My dear dil & son have said that my beautiful granddaughter has enough clothes now, and they would like 6-9 month learning toys for her for Christmas presents. I don't know squat about toys for children these days, and would like experience based advice. My one caveat is that I prefer not to give toys that are very noisy, because I remember how I went crazy hearing the same sound over and over and over and over and over and ... when my kids were little.

All advice welcome.

By Kate on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 11:22 am:

People's hearing these days are constantly getting wrecked and bombarded with harmful noise. And kids are down on the floor CLOSE to the noisy toys. So it's not just the annoyance to the parents that noisy toys present, they're actually quite dangerous. Studies have been done on toys and they've found they exceed safe noise decibels!! So, it's a very good idea and VERY effective to place packing tape over the speaker holes on toys. Unfortunately, some toys are designed so that there are openings all over the place and so covering the very unnecessary speaker doesn't do a thing. But if you have a toy with JUST a speaker, cover it completely with the tape, and use just the right amount to cover it. If you use too much it tends to get pulled up. For toys with a BUMPY speaker area, squirt hot glue from a glue gun into the holes. I do this on every single noise making toy we have and it's amazing how much it quiets it.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 12:52 pm:

Thanks, Kate, I agree with you, which is why I don't want to give toys that make noise.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 12:59 pm:

My favorite baby items/toys at that age were our bouncy seat, activity center, play gym and jumper. I quickly snagged these off the Net and am not recommending any specific models or brands, etc., just giving examples.


Bouncy Seat



Activity Center



Play Gym



Jumper

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 01:27 pm:

They have all of these except the jumper, and may have that (my dear dil comes from a large family with several young children). I'm actually looking for toys a child can play with / interact with.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 01:59 pm:

A great place for ideas is babiesrus.com. You can sort by what is appropriate for each age group and get lots of ideas that way! fisherprice.com is also a great place for toys and ideas.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 01:59 pm:

You can sort according to age group at fisherprice.com as well. Sorry, forgot to say that!

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 02:23 pm:

I know I can go to the sellers' websites, but what I am looking for is the experience of moms.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 02:32 pm:

This is not a toy, but my kids loved the Baby Einstein videos when they were babies.

They also loved the shape sorters, and the intellitable. It's been a while since mine were that small, i'm having trouble thinking of anything for that age range.

By Mommmie on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 03:01 pm:

My son really loved the jumper and the activity center - a lot!

By Kaye on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 03:10 pm:

YOu need to find a discovery toys person. They have the best stuff! Andi here used to sell (she may still). I am not sure what their website offers, but great great stuff. I used to sell years ago.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 03:13 pm:

No, I don't want a discovery toy person. What I want, please, is moms' experience of toys that 6-9 month old babies play with - soft blocks? soft books? rattles? what? Shape sorters sounds good. If they are "discovery" toys, then I will seek out a discovery toy person, but I'd rather not do that right now.

By Sunny on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 03:15 pm:

Cloth books, cloth blocks, stacking rings, pop-ups, shape sorters, balls, Playskool ball popper (though that might be better when she is closer to a year).

My advice would be to think of the classic toys, they are still around, and go to Toys R Us or Target, etc. and browse the selections. It isn't too hard to find noiseless toys if you look hard enough!

By Eve on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 04:09 pm:

I like the Lamaze toys:
I got this one for Mason:
Sort Sorter

They all love the bead toys!
Bead Maze
(DD still plays with these if we see them in a store!)

The soft activity books are wonderful too! They can chew on them and usually each page has a different sound or texture. Something like this:
Soft Activity Book

DD also always enjoyed this type of walker. We got it from Trina. It folds down flat, so when they are just sitting, they can play with the toys on the front and then when they get to the stage of learning to walk, you can flip it up. There are ones that are similar that they can ride. They are wonderful!!
Activity Walker

Sorry I don't have time for more! Good luck! Anything squishy that makes noise is a great start! Also board books--can't go wrong!

By Pamt on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 04:51 pm:

Board books, board books, board books! They are expensive for parents to buy, so these may a great gift. Also rattles, teethers, shape sorters, and dump and spill kids on toys.

By Pamt on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 04:52 pm:

Can you tell I was doing 2 things while typing? dumps and spill "kinds" of your and board books "make" a great gift. Sheesh!

By Pamt on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 04:53 pm:

And again...dump and spill kinds of toys---I'm getting off the computer now. These types of errors don't bode well for my final tomorrow.

By Tink on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 05:06 pm:

My kids all loved to dump containers out around that age. There used to be a shape-sorter by Fisher Price that was just a cylindrical container with a three-shape lid and blocks. That was fun for them for quite awhile. I preferred cloth books over board because my dks liked to chew on the pages and the cloth books can be tossed in the washer and don't leave little bits of paper in their mouths. Soft, rubbery blocks to stack, an all-cloth doll, ring stacker, and the bead maze (my dks called it the roller coaster) are all classic, entertaining toys.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 05:12 pm:

I agree that you can't go wrong with BOARD BOOKS! I started routinely reading to my kids at that age. Anything by Eric Carle would be good. Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar come to mind. Go browse in Borders or Barnes and Noble. They usually have a good selection of baby books. Soft plastic books that can be brought into the tub are good, too.

The teacher in me is showing. You can't go wrong with BOOKS!

By Amecmom on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 05:51 pm:

Ditto on all the book posts. Colorful board books with big pictures that are not too busy. Helen is 15 months and she points to her books and says, "a boo" when she wants me to read to her. She even knows some of the titles! "Beep Beep", "Peeka Who?".
Also, she likes stacking/nesting cups, bead movers - Parent's has a great activity cube that has a bead mover on top.
Lego has some sorter/stacking blocks for little ones that come in square containers that are fun.

My advice - look at the toy. Does it look like fun? Will it help with any of the skills little ones are driven to work on at this time? If so, then she'll love it.

Enjoy Grandma!
Ame

By Mrsheidi on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 07:57 pm:

What Connor enjoyed most was his jumperoo, his crinkly sounding book, and his board books.
I would invest in the jumperoo if they don't already have one. It's great for kids and parents.
And, of course, the crinkly sounding soft book we got at Target.
Board books with REAL pictures...Connor LOVES those! Lasts a long time too.

By Heaventree on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 08:52 pm:

Boards books as well here, I would suggest if you can find them, books with pictures of babies. Matthew loves to look at books with real pictures of babies or other children his own age, so does Cameron and he's only 3 months. The books we have show babies playing, brushing their teeth, touching their noses, sleeping, happy, sad etc.

Soft cube blocks that make little noises when touched. I just bought Cameron a set for Christmas at Babys R US. I also bought him a large doughnut shaped thing. You sit the baby in the middle, helps him sit-up on his own and play, also at Babys R Us. I bought it to keep Matthew away from him, he could play and interact with the baby, but not squish him. Also good if you have pets that you want to keep away from the baby. Your granddaughter won't be able to go into her saucer until about 4 or 5 months depending on how steady she is and how long she is.

Stacking cups are good.

Very young babies like to look at things that are black and white. I have a set of large cards, one is checker board, one a circle and a few others all in black and white. As they get a little older they seem to prefer the colour yellow, then it progresses to blue and red etc. mostly primary colours.

Baby Enstien (sp?) anything. They have wonderful board books, flash cards, I know Matthew is older than your granddaughter buy he loves his flash cards.

My best advice is to keep it simple. The best thing I did for Matthew when he was about 5 months old was tie a balloon filed with helium to his saucer, he laughed like crazy for what seemed like forever. Just don't leave baby unattended with the string tied to the saucer if you try this.

Have fun shopping!

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 09:00 pm:

I like Sandra Boynton books, since they are fun to read and have simple, colorful pictures.

By Feona on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 08:01 am:

You are right about books. They are very expensive.

baby faces

babies love baby faces

By Bellajoe on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 08:15 am:

Also they like stacking toys. Stacking cups or stacking blocks. You can find those at babies r us or really any store they sell baby stuff at. I got our stacking blocks at TJMaxx. My ds loved the blocks! He is five and still makes his "block tower" once in a while.

By Kittycat_26 on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 08:57 am:

Large mega blocks were Timmy's favorite at this age. They are brightly colored and washable.

By Heaventree on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 01:13 pm:

You can also get hand rattles, usually made out of a soft fabric and they have velcro on them. You put them on the babies wrist. A bit of a discovery toy, good for around 2 to 3 months, however Matthew still like me to put them on his wrist, I guess like a watch.

Also, there are soft slippers out there in bright colours that also rattle. Cameron has some brightly coloured hippos.

By Breann on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 03:41 pm:

I highly recommend the LeapPad made for babies. It is the best. It's great for mommy/baby time. It's entertaining and is educational as well. My DS loved his. We used it for hours and hours. Also great for when little ones are sick and just want to be held.

By Boxzgrl on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 04:12 pm:

I didn't read most of the responses but with Kaitlyn at 6-9 months old she loved the Fisher Price blocks like these:


They have different collections like barn animals, foods, shapes, seasons etc... and some will make noise (not loud at all, very minimal) and some can rattle with beads or balls or something along with the theme in them. They also have bigger toys you can buy along with the blocks so as the baby gets older, they can incorporate them into her age range for maximum use.

Soft books are always great.

Lightweight fabric balls of various colors are good for learning.

The play rattle/teether toys with flexible mirrors, different textures etc... Sort of like this one:



Stuffed animals are always great.

I'm not a fan of the new toys they come out with these days. I like the old fashioned ideas for toys. Using your imagination and such. I also don't like electronic toys, especially for a baby so young.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:25 pm:

Stacking rings (cheap ones)

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:27 pm:

http://store.yahoo.com/graveyard/sestmyfipale.html

My son like sucking on the ball big eyes of the cookie monster. Except the one he has said something or maybe it didn't.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:32 pm:

Shape sorter (learn your colors and shapes)

Fisher price is cheap.

http://store.babycenter.com/product/toys/toys_612months/4819?intcmp=&stage=baby

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:36 pm:

http://store.babycenter.com/product/toys/toys_1224months//4797?intcmp=&stage=baby

Here is a fisher price phone you can drag around with you cause it has a string and wheels.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:44 pm:

Baby mirror big like 9 by 10 inches. Learn what you look like. Where is your nose? Eyes?

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:45 pm:

ABC blocks. I like plastic cause they eat the wood ones and you have to throw them out.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:47 pm:

Hammer toy. Drive the baby safe nails in. Learn colors and learn how to hammer and get your baby agression out.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:48 pm:

Baby piano and xylophone. Little tikes used to make a standing baby piano.

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:52 pm:

Whoozit Infant Toy

By Feona on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:53 pm:

Crinkle noise baby snake. She probably has it already.

By My3cuties on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:34 am:

Katelyn had the whoozit toy. One thing I really loved with Hailey was the Little Touch Leappad. She STILL uses it, you can buy different books and cartridges. It reads the book, so its not loud and noisy and it has a soft pillow on bottom so you can hold baby and put it in his/her lap and it won't hurt. Books are always good at any age so she will not outgrow it very fast. Very cool! And you can get it in pink..lol

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, December 16, 2005 - 10:24 pm:

MELISSA - what is that silly thing in the picture you posted, and where do you get it? My son Scott says that's what he wants to get for Brooke.

By Kate on Friday, December 16, 2005 - 10:53 pm:

Ginny, Melissa posted a 'Lamaze' brand toy. Most stores carry Lamaze toys....Target, Babies R Us, Burlington Coat Factory, specialty baby shops, etc.

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 06:43 am:

Thanks.

By Feona on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 12:24 pm:

It does look nice. If anyone sees it online can you post the link?

Thanks!

By Yjja123 on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 12:28 pm:

That" silly thing" is very similar to a toy Jessica had as an infant and it was her favorite toy. They make a few different types but they are all great!

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 12:32 pm:

Thanks for the recommendation, Yvonne. Scott is convinced that that or something similar is what he wants to get for Brooke. He is fascinated with it.

By Boxzgrl on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 12:42 pm:

http://www.geniusbabies.com/peek--n-explore-apple-lamaze-toy.html

There's the actual link I copied the picture from.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 01:14 pm:

Cool Baby Toy

By Conni on Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 11:10 am:

Blake loved nesting cups, shape sorters, BALLS (any and all types of balls lol), the ring stacker (not sure what its called but it has rings that go on largest to smallest), activity blanket. The blanket is one that lays on the floor or in play pen and it has a mirro, squeeky toy, teether, peek a boo pocket, etc... Teething blankets! Teething toys. (ones you stick in freezer were nice. We had TEETHING books even! a cloth book with teether corners.

I loved our Play Pen. Something our friends had that I LOVED was a fence that set up in their living room. They added to it too make it larger as the kid got older and needed more room to roam. It was so nice to go to her house and put Blake in the play area and not worry about him!! It was expensive and I wouldnt buy it for myself.


In his crib he had an aquarium that lit up (softly) and played soft lullabys at night and made a water noise. He LOVED this. We also had a toy hanging on the back of his crib that he would sit up and pull it down and it played soft music. He would entertain himself with this in the morning's instead of crying for us. LOL For a while we had a soft piano deal on the end of his crib. He could kick it with his feet while laying in the crib and make music...

I am all about musical toys- but thats just me. lol We also played classical music for him while giving him baths, (very softl in the background) etc... But I do not like the loud obnoxious toys. We did have toys that we either put tape on to softent he noise or we simply pulled the batteries out. lol