25 BEST BABY DEVELOPMENT TOYS FOR 0-12 MONTHS: ESSENTIAL BABY TOYS

Here’s a list of 25 best baby development toys for the first year. The essential baby toys that help support babies as they change and develop new skills.

ESSENTIAL BABY DEVELOPMENT TOYS FOR 0-12 MONTHS

This guide to the best developmental toys for babies is broken down by age. Babies need a range of toys that support them as they change and develop new interests and skills in their first year. 

Toys that will really engage babies imaginations and appeal to them at different stages of development during their first 12 months. 

I’ve put together a quick buy list, but do keep scrolling if you want more in-depth information on each of the toys and on why they are great for a particular developmental milestone.

GUIDE TO THE 25 BEST TYPES OF BABY DEVELOPMENT TOYS FOR 0 – 12 MONTHS

GETTING THE MOST VALUE FROM BABY TOYS: TOYS TO SUPPORT EVERY DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE

There are baby toys that will be one month wonders and then there are baby toys that support the same skills that still appeal throughout the first year.

Then there are also toys that have an enduring appeal and still be being played with as babies move from their first year into toddlerhood and on into the pre-school years. 

You will get the most value out of toys that grow with your baby, so there are some toys that will have enduring appeal and will continue to be played with as your baby becomes a toddler and on into the preschool years. 

For example, your baby will initially only differentiate black and white patterns. But it is much better to buy a toy that has colored patterns as well, so the toy will continue to entertain as your baby grows. 

25 DEVELOPMENTAL BABY TOYS FOR THE FIRST YEAR

FROM BIRTH (0-2 MONTHS)

1. SOFT BALLS

Soft balls are great baby development toys to have right from a few weeks old. It’s in these early weeks that babies will vaguely squish the ball.

Then, through the ensuing months, the soft ball will be batted, squeezed, rattled, rolled and used to knock things down. Eventually, the ball will be kicked. 

Soft fabric balls with bells in and textured panels are great early on. Babies won’t be interested in tags at first, but they are likely to become obsessed with them later, so it is worth getting balls with tags on. 

I recommend choosing from one of the three following soft balls for babies:

2. SOFT MIRROR

Babies love mirrors from very early on and seeing and eventually recognising their reflection is really important in their emotional development.

Play mats and nests usually have a mirror but it’s nice to have a larger separate one that can be wherever your baby is.

3. SOFT BLOCKS

Soft blocks are initially great for squeezing and for babies to explore the texture of.

Then as soon as babies start batting they can have so much fun knocking down your towers, before later on in the year they start building their own towers.

4. SOFT BOOKS

In their first months babies will love the pictures and textures.

However, there comes a point when they master the wrist movement of opening a flap and they are then fascinated by that movement.

Which means they start to love all the ‘here it is – now it’s gone’ peekaboo games they can play with the flaps.

There are some beautiful soft books for babies out there, here is a couple that I think are really gorgeous

5. SETS OF LOOPS

FROM 2 MONTHS OLD

6. SQUISHY PUZZLES

FROM 3 MONTHS OLD

7. TOY KEY SETS

Babies love keys. Fact!

But you really don’t want to let your baby play with your own keys because it’s not the most hygienic way to entertain your baby and also, you might just find you lose your keys!

So a set of toy keys is a good bet as a great developmental toy for a baby from the age of three months.

Toy keys make a good basic rattle for grasping and teething that can also be your baby’s first ‘one like mummy has’ toy. 

There are a couple of baby toy key sets worth taking a look at.

8. BABY BOUNCER

Babies are bursting with physical energy from three to four months. This can lead to frustration in the pre-crawling phase when there isn’t a lot they can do with this energy.

So this is the point at which babies need toys that enable them to move without crawling.

Baby bouncers are a great way for babies to really enjoy moving about for themselves, so are a really great item to have in your baby development toys armoury.

I was sceptical of the benefits of those with activity centres attached but became a total convert after I saw the pure pleasure my daughter got from playing in my friend’s baby son’s for a whole afternoon!

FROM 4 MONTHS OLD

9. GEARS AND COGS

Babies become fascinated by gears and cogs from about four months old.

It is the stage when they love moving something that makes another thing move.

The twisting movement involved in turning gears and cogs also helps wrist development.

There are all sorts of gear and cog toys from puzzles to activity cubes and centres.

There are a couple of great cog and gear toys I can recommend.

MELISSA & DOUG RAINBOW CATERPILLAR GEAR

This Melissa & Doug Rainbow Caterpillar Gear Toy has six brightly coloured interchangeable gears

LE TOY VAN PETILOU WOODEN GEARS & COGS

Le Toy Van make some of the most beautiful wooden toys and this Petilou Wooden Gears & Cogs moving puzzle is no exception. 

10. TWISTING TOYS

Twisting toys with moving parts that move in different directions serve to support wrist development. 

FROM 6 MONTHS OLD

11. TOY PHONE

It goes without saying that babies love your stuff and particularly anything you obviously love!

So a copy cat phone with buttons that make noises can be very popular and may stop your phone from being stolen and chewed.

12. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

It’s at around six months that babies really appreciate being able to use things to make fun noises. 

So this is the time to invest in some baby friendly musical instruments. 

Basic maracas, tambourines and rain shakers for accompanying nursery rhyme sing alongs and just randomly shaking and bashing make great first musical instruments.

Rain shakers are particularly great as babies love watching the moving sprinkles.

You do need a bit of caution with instruments as they can whack themselves and others with them but really not sufficiently to do any harm.

13. A FRAME WALKER

Babies start pulling themselves up, cruising and walking at such different ages.

Some will be starting as early as six months and it’s then worth investing in an a frame walker.  

I love the traditional walkers with bricks but they are not as stable when babies are this young.

I confess I hated the look of the plastic walkers but was converted by the opportunity for my daughter to play with someone else’s.

14. STACKING CUPS

Who doesn’t love a stacking cup set?!!

I promise you, that you will get more play out of this simple toy that you can pick up so cheaply than you will out of many more fancy ones.

Stacking cups can be chewed, bashed, rolled, knocked down, used to hide things, slotted in side each other, built into towers, filled with water, filled with sand, used as a tea set … the list is endless.

Our stacking cups set ended up living in the bath for years. 

15. STACKING HOOPS

We got almost as much play out of our stacking hoops as we did out of stacking cups.

They are really valuable in hand eye co-ordination skills and later in size sorting and the rings make great rollers.

There are some lovely wooden ones out there but we actually got most play out of a very cheap plastic set from our local toy shop.

It had a round bottom so could be knocked over to add to the fun and because it was plastic could go in the bath and the sand.

That said, I love a wooden baby toy, so I wholeheartedly recommend this gorgeous hoop stacker from Melissa & Doug.

FROM 7 MONTHS OLD

16. PULL ALONG TOYS

Balls are obviously great rolling toys but little wooden pull-alongs are also wonderful once babies start to crawl or shuffle around.

I like the wooden ones rather than the plastic, as the wooden ones make that delightful ‘clackety-clack’ noise as they move.

PLAN TOYS DANCING ALLIGATOR

Not a fan of dogs? How about this brightly coloured Plan Toys Dancing Alligator instead? 

17. PUSH ALONGS

The next step on from pull alongs is basic push along toys.

All babies seem to adore vehicles and there are many types to choose from.

Go for push alongs that are small enough that they can be grasped and pushed with one tiny hand. 

18. BEAD MAZE

Lots of babies and toddlers love bead mazes.

Bead mazes support the development of pincer, wrist turning and problem solving skills.

We had some very simple bead mazes that were targeted at rising one year olds, but they weren’t great fun. 

So what I would recommend is getting a more complicated bead maze that will hold a child’s attention until they are two years plus. 

FROM 8 MONTHS OLD

19. GRABBING TAGS

At a certain point, as babies start to master a fine pincer movement, they become absolutely obsessed with tags of all sorts.

The tinier the label on their clothes the more fascinating it is is to grab between finger and thumb.

It’s worth buying their first soft balls and blocks with tags on, even though they won’t be interested initially, as this way the early toys will support the later stage of development.

It’s also a good idea to keep your eyes open for any inventive toys around that will support this interest and skill.

20. MAGNETIC TOYS

Even young babies understand gravity and they take enormous delight in knowing that if they drop something it falls.

So they are also equally delighted by the discovery that magnets can act against gravity.

It may seem very young, but I promise you that they will really enjoy exploring magnetism even at this early age.

The trick is to buy – if you can find them – creatures or fun objects that are magnetic rather than a big horse shoe magnet.  

We had some brilliant stacking blocks which we still use for all magnetism experiments.

FROM 9 MONTHS OLD

21. POP UP TOYS

Galt has been making classic pop up baby and toddler toys for years.

I had one as a child – and there are now all sorts of pop up toys based on their model of you pressing something down and something else popping up.

They can provide hours of entertainment and help babies develop an understanding of cause and effect and interdependence of separate objects.

22. SHAPE SORTER

Shape sorters combine babies’ increasing fascination with “posting” things through slots and the start of their ability to match shapes. 

There are all sorts of different shape sorters out there in all sorts of different forms from balls to cubes to buses.

To make it last, my advice would be to get one with as many different shapes as possible.

Plus one that has multiple sides that can be easily turned over so that babies and toddlers develop the idea that when they can’t match it one side they look on another.

23. WALKER WITH BRICKS 

Classic baby push walkers with bricks are great for once babies are cruising quite confidently, as they don’t tend to be as stable as the A frame walkers.

The brilliant thing about brick walkers is that you aren’t just getting a walker.

You’re getting a set of bricks just as your baby start to develop their building skills.

Plus you are also getting a ‘delivery cart’ which can be used to transport things and transporting things is something all babies love!

FROM 10 MONTHS OLD

24. PLAY TEA SET

Towards the end of their first year babies are starting to get into imaginative play and love making cups of tea for you.

You can get all sorts of fancy tea sets with buttons and whizzy lights and noises but I would go for a more classic set every time. 

25. PEG JIGSAW PUZZLES

Peg puzzles are incredibly good for shape recognition, which is a really important foundation for later reading skills.

However you won’t get that many months’ play out of peg puzzles as babies tend to quickly move on to more complex shapes.

So even though 10 months is early to be playing with them I would recommend getting a peg puzzle from now so you get the most possible play out of it.

SHARE THE TOY BUYING!

Babies can be very expensive!

But luckily for many of us there are many lovely friends and family members who are keen to buy our babies gifts. 

This list will hopefully prove a very useful accompaniment to your baby essentials shopping list and also as a baby toy gift list to share whenever there’s an opportunity to give a doting grandparent or fairy godmother ideas for what to buy your baby. 

So there you have it, all the essential baby toys you will need for your baby’s first year. 

The first 12 months of a baby’s life are incredible, so it’s lovely be able to support their development with toys that they will love. 

This list of essential toys is also a great baby gift list to be able to share with friends, grandparents and other family wanting to buy Christmas and other gifts for your baby. 

And I also wanted to let you know I’ve also just done another post on must-have toys for babies, where I’ve singled out one great toy that you can introduce to your baby every month for the first year.

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