Toys for Different Age Groups
0-3 Months
Activity Gym (padded activity gym amuses child while helping develop motor skills); Teethers (teethers are essential for easing comfort and aid in developing cognitive skills); Cloth Books; Baby Swing; Rattles; Activity Box with Mirror; toys that squeak, crinkle and/or rattle; toys that are red or shiny; make a yarn ball of red acrylic yarn - newborns love them; activity links gym; mobiles; bouncer seat (kick and bounce to improve motor responses); crinkle mat (entire mat full of crinkle fun).
4-7 Months
Exersaucer; Activity Mat; Cloth Books; Activity Box with Mirror; any toy that has edges like a clutch ball or yarn ball or rattle, which infants can grasp panel play sets; magic mirror cube (colorful cube with multiple mirrors); wall mounted mobile (to place over changing table); suction cup activity set; 2 in 1 clutch ball (2 different sounds, inner ball can be removed from outer ball); activity blocks; tippy turtle chime mirror; touch and play mat; soft keys; nesting sets, nesting farm animals.
8-12 Months
Stackers; Cloth Books; Activity Box with Mirror; Push Popper; Soft Puzzles; hide and seek toys; stuffed animals that move their eyes; cars that roll; plastic tools to pick up and put down; objects to crawl after - in red, orange, yellow or green; window bird feeder; discovery links; peek-a-boo play cups; play piano; birdhouse shape sorter; xylophone; tracking beads (3-D wires and beads help fine motor abilities and coordination); rolling shape sorter' snap lock beads; Little Tikes Discovery Sounds Kitchen (place pot on stove to hear boiling or frying sound, refrigerator is a shape sorter); activity walker (versatile dials and spinners to work with, also help child learn to walk), Bristle Builders, Magnet Blocks.
12-18 Months
Sorters; Stackers; balls; Toy Workbench; Play Telephone; Dolls; push-pull toys; containers; blocks that "sit-in" vehicles; toys or strings or ropes to pull; teethers; pup-up teddies; Pull and Bark Puppy (it wiggles it's head, tail and even barks as it's pulled along); Little Tikes Activity Garden (can bat at flowers, pick veggies, squeak doorbell and deliver mail); pound and stack; Little Tikes Cozy Coupe (kid powered car); Little Tikes Pip Squeaks Vehicles (vehicles squeak when squeezed); sand box; sand toys: bucket, shovel., etc.; bristle builders; texture puzzles; bath toys; boats; dishes, etc.; wooden hammer and nail sets.
18-24 Months
Big Piece Puzzles; Lacing Toys; Band Set (including tambourines, maracas, and bells); trikes, wagons; building blocks; animal/zoo figurines; purses; bags; anything that opens and closes; up and down toys; push-pull toys; pick-up tube; cardboard brick blocks (build castles, walls and develop coordination and motor skills); first shot basketball (small version of basketball and hoop); Step 2 Little Helpers Workbench (child can hammer, twist, turn and pound); melody push chime; push about popper; barnyard sort and play (perfect for child who mastered flat board puzzles - 6 animal shapes come with box for sorting); farmhouse (includes animals); Quack Along Ducks (ducks waddle as pulled along and quack); kitchen; shopping cart; drive around town carpet; Duplo blocks.
24-36 Months
Doll high chair; easel; coloring book and crayons; puppets; dress-up clothes; grocery cart; outdoor toys for climbing and entering; tents or sheets to cover a card table for hiding and finding; balls and bean bags; toys that wind up and move on their own; doll house; finger paints; sidewalk chalk; Playdough; Lincoln Logs; texture paint brushes; rolling pin painters; big magnet; bug catcher; Magna Doodle; cash register; color changing touch board; 5 in 1 color paddle (experiment with color combinations); learn to dress book (it has actual size snaps, buttons and zippers); Duplo bricks; hopscotch carpet; magnet fishing set; alphabet stampers; triple wave challenge (3-D wires and beads great for fine and gross motor skills and eye-hand coordination); tripod magnifier (4x magnifier allows child to view things up close), wooden railway set.
For more information, some toys were chosen from catalogs of the following companies: www.kaplanco.com and www.lakeshorelearning.com
