12 months: Baby Gund’s Flappy the Musical Elephant
At this stage, most of the toys babies need are now designed to promote interaction and exploration in a variety of ways. Babies are amazed by cause-and-effect and will love any toy that responds to their actions.
Toys that play music, make a crackling noise, or squeak when pressed can boost your baby’s mood, encourage them to get them moving, and help them discover new sounds. Although they’re still too young to learn ABCs, they’ll enjoy playing with such toys and learning new sounds.
Baby Gund’s Flappy Elephant is a great musical toy to incorporate into your baby’s playtime. When you push its right foot, it flaps its ears and plays a song.
And when you push its left foot, it moves its ears and covers its eyes, as if asking you to play peekaboo with it!
1 to 2 years old: Crayola My First Palm Grip Crayons
The secret to keeping babies a year old and above entertained is by giving them toys that stimulate and surprise their growing minds.
Babies’ brains develop so quickly, so it’s only proper for them to play with toys that challenge their thinking. The more senses that a toy can appeal to during playtime, the more learning is going to happen.
Aside from music, babies at this age love creating art. Since most art supplies aren’t suitable for their small, fragile hands, Crayola My First Palm Grip Crayon is the perfect gift to encourage them to make art.
These grip crayons are perfect or tiny hands to develop fine motor skills. Even if your baby just makes messy scribbles, this form of playtime helps lay the groundwork for getting them to write letters and numbers.
2 to 3 years old: Jellycat Bunny
Since older children have likely developed the fine motor skills needed to build blocks by themselves, their playtime is now more purposeful.
At this age, apart from building blocks, babies start to enjoy pretend play that copies the movements of people around them, so now’s the perfect time to introduce them to dolls and stuffed toys.
We’re big fans of toys from Jellycat Singapore, and it’s one of the most trusted toy brands by both veteran and first-time mums.
Most mummies seem to love the Jellycat Bunny! It’s an adorable fluffy bunny with long floppy ears, a shy face, and a cute tail, so it can be your baby’s companion in the nursery.
In case you’re teaching your little one to sleep alone, this huggable stuffed toy can stand as their guardian from nighttime until the sun rises! No worries about safety as all products from Jellycat Singapore passed the European Safety Standard for Toys.
