Toys for babies of 6months and older

[colsy]

Compared with lots of people, we have only a few toys for our 6-month-old. He has various places to sit/lie down/bounce/swing, and a handful of plastic and wooden rattles and dangling things and a few cuddly animals, but generally he seems to far prefer watching us doing stuff than he does actually playing with anything in particular. Is this simply a result of us not giving him many toys, or do you think most babies of this young-ish age still prefer watching the world than playing with 'real' toys?

We buy most of his stuff second hand, as I think babies outgrow things so quickly that I would rather save the money for when he is older than go and spend it all now. I am happy to spend it if I think it will be worth it, however.

I also prefer non-plastic where at all possible, as I am concerned about the effects of plastic not only on our son but also on the people who made the thing in the first place and also on the environment in general.

Bearing these things in mind, what in your opinion are THE toys that a baby of 6 months and beyond would like to play with?

(BTW, he has loads of books. I am VERY happy to spend on books, but I think that's a different thing altogether.)

 

[Rachel_C]

We have a real mixture of toys... whenever we go out with OH and we go near toys, he likes to test each toy out and see which one Leyla likes best - it's very cute and we've ended up with some stuff we would never have bought otherwise (like a funny pink giraffe from TKMaxx, a plastic rainstick from ELC and a monkey from Hamley's). Most of her toys are soft toys at the moment, with a few musical things thrown in.

At Christmas I bought her two handmade dolls from here https://www.babykind.co.uk/toys.htm#ethnicdolls. She wasn't too bothered about them at first so they went in the toy box. I got them out yesterday and she LOVES them now. She spent about an hour 'talking' and shouting to them!

I'd like to get her some more interactive toys soon, but I would like to stay away from nasty battery operated plastic things that you use no imagination with. I'm thinking maybe a handmade jack-in-a-box or something like that? Don't know where I'd get that from though.

 

[buttonnose82]

sainsburys has a small range of eco toys for little ones might be worth checking out

 

[Maffie]

At the surestart group we go to they have baskets of 'natural' things in there, so feathers, shells, wooden shapes with ribbons on, pine cones, pumice stone. Noah loves the baskets. We do have too many toys though i guess.

 

[Rachel_C]

ooh that's a good idea. I've always wondered about the baskets - do you give them the whole basket or sit them next to it, or do you pass them things out of it?