Gift guide | Baby Bear

Christmas gift guide

I get asked a lot for suggestions of toys for Christmas. So I’ve created a little gift guide with some of our favourite toys that we use regularly during our sessions. They range from some stocking fillers through to some larger toys.

I’ve also tried to include some information on how the resources benefit your baby’s development.

Hopefully it will help give you some ideas for your little one's first Christmas.

I've included brands and toys that we are really familiar with and are loved by the little ones who came to our in person sessions. There are lots of other manufactures of similar toys, and lots of the toys are available in different textures, please do your research to choose the toy best to suit your needs.

I've linked each toy photo to amazon for ease ( these are affiliate links) but please do shop around, to ensure that you are getting the best price. Lots of these are available second hand too.

Smaller toys

Star links

Early learning centre star links, a construction toy that your baby can grow into, but are amazing for developing motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination

Links

Bright starts links are one of my favourite toys for so many reasons! They are amazing for co-ordination, hand function, tracking and visual development

Glitter wands

Glitter wands , wonderful visual tracking toy , the glitter is so mesmerising!

Great for hand eye coordination and grip.

Bubble tube

The babies love watching this. The fish and bubbles are great for visual tracking and a wonderful sensory experience

O ball

O ball is a great toy for tracking, co-ordination and I love popping chiffons and scarves through ours to promote finger isolation and grip.

Nuby lots of loops

Nuby lots of loops toy is a teething and rattling toy which is easy to hold and is helpful for hand function too.

Water tummy time mat

A great aid for tummy time from any age, lovely to explore and feel too.

Finger puppets

Gorgeous for visual tracking and focusing. You can tell stories , sing songs withthem too.

Starry sky light

I only bought this recently and its a firm favourite with my 4 year old. Beautiful to watch and see how the lights change.

Jelly shapes

A lovely sensory and texture toy, great for exploring feel and touch. Super for tummy tie and older babies too.

Texture squares

I love this little bag of textures. Lots of wonderful materials to explore , just the right size for little hands and washable too.

Disco Light

My absolute favourite and everyone asks me at class where it's from!

Fisher price stack and roll

Fisher price stacking and roll cups are amazing for two handed play, co-ordination and we love ones that your little one can learn to balance and can be used in messy play

Amazing baby black and white books

Amazing baby make beautiful black and white books in lots of different textures

Usborne That's not my books

Usbourne books – that’s not my range. There are lots of books in the range I love them because of their repetitive speech patterns and added textures

Munchkin bath toys

Munchkin farm bath toys . I use them in play and messy play too. They are all different shapes and amazing for fine motor control and co-ordination

Bright starts folding mirror

Bright starts tummy time mirror, is amazing for distracting baby during tummy time I like that it fold down flat too.

Rainbow and shapes stackers

Melissa and Doug make beautiful wooden toys. I love these rainbow stackers with brightly coloured and smoothly sanded pieces that help children build early shape, colour, and size-differentiation skills.

Fisher price butterfly shape sorter

Fisher price butterfly shape sorter is always a popular toy in classes, great for hand function, visual development with the single colour shapes, co-ordination as our little ones start to do motor planning. The shapes are amazing for stamping into play dough!

Galt soft blocks

Galt soft fabric blocks, lots of great images on them for visual development, they have different themes on their sides, are light to hold and touch, amazing for two handed play and are machine washable.

Halilit baby instruments

Halilit make the most beautiful instruments. the perfect size for babies hands.

Larger toys

Unicorn hopper

The toddlers love our unicorn hopper!

Great for balance and coordination and dynamic balance.

Fisher price jungle play mat

Fisher price jungle playmat- I love this playmat, I had it for Teddy as the toys that are attached are of amazing quality and it is so easy to wash. You could use a plainer blanket on the mat to create different textures and aid concentration by reducing the visual stimulation.

Pop up ball pool

Pop up ball pools are amazing add one layer of balls for babies under one so they get lots of information from the floor about their body position. They are great for containing toys and creating texture themed play spaces.

Vtech walker

Vtech walkers, push walkers are the only ones I'd recommend for a baby’s motor skills.

The vtech ones come with brakes and have detachable activity boards.

Fisher price giraffe sit me up

Fisher price giraffe sit me up seat can be a helpful sitting aid for babies with head control, that don’t yet have their balance. It has a higher back, doesn’t fix little ones at their hips and encourages better posture than seats that are harder positioning devices. Folds flat too.

Activity table

Activity tables can be really helpful for our little ones who are starting to practice their balance and are standing. It helps with static and dynamic balance and encourages some side stepping around the activities. Best used with our crawlers who are ready to practice their balance.