Best Toys for Baby (at 6+ months)

Before I had a baby, I was definitely a toy snob. I loved cool, minimal baby toys. My criteria is a little bit different now. The only question is, “Will you keep my baby entertained for more than 30 seconds?” At 7.5 months, Stella has just begun to show real interest in her toys. She has also become quite mobile so I’ve been looking for things that encourage her to move (not that she needs the extra encouragement, but the more she moves, the better she’ll sleep).

Of course, sometimes the best toys are the free ones. Diaper boxes are the perfect size for pulling up. She loves nothing more than a plastic bowl filled with pacifiers. And an empty water bottle is an awesome noise maker. But if you feel like plunging into the world of baby toys, here are a few that knock it out of the park for us.

When I was pregnant, I bookmarked this Lily and River climber in a folder named ‘Stella’ for when she turned six months old. When it arrived, 6.5 month old Stella barely went near it. She’d maybe touch it but that was it. Now, that she is pulling up, she has started playing more with it, and it’s so sweet to see her climbing up. She’s still not great at the getting down part yet. Other parents have told me that she’ll be playing and climbing on this for years. The great thing is it does fold up, so you can put in a corner, if you’re not using. (Note: There is a long lead time so take that into account if you’re hoping to get one within a certain time frame.)

Also in the climbing vein… I bought Stella a small PotteryBarn Kids chair. Right now, it’s intended to be more for climbing and pulling up than sitting. I personally, I would have gone with the plain version of this chair, but Stella has a unicorn lovey (actually we have three!) and I thought she’d find the horn and face interesting. And she does! The horn is very motivating to her and she often tries to climb up to touch it. (I didn’t get it monogrammed so that I can pass it on in a few years, when she outgrows it.)

I bought the TOMY Toomies Hide & Squeak eggs because they had SEVEN THOUSAND overwhelming positive reviews. And sure enough, these are pretty much the first Stella crawls to every morning. Granted, the way she plays with them is that she tips over the entire carton, I put them back, she tips them over. It’s not sophisticated. But then, she’ll chew on the shell for a while and hey, a solid five minutes will have passed.

I got this tunnel when Stella started to crawl. I thought it might be a while before she really gave it a go, but she showed interested right away. Now, at seven months, she’ll go back and forth and back and forth.