FAVORITES 9-12 MONTHS
LOVEVERY PLAY KITS
The Lovevery brand is a staple in our household from their play gym and now their play kits. What I love is that it contains all the toys needed for the age group to help them hit key milestones. It’s a subscription program starting at $36 a month and shows up at your door right when you need it. We have the 11-12 month “Thinker Play Kit” which contains toys like the pincer puzzle to help with pincer grasp, a sliding top box to build coordination and problem solving, a wooden peg drop for fine motor skills, and more! One of my favorite items is a play guide that gives you great ideas on how to use each toy backed by research.
LAMAZE ORGANIC BABY TIGHT FIT PAJAMAS
Finding a pair of high quality pajamas is key for us mamas. The Lamaze brand is my favorite, the material is so soft, and the designs are cute. Like who doesn’t look good in lemons? If you want to see more of my favorite infant two-piece pajamas, check it out here.
LEAPFROG 100 WORDS BOOK
I don’t think it’s ever too early for your baby to hear words and build their vocabulary. This book is great because it has English and Spanish, big images of everyday items, and makes a noise along with pronouncing the object. Over time my daughter started to explore and touch the images on her own. Our speech therapist recommended this book and told us to talk along with each image and create a story. For example, there is a page of all clothing items, so we would say look Cali you see the pants, you have pants on today, and so does mommy, and then point to her pants. This allowed her to recognize the images in the book to what she sees daily.
INTERACTIVE POP-UP TOYS
This toy is great for your child to understand cause and effect and build their fine motor skills. My daughter is encouraged by music and when she found out that pushing, twisting, turning the bottom object would make music and her favorite animals pop, she got very intrigued. This is a toy she is learning through, she hasn’t conquered every part but each time she get’s better.
SILICONE BABY SPOONS
We tried a few different spoons but these were the best for my daughter! My little one has mobility issues with fused elbows so we needed long handle spoons to help her get food from bowl to mouth. They are soft and easy to grip. I saw some spoons with fat handles and they did not work well as she couldn’t get a good hold on her spoon.
KOLFORT WALKER
There are so many walkers out there, and I haven’t tried them all so I can say this is the best but it does the job. It breaks down easily so it can slide under the couch and also turns into a push walker by removing the seat. I liked that this walker had toys on the tabletop that my daughter would engage with, and it also gets her walking around as she is constantly reaching for the toys. There is also enough room on the table to add additional toys. We weren’t looking for anything fancy but something that would do the job and this was it.
FISHER PRICE SIT-TO-STAND WALKER
We introduced this walker closer to 12 months and although my daughter is not independently walking we have been using it to build her balance and standing. I attach an ankle weight to the green handle to prevent it from moving too fast and her falling. The front of the walker is filled with interactive toys, music, light-up buttons, and more. Cali will sit and play with the front of the walker and clap along to the songs.
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM BOARD BOOK
We love this whole series! Get ready for fun rap-like text, and you must sing it! These books went nicely with the next toy and focused on the alphabet and numbers but make it fun! My daughter loves the creative way they put the words together.
TEYTOY ZOO ALPHABET SET
We have so many cards with pictures, alphabet, ASL signs but this set is by far our favorite. As you know our kids try to eat everything first and this set can survive lots of slobber. It is handcrafted from soft polyester, the softcover is non-toxic and safe for your baby. The stitching is strong for extra durability. And it holds up in the wash after getting spit-up. When it comes to quality and durability this set is a winner. I love that it has the letter on one side and the animal to match it on the other.
CARROT HARVEST WOODEN GAME
My daughter loves bunnies, so this carrot harvest block was perfect for our theme. Well, she quickly took to and it’s the perfect way to build her fine motor skills. We are developing her pincer grasp skills and at first, she would grab the carrots with her whole fist and now she is using her thumb and pointer finger. The next stage of this toy is to build cognitive skills and promote problem-solving. Each carrot is a different size, so placing them back in the right spot takes some real brainpower.
MULTICOLOR GRIP SOCKS
In this stage, my daughter was becoming more and more active and starting to take steps while in her Kolfort Walker and VTech Sit to Stand walker. We quickly realized that our hardwood floors did not help her get around with her slippery socks. We found these grip socks and it helped Cali so much. Our therapist advised us to get lots of barefoot time, but when the floors are too cold, these are go-to socks. Since Cali can not walk independently we don’t have her in shoes.