Shopping for a special someone? If that someone special happens to be a member of the 2T and under crowd, that means you’re going to be looking for some new baby toys. As a father of two, I’m here to help point you in the right direction. Here are the 30 best baby toys for 2023:
Dinosaur toys are great, and toymakers are always finding new ways to introduce dinos to kids. The Go Baby Go Poppity Pop Musical Dino is as silly-looking and non-threatening as they come, painted a sky blue with yellow feet. It comes with six brightly colored balls that are fed into the back of the dinosaur, after which, they’ll pop out of its mouth. Babies are enticed to chase after the balls and repeat the process. The dino also plays eight different tunes and fun sound effects.
Fisher-Price baby toys are among the best in the toy industry, and one of the most innovative baby toys is their Bright Beats Smart Touch Play Space. It features an interactive, touch sensitive light bar that responds to the baby’s touch. It has three different modes, each of which is intended to make the toy useful to your baby as he/she grows.
Babies love music, and parents love virtually everything Baby Einstein has to offer. The Baby Einstein Musical Toy plays 7 baby friendly classical melodies, and it’s very colorful. The big pieces are easy for babies to grasp, and the large buttons are easy for babies to press. The company’s baby learning toys, like this one, promote auditory development and music appreciation.
To help babies to walk and develop leg strength, the VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker can’t be beaten. It’s an interactive learning tool that features a removable toddler play panel to help your baby hone in on their fine motor skills. While they’re busy playing, they’re also working on those baby leg muscles that’ll help them stand on their own, eventually. For now, they’ll be happy to lean on this fun toy.
For endless amounts of fun, the FocuSun Playpen Ball Pit is a great choice when looking at baby gifts. It’s very colorful, and it gives your baby a little bit of independent space.
If your child is constantly reaching for your phone, now they can have one of their own. At least, it’ll appear to have all of the same color app icons that your real smartphone does, but you won’t have to worry about selling your house or donating body parts if the VTech Baby Phone breaks (because it’s under $15).
The O Ball Rattle and Roll Car is big and bold, making it a perfect toy for babies. In fact, it’s the #1 bestselling toy car for babies. It’s super easy for babies to grip and roll, and each wheel contains the beloved noise beads that parents love oh so much.
One of Fisher-Price’s best baby toys is their colorful stacker, which can be found at retail stores like Wal-Mart or Target. But on Amazon, you’ll find it paired with a shape sorter for just $15 total. That’s a perfect gift price for your friend’s baby, is it not?
Another one of my favorite toys for babies is the VTech Rhyme and Discover Book. This $15 toy includes six colorful pages with three light up character buttons that babies can press while “reading.” It’s one of the most durable toys I’ve found, with my daughter throwing it, dropping it, stepping on it and trying to eat it, all of which occurred without it breaking.
Admittedly, half of the reason we love this Sassy Development Bumpy Ball in my house is because of its name. But, it’s also a soft and very colorful toy that your baby will love.
Out of all of the expensive, supposedly innovative toys I’ve purchased over the years, the toy that my daughter played with the most was the Mega Bloks First Builders Big Building Bag. They’re big, colorful, and they’re noisy (I call that the trifecta of baby toys).
Skip Hop Buddies have a bold design that appeals to the limited visual ability of babies. It attaches to a stroller, car seat, or infant carrier so that they’re able to play with it on the go. It rattles, it’s soft, and it has multiple different types of fabrics and textures to help stimulate your baby.
We’re not surprised that another Fisher-Price baby toy made the list. This time, it’s the Kick and Play Piano Gym, which provides your baby with four ways to play. As the baby kicks the piano keys, he/she is rewarded with delightful tunes. It contains five busy toys and a large mirror. It’s the perfect toy for some tummy time.
The Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether isn’t exactly a new toy, but I’m throwing it on my list of the best baby toys of 2016 because it’s still so relevant today. It has numerous parts to chew and play safely, and it has a soft feel that reminds them of a mother’s soft skin. The brown spots are also intended to be bold to facilitate the baby’s development.
The VTech Busy Learners Activity Cube has five colorful sides that are wildly different from one another, encouraging your baby to explore. There are light up buttons, noise makers, things that spin, things to press, and more that will keep a baby entertained.
The Laugh & Learn Workbench has large plastic nails that light up when hit with the plastic hammer, or when a baby taps them. It plays over 15 sing-along sings and tunes, fun sounds and phrases that will make your little one smile. It has two volume modes, so whether you prefer to let your baby play away, or you want a quieter experience, it makes for a great gift.
Babies love noisemakers, and this Hohner Baby Band set comes with four of them. It comes with a Mini Rainbow Shaker, a Baby Maraca, a Baby Rattle,, and a Cage Bell. Each one is bright and colorful. It’s perfect for ages 3 months and up.
How could you possibly not like something that’s called “Giggles Island?” This activity seat has a monkey and a toucan that hang over the baby’s head. The tray rotates a full 360 degrees, and it has a variety of activities that will keep your baby interested. The toy bar is also detachable, and it comes iwth a removable snack tray that has two cup holders.
LeapFrog is known for creating some cool tech toys for kids, and the My Pal Violet is no exception. This is one cool baby toy! One of the cool things it does is allow you to download your child’s name and favorite things (via an internet connection). Your baby will also be able to listen to 5 lullaby tunes, 4 learning songs, and activities with numbers, animals, food and more. It also connects online to LeapFrog’s Learning Path center for customized learning ideas and insights from the toy manufacturer. There’s also a My Pal Scout, which is green, for $8 more.
If you want to find super high-quality toys for your little girl, you should start with the Melissa & Doug brand. There are tons and tons of great Melissa & Doug toys available that are perfect for 0-24 months, like this one: the Melissa & Doug Flip Fish.
Underneath each of the fish’s soft scales lies a hidden picture. It also squeaks and makes crinkly noises when it’s played with. Best of all…washable!
Fisher-Price has an awesome unique toy idea that they’re calling the Laugh & Learn Smart Stages chair. It plays over 50 sing-along songs, tunes and phrases, and it becomes slightly more sophisticated as they grow older (you just have to adjust its settings via a switch).
The seat activates songs and phrases when the baby sits and stands, and it’ll help to teach them their first words, numbers, shapes, colors and more. It’s a chair they’re going to love to own, and they’ll use it and play with it frequently.
This LeapFrog Shapes and Sharing Picnic basket is one of my little girl’s favorite and most-used toys. Aside from its cutesy design, it also plays sounds. Every time the lid is lifted, sweet instrumental music and sound effects pour out of the speaker. The basket comes with a 14-piece picnic set that includes six food items, two plates, two forks, two cups, and a pink-checkered blanket.
What’s more, it’s surprisingly cheap for what you’re getting — it’s under $20. It’s one of the best cute baby girl toys on the market this year.
Kids love rockers, and Rockabye has the rocker toy game on lock with various types of ride-ons for your young ones. Our personal rocking toy of choice is this Rockabye Georgie Giraffe rocker, but there’s also an elephant, a sheep, an owl, and more great, colorful designs.
Each rocker features four songs that are written and performed by Rockabye — meaning you won’t hear them anywhere else. Each rocker is made up of the highest quality fabrics and uses maple hardwood sourced from right here in North America. What’s more, they’re hand-crafted in the USA.
If you want a toy that will make your heart melt every time your baby or toddler plays with it, check out the Brio 130th Anniversary Pull Along Horse toy. There’s nothing more heartwarming than seeing your toddler pull along a wooden horse behind them with aimless intent.
This horse toy rocks and its head bobs up and down as its pulled along. It’s a simplistic-looking toy that’s great for ages 12 months and over.
Grumpy Cat is the most famous cat on the internet, and bringing its so-ugly-it’s-cute face into stuffed animal form is brilliant. But what’s even better about this Grumpy Cat Unicorn Stuffed Animal is there are numerous other costumes available for it, including couture, cowboy, jester, shark, and superhero editions.
Each measures 5-inches in height, and this version comes with a sparkly unicorn horn and pink mane. Being so grumpy has never looked so adorable, which is why we believe it’s one of the best baby toys available.
Fisher-Price is well-known for making great baby toys that have an educational/learning spin on them. This year, one of the best new baby girl toys available is the Fisher-Price Dance & Groove Rockit.
It’s a cute, dancing thing that plays over 100 songs and phrases to teach the alphabet, numbers, Spanish, colors, shapes and more. Best of all is that it grows with your child, introducing new “lessons” as they grow. It’s highly interactive, and it’ll keep them occupied for hours!
The big-eyed look of owls is always mega cute, and when you pair that general look with a soft, cuddly shell, it makes for the perfect baby girl toy. The OK to Wake! Owl Night-Light is the perfect sleep buddy for your child that helps them be more independent by illuminating when it’s “time to get up.” If you have an early riser, this Owl is a huge help in correcting their sleep cycle and telling them when it’s ok to rise.
You can set it for a certain time, and when that time comes — the one in my house is set for 6:45AM — the owl glows in green, indicating that it’s okay for them to climb out of bed. The OWL is highly huggable, too, so they’re going to want to sleep with it every night. It’s a genius design that will help you get more sleep — what’s not to love?
You know what’s considered highly cute? Colorful hippos, like the purple hippo ride-on toy above. This Little Tikes Scoot Around Animal Ride-On will be loved by your baby girl, thanks to its adorable design that serves as both a ride-on and a walker.
It also has shape-sorting blocks that fit into the hippo’s nose, helping them to learn their shapes. There is a little bit of extra storage space under the seat. There are also other colorful animal ride-ons available in the same vein, including a bright blue elephant and a yellow rhino. These kid-powered ride-on toys for toddlers are as cute as it gets.
TOMY has a lot of great toys for little kids, and one of their best is the TOMY Jumbo Jamboree, a musical toy with the look of an elephant. Well, the look of a ridiculously cute toy elephant, of course.
Each body part functions as its own instrument, with sounds including bells, a xylophone, a harmonica, a horn and a drum. It’s basically the toy elephant version of a one man band. Each of the instruments are removable, except for the xylophone, which serves as the elephant’s base. See the toy in action in the video below.
When you’re looking for cute toys for your baby girl, you can’t go wrong with plush stuffed animals. In fact, there are thousands of different types of plushies out there, and chances are, if you’re looking for a plush based on a certain movie or TV franchise, you’ll be able to find it.
This cute Gund Pusheen Plush Unicorn is as adorable as it gets. It’s based on the internet famous comic cat. It measures 9.5 inches tall, and it’s super soft. There are many different varieties, but we love unicorn toys, and the plushie shown in the picture above is a best-seller on Amazon.