The 12 best developmental toys
Toys to entertain and educate your little one.
In the early years of your baby’s life, toys can help the development of language skills, motor skills, cognitive thinking, a sense of safety and social skills.
So, what toys are best for helping to boost your baby’s development?
The Bounty Parents team have rounded up their top 12 picks…
12 toys to boost baby’s development
Milly Soft Sensory Cube, $36
Milly Soft Sensory Cubes feature a soft Minky base, complemented by modern designs and colourful ribbons. Each cube has a solid natural smooth wooden ring making it easy for little hands to grab onto. The cube also contains a rattle.
Add a personalised touch by adding an initial to the sensory cube.
Mizzie Gift Set, $57.95
This natural teething gift set will help nurture and soothe your little ones teething gums with safe, non-toxic and natural rubbers, while supporting and enhancing their sensory development.
Little Linen Lovie/ Comforter, $24.95
This soft fleecy Lovie is the perfect cuddle companion. A comforter can be a sleep association letting your Bub know it’s time for sleep.
There are five gorgeous cuddly designs to choose from.
Ingenuity Van Ring Rattle, $11
The Van Ring Rattle nestles right in the palm of even the littlest hands and the ring shape makes it easy to hold.
The premium plush fabrics are so soft your baby will want to practise grasping again and again.
Lamaze Fun with Colours Soft Book, $20
The Lamaze Fun with Colours Soft Book helps you to share colours with your baby during story time. The interactive soft pages provide visual stimulation with a discovery mirror and bright colours for baby to explore. Squeaker, rattle and crinkle sounds engage Baby as they discover something new on each page.
Gripping and grabbing the soft cloth pages and interacting with the different textures helps with development of tactile and fine motor skills. Textured corners are designed with chewing in mind, so baby can explore with mouth as well as hands.
The Senser Play Kit, Lovevery, $130
If you’re looking for toys that your little one will love, that stimulate them physically and mentally, that are delivered to your door and sustainable made, Lovevery is for you.
The Senser Play Kit is packed with goodies ideal for bubs aged around 5-6 months and focuses on motor and language skills, tummy time and coordination.
Designed with Montessori and science in mind, you know that play time and learning go hand in hand.
Lovevery play kits are delivered once every two months, which means there is a new, stage-relevant box of fun just around the corner – timed perfectly to grow with your bub’s developmental skills. You can cancel or change your subscription at any time.
The Companion Play Kit, Lovevery, $195
Part of Lovevery’s subscription boxes range, the Companion Play Kit is one of offerings for older kids, around the age of 22 months.
Specifically targetting development at this stage, the toys encourage underanding and processing emotions, space awareness, differences, and across body coordination.
Lovevery kits are delivered once every two months, which means there is a new, stage-relevant box of fun just around the corner – timed perfectly to grow with your bub’s developmental skills.
The kids are durable, GSC-certified, and where relevant use organic cotton, water-based, nontoxic paints and finishes.
Each kit includes a play guide that explaines why the chosen toys are included, plus how to play with them and help build new skills.
You can cancel or change your subscription at any time.
Playgro Fun Stacking Cups, $8
Introduce the foundations of STEM with our fun and colourful Stacking Cups. As your toddler practices sequencing the 8 colourful cups for nesting or stacking activities, they engage cognitive thinking, problem solving and learn about size, order and relationship.
The act of manipulating, building, scooping and pouring with the cups supports fine and gross motor skills while engaging in water play or knocking down the tower teaches about cause and effect.
Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Storybook Rhymes, $24.99
Nursery rhymes are music to little ones ears because the rhythm and repetition make them easy to remember. Turning the pages of this Laugh & Learn Storybook introduces tots to favourites like Pat-a-Cake and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Or Baby can press any of the 3 light-up buttons to discover letters, numbers, colours, fun surprises and more on each page.
CoComelon Stacking Train Multi, $35 (sale price)
Children can get their numbers, shapes, and colours right on track with the CoComelon Stacking Train.
Help spark your child’s creativity while developing skills through play. Each big, colourful block is the ideal size for helping little hands build dexterity, and some of the blocks feature numbers 0-9 to encourage number recognition.
Fisher Price 4-in-1 Ultimate Learning Bot, $79.00
Each bot has its own fun for little ones to discover, from spinning eyes to silly popping balls to exciting crawl-and-chase play. Baby can play and explore each bot individually or build them up into one big interactive buddy with fresh music, sounds and phrases!
And with the three level Smart Stages technology, you can switch up the learning content to best fit your child’s age and stage.
Lalaboom Rainbow Arches & Beads, $49.95
The Lalaboom arches connect perfectly with the beads to offer a large range of possibilities when it comes to playing, stacking and building. With the 5 Arches & 8 Pieces Beads game, they’ll have endless options available, create and play with no limits. Includes 5 brightly coloured arches and 4 beads that can be interconnected.
