When searching for baby boy toys, there is a world of them from which to choose. You’ll find everything from old fashioned wooden toys to the latest high-tech gadgets with lights, sounds, and cute critters to get a child’s attention.
However, is buying a child the latest high-tech toy good for them or should you stick to the tried and true toys you had as a kid? While electronic toys may seem fun, you may want to exercise caution when buying them for a baby.
Although high-tech or electronic toys can help develop babies’ brains and capture their attention, they can also stifle some of their development. A research project at Northern Arizona University found that children who play with noisy, electronic toys tend to play alone and don’t interact as much with parents or other children.
Interaction with parents and other caregivers helps to create bonds, and it is vital for babies and toddlers to socialize with other children their age to learn skills like sharing, increasing their vocabulary, and getting along with others. Research indicates these skills suffer when babies receive tablets and other such toys with which to play.
Children who read books with their parents also retain more information than they do when playing with a tablet or other electronic device. They also increase their language skills when sharing toys like puzzles with other children.
So, if you want to buy a toy for a baby, avoid tablets and other electronic toys they play by themselves. Consider some of these toys for baby boys that we rated for parents and others to buy them.
To help readers find the best baby toys, we researched them, their benefits, and the manufacturers’ reputations. We also read the reviews and testimonials from people who bought these toys for their children or their friends’ children.
Here are our picks for some of the best baby boy toys.
The Bekker Inertia toys are friction powered trucks that toddler boys can push and let go to move on their own. The four-piece set consists of a tractor, cement truck, dump truck, and a bulldozer/backhoe. Kids can take them outside or play with them indoors to haul small toys, sand, or dirt.
Bekker makes the toys with ABS plastic and an alloy, so they are easy to clean and durable enough to withstand the abuse they will get from years of use. The materials are also safe for children and eco-friendly. There is no need to buy batteries for these toy trucks.
Each of the toys have movable parts, so they can help spark a child’s imagination. The trailer detaches from the tractor, the cement mixer rotates and discharges whatever put into it, the arms of the bulldozer and backhoe move up and down, and the bed of the dump truck tilts to release its cargo.
Children love trucks, and they can play with these for hours. These trucks are for children 18 months and older.
The Town Airport Set from LEGO DUPLO encourages children to play creatively and share their set with siblings or friends their age. It comes with 29 pieces that can snap together or they can play with them separately to replicate a family going on an airplane trip.
The pieces are small enough to fit in little hands, but they don't present a choking hazard as they are too big to go into small mouths. The ideal ages for this set are from two to five years old. The playset helps to develop hand-eye coordination and imagination.
The plane comes apart to fit the Lego people inside of it, and it has wheels to roll the plane on the floor, or they come off when the aircraft is "flying." There is also a baggage claim with pieces of luggage, and a control tower. As with all LEGO DUPLO sets, this is made durable to withstand several years of playing.
As your baby boy learns to take his first steps, he can use this Vtech walker activity toy to lean on and steady himself. However, he can also play with it before he learns to stand on his own. The colorful toy features five piano keys that play different tones. It also has two rollers within reach for small babies who are sitting in front of the toy.
It has three shape sorters and three buttons that light up by pushing buttons, which can help babies develop their fine motor skills. There is also a play telephone, so children can pretend to call their grandparents, mommy, or daddy when they’re at work.
It plays over 70 songs that children can sing along with, music, fun phrases, and sound effects. The activity panel is removable so that it lays on the floor for younger infants to reach it. This toy is for children between 9 months and three years old.
The VATOS toy train helps to entertain babies with its music and interactive operation. The train comes with three balls that a child can drop down the shoot and watch spin down into the train and then come out of the back of it.
The train can be set to move across the floor, or it can remain in place for younger babies. This toy train is suitable for children from 18 months of age and older. The balls that come with the train are 1.8-inches, so they are small enough for young toddlers to pick up but too big to go into small mouths.
The toy runs off four AA batteries that do not come with it. Along with moving across the floor, it can change directions and keep going after bumping into an object. This toy can help young toddlers further develop their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and cognitive abilities.
Most toddlers have a fascination with tools, especially if they’ve seen daddy or mommy use them around the house. Now, they can have their own set of tools to drive nails, turn screws, and make gears turn. This play tool set comes with several large pieces that connect and allow a child to use their creativity when putting them together.
The truck rolls across the floor when a child pushes, or there is a string a child can use to it to pull it behind them. The bed of the truck doubles as a toolbox, so kids can pull their set behind them when they take it to another room or a friend's house for a playdate. The storage compartment separates from the truck so it can be sat down on the floor and become part of playtime.
The toy has large plastic nails, screws, and gears that can fit into the side or top of the storage bin. The 27-piece set is BPA-free, there are parts made with natural wood, and they use non-toxic paint in primary colors. The pieces are just the right size for small hands. This play set by TOP BRIGHT is suitable for children who are about two years old.
This two-in-one sports toy by Vtech lets your little sports star practice his hoops or kick a soccer ball in the back of the net. It has an LED sports scoreboard that counts baskets or goals up to 10. The screen also plays animations, sounds, and phrases. There is also a lever that restarts the score on the board. The basketball and soccer balls come with the toy.
The activity center also introduces young toddlers to shapes and pushing the buttons plays over 50 tunes, phrases, and songs. It also has gears little ones can turn and pages to flip to learn about numbers and colors. The toy runs on three AA batteries, which come with it. This toy is suitable for children ages one to three years old. It weighs 5.7 pounds and measures 16.5 x 22.8 x 24-inches.
Both boys and girls like playing with baby dolls and this doll are one of the perfect baby boy toys as it is Baby Stella Boy, which is a soft doll for babies. All the features on the doll are soft and have textures because many of the features, like the face, are embroidered. The doll’s toes and belly button are also done the same way.
The clothing includes a onesie and cloth diaper, which are removable if they get dirty and they are washable. The doll also has a magnetic pacifier that attaches to the baby doll's face to inspire creative roleplay. Both the onesie and pacifier have a popular dinosaur theme that many baby toys have because children love them.
Manhattan Toy makes several accessories for the Baby Stella collection, which are available separately. The accessories include things like:
These accessories allow kids to be creative and make up scenarios as they play with their dolls. The onesie and diaper have Velcro closures, so there aren't any small parts that could come off the doll on which a child could swallow and choke.
This toy from Playgro is the Sort and Stack Tower game that many babies like to play. It comes with a tower and five colorful rings of varying sizes. They can learn to stack the rings on the tower by size, from the largest to smallest.
Each of the rings is textured and can help soothe a baby's sore gums when he is teething. The colors will attract attention from small infants as their ability to see colors develop. They can improve their fine motor and tactile skills by touching, lifting, and stacking the rings.
Stacking the rings also hones develop a child's eye-hand coordination and perception as their eyesight sharpens. Even though it is a simple toy, it helps babies from infants to 12 months old develop many of the physical skills they will use throughout their lives.
Many children love airplanes, so HOMOFY developed an electronic airplane toy for young children to play with and learn. When they push the corresponding buttons, the plane plays "ABC" or "123," so infants and toddlers can begin to learn their letters and numbers.
The toy also makes realistic aircraft sounds of:
It also has lights that flash on the aerofoil and empennage after pressing the button on the belly of the plane. The plane toy can help infants and toddlers learn their shapes as they play with the musical toy. The aircraft is built from child safe materials as the ABS plastic is toxin and BPA-free, it is also lead and phthalate-free as well.
It requires three AA batteries, which do not come with the airplane. If you are not satisfied with the toy, it has a six-month warranty, a 90-day replacement guarantee or you can get a full refund on the toy from HOMOFY. The company recommends this toy for children 12 months old and older.
These soft alphabet cards from Teytoy can help you begin to teach your child their ABC’s. Each brightly colored fabric square displays a letter on one side and an animal whose name starts with that letter on the other side.
The cloth cards are handmade from soft polyester, which is a durable material that’s been double-stitched to outlast rough treatment from toddlers. The 26 cards fit into a cloth bag, so they can go with the child for show and tell, to their sitter’s house, or on a trip with mom and dad.
They are washable in case food, drinks, and other substances spill over on them. The squares and bag are safe for babies, and they don't have parts that can be pulled off, so there is no choking hazard. This toy is for newborns through the toddler stage.
The TOP BRIGHT Activity Cube is a manual toy that has parts on it that children can push, slide, turn, and into they can fit shapes. It helps develop their fine motor skills, logical thinking, and begins to teach them their shapes and numbers. Using the clock on one side of the cube, they can also learn the concept of time.
On another side of the cube is spinning gears that babies can turn with their fingers. The different sizes and shapes on the toy teach them hand and body movements, as well as develops their cognitive skills. The top of the activity center comes off to reveal a storage box, and it can be inverted to put the toy away when your child isn’t playing with it.
The surfaces of the toy are polished to prevent sharp edges, so little hands are safe when exploring it. Water-based paints give it a colorful look that is safe for children. The toy also encourages interactions between parents and their children, as well as sharing with others their age. This Activity Cube is suitable for babies starting at 12 months old.
It can be challenging to choose a toy for a child of any age, much less an infant or toddler since there are so many available. However, to help develop a child's abilities like their gross and fine motor skills, imagination, and inspire them to learn more about their world, manual toys are better than electronic ones.
Electronic toys like tablets seem to encourage playing alone, so infants and toddlers don’t interact with their parents, siblings, or other children that they are around. Manual toys, like playsets, encourages sharing and learning numbers, shapes, colors, and many other skills that children will use for the rest of their lives.
A toy doesn’t need to be expensive to help infants or toddlers learn. A simple set of balls with different textures and sizes can develop their tactile skills, it can help them bond with their parents or siblings, and it can mean hours of creative fun. As they get older, toddlers can then play with electronic toys that play music, encourage learning their ABCs or counting skills.
Use this review of baby boy toys to pick out an age-appropriate toy for your child, nephew, or a friend's baby to give as a gift or to occupy them when they go to their grandparents or the sitter's during the day. While they can have fun with these toys, they will also learn skills they can build upon throughout their lives.
Featured image source: unsplash
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