Supernanny’s top baby toys 2007
Don’t hit the mall or log onto Amazon without checking out our pick of the year’s best baby toys!
Safety first…
You won’t be alone if you’re having bad dreams about toy safety as the holiday season looms. All parents will be expecially concerned to ensure that any toys their baby receives are safe, in the wake of this year’s massive toy recalls. Don’t assume that a toy is safe just because it’s made here in the USA, or that anything made in China is a potential danger. American made toys aren’t immune from recalls – and in any case many of the recent problems were caused by design flaws (in fact, three quarters of all the toy recalls over the last two decades have been due to faulty design, with only 10% due to the use of lead paint).
Be vigilant and make safety your priority when choosing toys – check for easily breakable small parts; steer clear of long pull cords; avoid excessively loud toys, and those with battery compartments that aren’t secured shut by screws.
1 Baby’s PlayPlace
Use from birth with the sides up to stop your baby rolling off, and flat with older babies. Packed with things to look at and touch, including eight detachable toys, toy bars and a mirror, along with sound and light effects. This ingenious variation on the old playmat has won stacks of awards, including Dr Toy’s Top 100 Products, National Parenting Council Seal of Approval and the UK’s Practical Preschooler Award, and both Parents and Parenting have picked it as one of their top ‘Hot Holiday Toys’. Requires 3 AAA batteries.
0-18 mths, Bright Starts, $80 from toy and department stores, and via Amazon
2 NooBoo Pound-a-Sound
This soft fabric ‘drum’ makes various boing and bang noises that are a lot easier on the ears than the bottom of a saucepan! Bright colors catch your baby’s attention and there are lots of different fabric tags to grab and stroke.
9 mths+, Manhattan Toy, $25 online and via Amazon
3 Taggies Strollin’ Along Activity Bar
This handy little toybar attaches to a crib, highchair, stroller or carseat and had plenty of squeaky friends and tags to pull, along with a teether, rattle and crinkle sounds.
Birth+, Taggies, $21.95 at Genius Babies and via Amazon
4 Jacques the Peacock
Hang Jacques from the crib or attach him to the stroller using his handy clip for lots of grab and pull fun, with lots of different sounds to hear and textures to feel.
1 mth+, Lamaze, $12.99 at Learning Curve and via Amazon
5 NooBoo See & Sound Mirror
Babies love looking at their own reflections and this padded brightly colored mirror will be all the incentive she needs to try and lift up her head to see herself.
0-12 mths, Manhattan Toy, $24 online and via Amazon
6 Illumination Station
Great for the highchair tray top, to distract a cranky tot who won’t eat. Attaches with a suction cup .
6 mths+, Sassy, $7.95 at Great Baby Products and via Amazon
7 Baby Walker with Wood Blocks
Babies love putting in the blocks… and taking them out again… and putting them in… and taking them out again… also supports your pulling-up baby when she’s trying to take those first wobbly steps. Adjustable handle.
10 mths+, Plan Toy, $58.95 at Fat Brain Toys and via Amazon
8 Stack & Roll Cups
Just-sitting babies love stacking toy and this one incorporates 10 brightly colored cups in different sizes to play with, stack and nest.
6 mths+, Fisher-Price, $7.99 at Toys R Us and via Amazon
9 Go Baby Go Kickin’, Bobbin’ Gym
Great little playgym that converts to a sit-and-play activity center for older babies. Various hanging toys to bat at, balls to roll, a smiley bear face and light and sound effects.
Birth+, Fisher-Price, $35 at Toys R Us and via Amazon
10 Lamaze Discovery Farm
Ideal first book, with flaps to lift and lots of interactive surprises to discover as your baby learns all about farmyard animals.
Birth+, Lamaze, $13.69 at Learning Curve