Are you looking for fun gifts for babies under 1 that will be fun to play with and help them learn? I’ve got some great toys for babies your little one is going to love!
If you have twins, I suggest you get two of each item as they likely won’t want to share, if they’re anything like my twins! They’ll love exploring the toys themselves while also watching the other play and explore in their way.
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Stacking Rings
These stacking rings have been around forever and continue to be a favorite even for kids these days! They’re so inexpensive compared to many other toys and can be used to not only help their fine motor skills but also teach different colors! I feel like these have been one of the best gifts for new parents since I was a baby! Perfect for a baby shower, newborn baby gift, or for a Christmas gift!
O-balls
O-balls are perfect for baby’s little hands to grab onto and shake to their hearts’ desire! There are many different colors and different shapes available. We even have an O-ball car! They are soft and squishy though the spot with the colored balls are in is a hard plastic. I’m amazed at how durable these have been with our 3 destructive little guys! They are really fun and the perfect size for taking wherever you go!
Rattles
Our twins loved these rattles that are soft on the top which is great when they weren’t all that coordinated as babies and would accidentally hit themselves in the head while excitedly shaking the rattle!
My twins are 4 now and just found these in the bottom of their toy bins recently. They loved them as babies and they’re loving playing with them again! It’s pretty cute. These could be used during tummy time, on a play mat, or anywhere really! Rattles are always a fun choice.
Shape Sorter
There are many different types of shape sorters for babies, from wooden blocks to plastic, basic shapes to foods as shapes, etc. Here are some favorites of our kids’.
The Fisher-Price Baby’s First Blocks is the basic shape sorter that always comes to mind for me, a true classic toy exploring different shapes.
Leap Frog Picnic
This Leap Frog picnic shape sorter has been a big hit in our house for years. It’s perfect for twins or households with two children as there is two of everything. My twins still set up little picnics for each other or their stuffed animals from time to time and they’re three! They started liking this set when they were about 8 months old and continue to like it to this day.
Soft Balls of Different Textures
These soft balls are of different sizes and different textures which are great sensory toys for sensory exploration including feeling different textures.
These have also made a reappearance in our house now that our twins are 4 and our oldest is 6. They loved them as babies and are enjoying playing with them even now that they’re older! These are a great way to explore different textures and different colors, making them great sensory toys.
Though they could be bath toys, I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s become more apparent over the years that toys with holes often end up growing mold inside of them. These toys are best to be used outside of the bath tub.
Squeezy Building Blocks
These blocks are fun to play with, stack, watch roll across the floor, and they even have numbers and animals on them! Similar to the balls above, I wouldn’t suggest having these as bath toys but are great gifts anywhere else!
They also really love these soft blocks. Wooden blocks are great for when they’re older but while babies I’d suggest sticking with soft fabrics and other soft materials for blocks.
Crinkle Books
Our kids LOVED books the crinkled when they were younger. There are many different sets available, here are some that I came across. These are great alternatives to board books if you’re worried about board books getting accidentally thrown around or drooled on. The soft fabrics often have different textures and are more durable.
Activity Center/Jumper
All 3 of our boys loved their activity center
/jumpers. We actually called them command centers as this Baby Einstein one looks like it could be a command center like in Star Trek or something because the baby can spin around in it and play with different things. This is such a great gift for babies as long as there is enough room for it in the home. The activity center is great for gross motor skills once babies can hold themselves upright enough to be in the jumper and many are full of fun sensory explorations with bright colors, plush toys, and fun music.
We also had a Jumperoo like the one pictured below when we had our twins. This way there was more variety for them and they’d often want to each be in them at the same time. As they got older and their legs stronger, they’d even have jump-offs where they’d see who could jump the longest and the highest before they got too worn out.
Pop Up Toy
This toy may seem rather basic and a bit expensive for what it is but let me tell you, our kids have LOVED these! Our first child loved it and how he had to do different things to get the different animals to pop up. Even better, our twins loved having races to see who could do it quicker. This went on for months and months. It was great, they had such a good time! This is one of the toys that even now that they’re older they won’t let us get rid of.
The one we have is no longer available but a very similar one is.
These are great for developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and have fun bright colors!
Mirrors
Babies love looking at themselves in mirrors! Ours loved this mirror especially as it stands up on it’s own and is quite big so even the twins could look at it at the same time if they were in a sharing mood.
Sit-Me-Ups
Our twins loved their sit-me-ups. They loved finally being able to sit up and see each other. The sit-me-ups are washable and also can be folded up to take on the go. We would often bring them to family gatherings so the twins could sit up and participate instead of being stuck on their backs before they were steady in their sitting.
Developmental Bumpy Ball
We got this developmental bumpy ball for our twins for their first Christmas when they were about 4 months old. They seemed to like the different colors, different textures, and that it makes noise. They also were amused that they could hold onto the different colored nubs. We’d often roll it toward them to get them to interact.
This closes out our toys for babies list but check out gifts for 1-year-olds below and you’ll see a lot more fun ideas!
Create an Amazon Wishlist
Did you know you can create an Amazon Wishlist that you can share with friends and family? We have one for each child, and ourselves! We add items to the list all year and give the links to family who buy the kids birthday and Christmas presents. It’s great because as people buy from the list it disappears so no one buys a duplicate. To add an item to the wishlist, just click on “Add to List” on any Amazon product page then select the list you’d like to add it to.
- My blog post: How and Why to Create an Amazon Wishlist
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.