We know that as a first-time mom, you’re trying to read all the articles and know all the things. You learned that when it comes to childhood development, playtime is serious business! Toys are not just games providing fun for babies. It is key for your baby’s cognitive, physical, and emotional development. The age-appropriate baby toy will engage his or her senses so that he/she doesn’t miss the developmental milestones.

It varies by age as your little one’s skills improve and change. In this post, We’ll list the MUST-HAVE BABY TOYS for development and stimulation by months so you can better help your babies reach their developmental milestones.

In a Rush? Quick Overview Below For Busy Parents

FOR 1 MONTH High Contrast Baby Flash Cards BUY NOW
FOR 2 MONTH Baby Lovey Security Blanket BUY NOW
FOR 3 MONTH Baby Activity Gym Mat BUY NOW
FOR 4 MONTH Rattle & Sensory Teether BUY NOW
FOR 5 MONTH Baby Sensory Balls BUY NOW
FOR 6 MONTH Baby Soft Cloth Books BUY NOW
FOR 7 MONTH Stacking Cups with Sound BUY NOW
FOR 8 MONTH Swing Duck Baby Crawling Toys BUY NOW
FOR 9 MONTH Baby Piano Musical Toys BUY NOW
FOR 10 MONTH Folding Crinkle Book BUY NOW
FOR 11 MONTH Wooden Learning Puzzle Toy BUY NOW
FOR 12 MONTH Music Light Workbench BUY NOW

Reaching developmental milestones (0-12 Month)

Although babies don’t have fully developed senses and motor skills yet, they are eager to learn about their world surrounding them. Toys with colors, shapes, textures, sounds, and tastes can all add to your infant's learning experiences.

The Best Toys for 0-12 Months Babies

It’s a struggle for infants to lift their heads at one month. However, the strength of their necks and upper bodies will soon improve.
During the first month, your infant’s vision will be fuzzy, and he or she will only be able to see about 10-12 inches away. At about one month, your infant will be able to recognize you, and will also enjoy seeing large pictures of faces. Since your infant is nearsighted during that first month, any object you can hold in his or her line of sight will get attention. Baby Visual Stimulation Cards and Rattles would the best toy for this phrase.

In the first two months, infants learn to open and close their hands. Cute baby lovey security blanket or plush toys will be something that your babies will love.

Since infant’s sense of touch gets better in 3-4 months, you should provide an assortment of colorful objects with various textures, sizes, and shapes for your baby. A play gym with attention-grabbing objects that dangle in front of your infant would be a perfect choice. Playing on the gym stimulates your baby’s sensory system and boosts their intellectual development. You could use the activity gym to do tummy time..

Pic by IG@stampoilsmama

For 4-5 months, your baby will discover their hands and what they can do with them, they will constantly be in their mouth. This may be due to teething or just self-exploration and needed to chew or suck on something at all times. Once they can really grasp and hold on to an object, they will start putting toys in their mouth too. Use easy-to-grab teethers that will also help to give them some relief once they start teething, but they don’t even need to be getting teeth to enjoy these toys.

Some sensory balls are also great for once baby can start using his whole hand to grasp objects. They will love the different textures, sizes, and shapes of these balls. As they get a little older they can start learning how to throw and put these in containers.

For a 6 month old baby, different materials and crinkle sounds are interesting. The bright colors may stimulate his/her vision. The pages may include activities and cute sound. They’ll love the sensory (auditory and tactile) feedback it provides and also love turning the pages. These simple toys will improve communication between you and your baby.

Pic by IG@caroline.merritt19

For any 7 month old, the stacking cups make a great toy. Not only will it help them develop their fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. This stacking toy also adds music, colors, and animal sounds for more excitement and learning for the child. They may not be able to stack the cups perfectly quite yet, however your little one will love playing with cups. They can attempt to stack them, put objects inside them, or even roll them around the floor and chase after them.

Your baby will be so fascinated with learning and exploring their whole environment now that they are crawling. Pull along toys will motivate your baby to crawl. They are good for motor skill development and imaginative play. Hahaland Dino crawling toy will surprise them with its cute sound and funny walking!

Baby musical toy for 9 month upwards will help baby improve music perception and hearing development. This will help baby establish the initial sense of music and rhythm, good training game to exercise babies’ little hands.

For the phase of 10 month, we recommend Folding Crinkle Book with double sides as a must-buy toy. Built-in crinkle paper, BB device, baby mirror, and has plenty of textured pages and moveable parts, which gets baby's attention, provide them endless activity fun and sensory exploration. Besides, Music Light Workbench and Puzzles Toy can enhance baby's hand-eye coordination. These toys are also recommended to use from 11-12 months upwards.  They stimulate creativity and sharpen hand-eye coordination skills.

At the end of the first year, while they are growing more and more independent, one-year-olds usually still need an adult to play with them. It’s great to find interactive toys that caregivers can play with their child. These interactions will not only be fun for the little one but will also present opportunities to help their development. Occupational therapist Meredith Soucie tells that to help babies learn, adults should “encourage repetition of sounds, use gestures like waving and pointing, imitate animal sounds, talk about everyday experiences and use books to look at pictures and encourage language.”

We hope you find this list useful when searching some baby toys to help your baby reach their milestones and keep them busy for at least a little while.