One Year Later: My Top 10 Favorite Baby Toys

It’s Oliver’s birthday this week, so we’re deviating from our regular house-oriented posts with some baby-oriented things we’ve learned over the past year.

Toys! Our house is filled with ever so many toys. And it’s growing by the day. But here are my top 10 favorite things for babies under 1:

1. Sophie the Giraffe teether. Before I had a baby I thought this was a glorified dog toy. Then we received one as a gift and it’s Oliver’s favorite teether. They are awesome.

2. Sassy Ring O’ Links. This is Oliver’s other favorite teether. He loves the bright colors, chewing on it, shaking it like a rattle. And now he likes to pull the clips apart and attach them to other things.

3. Haba rattles, clutching toys, rings and blocks. We love all of Haba’s wooden toys. The blocks are so cool, with bright colors and little details for added interest. The rattles and clutching toys are also brightly colored, with a nice weight and feel for holding and playing. Their shapes are beautiful and interesting. They move in unique ways. Personally, these are my favorite amongst all this toys, I love everything about them.

4. Hanging toys for infant carrier. Oliver was partial to a Sassy bird with a bell and the Infantino elephant that vibrates when you pull it. They are wonderful to keep the peace when the baby gets bored during a long car ride.

5. A play gym. Oliver adored his Fisher Price rainforest play mat. I know every baby is different, but they are great for learning to grasp, tummy time, and independent play. The music is only mildly annoying. We added a rotation of extra toys to the hooks to keep things interesting. He will still play with his mat sometimes, even as a toddler.

6. Green Toys everything. Stacking cups, tug boat, trucks, cars, etc. Their toys are made from recycled milk jugs and are very well thought out. They have a great weight and feel and are just really fun and interesting for baby.

7. Melissa and Doug wooden toys. We have several wooden toys from Melissa and Doug. The caterpillar was sent to us by Citrus Lane that Oliver loves. He also loves the fish ring, the frog pull and the crab.

8. Hohner Kids instruments, especially the rain maker. This was introduced to us by Citrus Lane and it’s one of the best toys Oliver’s ever had. We love it. He loves it. It’s fun for all of us. I plan on buying more instruments for him as he gets older.

9. Black and White Wee Gallery art cards. Another Citrus Lane find, these are fantastic. Oliver loves them a lot. He will gladly play with these, by himself, for extended periods of time. I can’t get him to play with his colored animal flash cards the same way. There’s something about these that are just magical and stimulating to baby’s brain.

10. Fisher Price remote. We have a love/hate relationship with this toy. I hate the ridiculous amounts of noise find it very annoying, but Oliver LOVES it, so he wins. He will gladly swap the real TV remote (which he steals all the time) for this singing one without tears. It prevents all kinds of meltdowns. While I normally banish all obnoxious noisy toys to his playroom, this one has a semi permanent home on our coffee table. It seems to be a consensus amongst parents of young children - kids love remotes and this one is a necessary evil for everyone’s sanity!