Our Favorite Toys for Baby & Toddlers

With the holidays quickly approaching, I thought now would be a great time to share our favorite toys for babies and toddlers! Right now, my children are 9 months and 2.5 years old.  We have acquired quite the collection over the past few years, but it still feels manageable for us.  Part of the reason I think we have been able to control the toy clutter is that we, most of the time, choose toys that will grow with our children over time. 

It’s worth noting that everyone’s home situation and toy needs are different! Both of our children are in daycare, so a lot of their weekday playtime is spent there, and this includes art and sensory play.  As a result, we don’t invest a lot in crafting or sensory supplies.  We have a few things saved for a rainy day, and that works well for us. Instead, we try to invest in good quality open ended toys and of course…books! 

Here are some of our favorite toys, in no particular order! 

Green Toys Wagon || The most simple and effective toy in our house! Our toddler loves pulling this around the house and our infant loves putting things in it. One of the best open ended toys we have and it is also durable enough for outdoors. We will likely get another one this year for the baby for his first birthday! 

Green Toys Tea Set || We love Green Toys in this house.  The kids love playing with them daily and I love that they are dishwasher safe.  This tea set has held up so well to hours and hours of playtime, and always looks brand new after washing! 

Lovevery Block Set || This is a bit of a splurge for blocks, but I cannot recommend this block set enough, especially for a gift.  The blocks are so unique and they come with a wooden case, as well as a bag, for storage. The wooden storage box can become a car, which my kids think is just great! 

Melissa & Doug Ice Cream Counter || This toy is going to be a staple for us for years to come. My daughter never tires of it and it’s one of her most reached for toys. I recommend this to everyone looking for a gift idea for a toddler. 

VTech Sit to Stand Learning Walker || I normal try to stay away from noisy toys (because they are over stimulating for me), but I am so glad I got this walker. We have used it for both of our kids and the front of the walker can detach and be used for playtime on the floor. I credit this toy to teaching my daughter what a ‘real’ phone looks like. 

Melissa & Doug Twin Baby Dolls || We love these soft baby dolls! We received these as a gift and I highly recommend them for toddlers who like pretend play. 

Learning Resources Sorting Cupcakes || This is the first toy in our house where I think that if something bad happened to it, I would immediately purchase a backup.  K plays with this daily, if not multiple times a day.  I have no idea why she loves it so much, but maybe your child or a child in your life will too! 

Learning Resources Jumbo Animals || You can’t go wrong with animal figure toys! I loved these for K when she was 18 months or so, and they still get played with often.  She loves how realistic they are. This brand has many types of jumbo animals and we will likely be adding to our collection this holiday season. 

Terra by Battat Farm Animals || Another option for animal figures! These are smaller, so not suitable for babies, but K likes to sort and categorize them. 

Wooden Activity Cube || A fantastic, affordable, activity cube that was well loved by both our babies (and our toddler still likes to play with this at times!)

Picasso Tiles || a much cheaper alternative to the other popular brand and they work just as well! We love these and look forward to adding to our collection as the kids get older.

You can find a full list of all our favorite toys that we personally own and love on my Amazon Storefront! Stay tuned for more toy and book lists, including ‘big ticket’ toys that we feel are worth the money! 

If you like this post, be sure to check out our easy Toy Rotation System and our Favorite Activity Books.