My #1 tip for buying toys for kids is to aim to get toys that they will continue to play with over time and not outgrow within a few months. As long as it is safe for the child (no choking parts) I've often times rounded up on the age appropriateness of toys so that she can "grow into them." This has worked really well for me and it's been fun to watch my daughter learn to play with her toys in different ways as she grows.
Little Tikes Tap-A-Tune Piano
This toy just so happens to be 6m+ so it is perfect for a baby on the verge of turning 6 months old. But oh how they don't need to be only 6m to play with it, my daughter is almost 2 1/2 and she still plays with it! She even grabs piano music from my piano to put in front of her to play it!
I'm not a huge fan of toys that light up and make sound, but I made one exception with this toy and I'm so glad! It plays 8 different songs and you can compose the pieces by adding the different instruments (each side has a circle button with an instrument on it) one by one or there is a side that plays all the instruments. As a two year old she will bust this out and dance to it!
Welcome to the Symphony: A Musical Exploration of the Orchestra Using Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
We added this to her wish-list in conjunction with this Mozart Cube and they are a great pair that again, she still plays with at 2 years old. She is now a pro at identifying basic instruments! She loves having me read this book to her and pushing the different buttons when it's time.
Fisher-Price See 'n Say The Farmer Says
I didn't know I wanted one of these till my cousin gave it to my daughter. This is a do together toy, because the handle is hard for young ones to pull, but oh how she loves it! It is so great for practicing identifying animals and their sounds.
Wood Blocks with Natural Paint/Stain
Another gift I didn't know we needed so soon was wood blocks, I figured we'd get these when she was older. No need to wait!!! At 6 months she was in heaven every times she knocked down a tower that I had built for her. Make sure to get a good quality block because you don't want your child putting cheap paint from China in their mouth, and kids love to chew on wood. This is one of those great toys that will get a lot of use over the years, as a matter of fact we were playing with them this morning!
Plan Toy Stacking Ring
These rings that she's playing with are actually meant to be stacked on a stand. Being a little baby she was too young to have the stand so I took that away till she was older, but boy did we get good use out of the rings! Here we're having a science lesson on density and seeing if wood floats. Okay really we're playing with the rings in water, but hey it was a great activity! Now that she's older she loves stacking her rings on the stand too! And the company that made them, Plan Toys, I love them! High quality stuff here! If I get a choice of a toy made out of wood or plastic, I love to choose wood.
Books Books Books
Start building their libraries and help them have a love of reading. My sweet little daughter can sit in my lap and listen to story after story, and I credit it to the fact that we started reading to her when she was only a few months old. Her favorite book by the age of 5 months (and it was very clearly her favorite) was 10 Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss. Of course that book was currently missing when I went to take the photo, because it is still two years later one of her favorite books. So the miniature version is standing in for the full length - by the way those mini books are also FABULOUS we have about 10 different stories and love them.
Her top favorite books from age 6M -1 year were:
Step2 Little Helper's Shopping Cart-Pink
Technically she received this gift for her 1st birthday, but if you have a kid whose on the verge of walking this would be a great gift to give them. We love this Step2 cart because it is SUPER STABLE! It has a bottom that you can even fill with water to help give it more stability, but we never needed to because it even had a built in stabilizer in the back. This toy also functions as convenient toy storage! Another toy she plays with every single day.
Funny story, while Carolyn was roaming around her birthday party pushing her cart my mom asks me, "When did she start walking like this?" Suddenly I realize how well she's walking thanks to the cart, the answer was, "Today!" with a giant woah face!!!
Toddler Slide
This was a sweet hand-me-down that we got from a friend, I can't seem to find it on Amazon so you might want to find something similar like this Step2 Sports-Tastic Activity Center Playset. She got so much use out of this thing, and it really helped her with learning how to stand and then climb. It also made a handy water slide toy in the summer.
My absolute favorite gift that I'm glad we splurged on for her 1st Christmas at 6 months old was this:
This is literally her the moment we put her in it on Christmas morning, she instantly LOVED it!!!!
Now at 6m old she couldn't sit up on her own without falling over, so for the first month I would always put a pillow in behind her to help support her, but from then on she ruled this little house. She also used it to pull up on and learn how to stand. She's gone through phases where each of the different activities on it has been her favorite, from playing peek a boo with the window, to surprises in the mail box to playing with the activity board. Oh and she loved opening and closing that little door. I love that door is super safe and won't pinch little fingers.
I love how you can rearrange the panels to make different configurations making it new and exciting.
It even can hold two toddlers comfortably. When we have friends over I like to bring it out on the patio for multiple kids to play with.
By 1 1/2 the little yellow arch was making it difficult for her to use the slide, so we simply removed it and saved it for future little babies - easy off/on. By the time she turned two it had been removed from the nursery to make room for bigger toys, but that hasn't stopped her playing with it. She still loves to go in her "little house."
You may have noticed that I linked everything I could find through Amazon, I used to be in the affiliates program, but unfortunately if you don't get enough clicks they drop you from it. So these links are just to be helpful for you, I don't receive any compensation from them.
I hope you have found these baby gifts to be helpful for you this Christmas. I wanted to share only what I highly recommend based on what my daughter has loved.
For Pinterest:
Great ideas. My kids are way oder now, but I remember my daughter got a cart similar to the one in your post when she was about 8 months old. She wasn't walking on her own yet, but she would push the cart all over the house.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party this week!
My kids used to love their See n' Say! That playhouse looks like a lot of fun! I'm visiting from the Simple Homestead Blog hop.
ReplyDeleteGlad I ran on a link party. Great gift list for babies! My 4 yo has outgrown his Little People playhouse, it's so bitter sweet!
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