25+ great toy ideas for older babies. Gift ideas for babies in ages 10-12 months old. These are great toys to help your baby develop skills and have fun during playtime.
As we look at fun toys for baby in these last months of baby’s first year, we continue to build on the other ages. The toys start to get more fun for the parents as the baby approaches one year. The toys are more interactive.
Make sure you are familiar with the toy recommendations for the 7-9 month old range. Many of these are still wonderful toys for your 10-12 month old to play with.
As you get toys, think about what different motor skills the toy is aimed at developing. There are a lot of wonderful toys out there–more than you could possibly want to buy. Make sure the toys you have cover the different skills your baby needs to be focusing on to reach milestones. These include fine motor skills, gross motor skills, language skills, if/then understanding, and problem-solving skills.
I will list general categories that are good ideas to focus on and include options within that category for you go get.
Balls
Balls are great for hand-eye coordination and can work gross motor skill, also. Your baby could easily be interested in balls before this age range, but it is during this age range that your baby will likely start to try to roll the ball to you.
When choosing what ball to get your baby, consider your baby’s habits. I had thought of a nerf ball for Brayden, but then had visions of him biting chunks out of it since he was a baby and put things in his mouth (though he didn’t do it a lot).
There are other soft balls out there such as these Plush Balls from Melissa and Doug. We ended up getting mini balls that were made from the same material as the larger “real” versions. He still played with them even into his preschool days.
The Manhattan Toy Bababall Tactile Sensory Ball is a great ball for something outside of the box. Wih the different textures it is great for sensory skills. This will rattle and jingles and make noises as you move it.
Stuffed Animals and Dolls
A really popular stuffed animal is the GUND Baby Animated animals. They have an elephant, penguin, monkey, bunny, and puppy. This stuffed animal will sing and is interactive. When buttons are pushed, things happen. This helps with the cause and effect learning.
The Manhattan dolls are really cute dolls for babies and young toddlers. This Manhattan Toy Snuggle Pod Snuggle Bug is a cute first doll for your baby.
Sensory Toys
Easter Eggs: Three of my kids were in this age range at Easter, so Easter eggs became a favorite. I would put little Gerber Rice puffs in the egg or something else fun for them to find once they opened the egg. Keep simple things in mind when looking for toy ideas. Babies in this range love to play with things around the house.
Textured Sorter: This cube has all sorts of textured pieces with different shapes for your baby to play with. It works fine motor skills as well as cause and effect as your baby can experiment with the various objects.
Vehicles
Trucks/Cars/Tractors/etc.: This is another toy category that your child may have shown interest in the past, but is just now starting to play with them appropriately. As they grasp the toys, they help strengthen the hand for fine motor development. Make sure you look at age recommendations so the trucks or cars are safe for 10-month-olds and older. This is a cute truck and playmat set. Melissa & Doug makes a cute set designed for 9 months and older. Here are some good trucks for babies in this age range.
VTech Drop and Go Dump Truck: Filling, dumping, and trucks. There is a reason this is a best seller! This is great for cause and effect and fulfilling your baby’s curiosity. Babies this age love to empty things, so this dump truck will help satisfy that. As they get older, they like to fill them up, also.
Gross Motor Toys
Activity Walker: In this age range, your child is most likely interested in walking. Some will start on their own in this age, some won’t. This has been a favorite of my children and every child who enters our home: VTech Sit-to-Stand. If you prefer wooden toys, there are a lot of wooden activity walkers, also.
Fine Motor Toys
Pop-up Toys: A pop-up toy is another toy baby could be interested in before this age range, but now starting to be able to really play with it. There are many different kinds out there, from Sesame Street to Thomas. We have a Leap Frog brand. I think the one we have is more difficult for younger babies, but more interesting to them as they get older.
Nesting Cups: Nesting cups have been on several of my toy lists and gift guides. These are a timeless toy that is popular for many age groups. If you do not have nesting cups yet, get them now. These can be stacked and nested. You can also use them in the bathtub! My kids loved to play with nesting cups in the tub. So much so that we ended up having a tub set and a baby/toddler set. These nesting cup toys are easy to stack. These are BPA-free.
VTech Busy Learners Activity Cube: This toy really teaches a lot of things. It helps with cause and effect learning. It also has animal sounds, animal names, shapes. It also works gross motor skills with a mode that encourages crawling.
Playsets
Little People: Your child won’t be playing using her imagination yet, but there are Little People toys that will be safe for her to play with and she can have interest in. Some examples are the garage, the farm, and the home: Little People
Melissa & Doug Pop Blocs Farm Animals. Melissa & Doug is one of my very favorite toy brands. These cute farm animal toys and fun toys that work sensory skills, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills.
Toys to Mimic
Toys to Mimic: As each day passes, your child will want to be more and more like you. This is a fun time to get some toys for your child to mimic you. What you get will depend on interest and ability.
Some ideas for this age are phones (some cell phones will be too old for this age range). Another idea is brooms and this is a vacuum Brayden received for his birthday and loved: Toy Vacuum
We got a toy stroller for Kaitlyn for her first birthday
Puzzles
Puzzles: This is a great age for introducing puzzles to your little one. Peg puzzles are great for this age group. I love puzzles from Melissa & Doug. The jumbo knob puzzles are great for little hands. We also like the puzzles that have sounds with them.
Musical Toys
Music: Your baby will love to listen to music now (if she didn’t already). Look for toddler tunes to listen to with your kidds.
I talk about the LeapFrog Music Table often. It is one of my top 5 favorite toys of all time. This might be a toy you wait and get at 12 months or older. If your baby can stand now, this can be fun even as young as 10-months-old.
Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube Music Toy is a fun music toy for your baby. It helps teach your baby how to combine sounds to create a song. It has fun light-up buttons to push.
Bath Toys
Bath Toys: By this age, your baby most likely enjoys playing in the tub. Bathtime can be another part of playtime for your child. There is great sensory play that can happen! This can be a good time to get some toys for the tub: Bath Toys
Cause and Effect Toys
A lot of toys teach cause and effect. Many have been listed above already. Here are more options.
Bright Starts Press & Glow Spinner is designed for teaching cause and effect. It also works motor skills and is a musical toy, so it will cover many learning areas.
Hape Penguin Musical Wobbler is another very popular cause-and-effect toy. It also is a musical toy, so it brings both elements to the playtime and it includes sound effects.
Books
Books: Books are wonderful for language development. There are endless wonderful books to get for your kids. I focused on slowly building our library over time. Brinley (my youngest) had a lot more books to look at than Brayden. Utilize the library for getting books for your kids! At this age, board books are great because your baby can’t rip those pages. Be sure to see my Best Board Books to Own for a list of great books.
Vtech has great books for your little one. This is our favorite for this age: Vtech – Rhyme & Discover Book
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This post first appeared on this blog in December of 2008