What parent doesn't want QUIET toys that teach their child invaluable skills?  I am a strong advocate for having many different types of blocks around the house.  These blocks are soft and durable and encourage gross motor skills and coordination.  Kids love them because of their size.

This toy encourages vocabulary development, both receptive vocabulary (how many words a child understands) and expressive vocabulary (words a child says/speaks). 

It's not a bad toy for a long car ride either!  Young children love anything that looks like a game.  Read on...

Does your child love books?  This is a perfect toy to engage the child further into the book. Or, perhaps you have a busy body who can't sit for a book... then use this to encourage attention by engaging the child in more than just sitting and listening would do.  This allows the child to interact with the story line, further enhancing their receptive language skills (how well they understand).

Does your child love books?  This is a perfect toy to engage the child further into the book. Or, perhaps you have a busy body who can't sit for a book... then use this to encourage attention by engaging the child in more than just sitting and listening would do.  This allows the child to interact with the story line, further enhancing their receptive language skills (how well they understand).

Does your child love books?  This is a perfect toy to engage the child further into the book. Or, perhaps you have a busy body who can't sit for a book... then use this to encourage attention by engaging the child in more than just sitting and listening would do.  This allows the child to interact with the story line, further enhancing their receptive language skills (how well they understand).

These are a variation of the classic brick blocks that are a stable of every child's play room.  Excellent toy to encourage creative play. 

Kids will spend hours building life-size castles and fortresses with these study blocks. Constructed of lightweight corrugated cardboard, if the blocks tumble, no one gets hurt!

This toy is lots of fun.  Young children can learn to imitate early sounds such as "aaaaaaa" for airplane, 'beep beep' for the car, etc.  Toddlers can put on dramatic play schemes and act out a busy airport scene.  I use this toy specifically for children who aren't talking yet to encourage sound play and imitation.  Read on...

This toy may appear simple, but it packs a big punch for both language, speech, and fine motor skills.  Encourage your child's first words by playing with the telephone.  Encourage fine motor skills with the shape sorter side.  The little bear pops up, so babies learn the early skill of cause and effect.  Teach your child basic concepts such as "in" and "out" with the shapes.  So many ways to play.

This is a great set of books to teach children about holidays. I found myself buying separate books each holiday until I found this set which summed them all up.  A great set to have around the house!

This toy encourages sensory exploration, visual exploration and attention.  The blocks are interesting and peek-a-boo windows encourage a young child to stay with the activity by allowing an opportunity for further exploring. They are soft and infants and young toddlers will love to explore them with their hands and their mouths.

Teach children through music.  I have worked closely with musical therapists and learned a lot from them.  Parents can encourage early imitation by modeling how to play with the toys and then encouraging the child to imitate (excellent for children with autism).  Read on...

If your child has a shorter attention span, this is a good shape sorter for them.  Because it is more interactive with the child, it can keep the child's attention better than your average simple shape sorter.  It is essential to encourage a good attention span for little ones, as early as possible.  Children must be able to first pay attention to something in order to digest and learn it.