12 of the best baby toys for newborns to 6-month-old babies
Our pick of the top fun-filled toys for babies from birth to 6 months, as tested by babies and parents.
If you've just had a baby, it can be easy to get swept up in worrying about the essentials, like mats, bottles and car seats. But, in between all of that, you should try and remember to bring some joy into your newborn's early days, which is where toys come in.
Accroding to Helen Brown author of Parenting for Dummies: "Teeny-tiny, just-been-born babies don’t need toys: they can’t hold anything and they can’t see much. But roll forward even a few weeks, and your baby will love looking at things with bright or high-contrast colours and listening to things that rattle or tinkle or shake."
Related: MadeForMums Toy Awards 2024: Winners revealed!
She continues: "By 3 or 4 months, when your baby is able to grab and grasp (sometimes more by accident than design), toys with different fabrics or knobbly textures to feel and chew are great buys for keeping your baby’s attention and stimulating their sensory development."
With that in mind, here's our guide to the best toys for newborns, all of which have been tried and tested by parents.
Best toys for newborns at a glance
- Great for surprise smiles: PeekaPets Bunny, £14.99
- Great for a toy selection: Taf Toys Newborn Kit, £32.99
- Great budget buy: Playgro Clip Clop Activity Rattle, £6.99
- Great for comfort: Lamaze My Friend Jasmine, £12.79
- Great for sore gums – with a squeak: Sophie La Girafe Teether, £13.99
- Great for soothing baby to sleep: VTech 3-in-1 Starry Skies Sheep Soother, £30
- Great toy for introducing tummy time play: Taf Toys Savannah Tummy Time Book, £16.99
- Great for sore gums – without a squeak: Mini Mizzie, £9.99
- Great toy for tactile stimulation: Lamaze Freddie the Firefly, £14.99
- Great for dangling entertainment: Manhattan Toy Baby Whoozit, £9.99
- Great for sensory and developmental play: VTech 4-in-1 Tummy Time Fawn, £25
- Great for relaxation: VTech Calming Purrs Kitten, £35
What are the best toys for babies aged 0 to 6 months?
Additional reporting and product selection by Gill Crawshaw
1. PeekaPets Bunny, £14.99
– Great for surprise smiles
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: From birth | Size: L12cm x W15cm x H30cm | Batteries: None
This big, super-soft rabbit has the most enormous floppy ears that pop up when you press his tummy to reveal his big eyes and touch-feely fabric inner ears. Your baby won't yet be old enough to understand the concept of cause and effect but they'll love the movement and the sudden, surprise appearance of a friendly rabbit face. Comes in Pink or White.
I love how this keeps Elodie’s attention. It’s hard to find things to engage babies younger than 3 months old but she gives this lots of smiles when the ears pop up and it’s definitely a big hit.
2. Taf Toys Newborn Kit, £32.99
– Great for a toy selection
Available at: Halilit and Amazon
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: 2 months+ | Size: Various | Batteries: None
This little collection of baby development toys includes a tummy time pillow with 2 detachable toys (a rattle ring and a crinkly lion cub), a baby-safe mirror, a spotty comforter with a lion teether and ribbons, and a set of 5 double-sided flashcards (high contrast black-and-white on 1 side to help your newborn focus, and colour on the other for when your baby is older). There are also some plastic stands for you to prop the flashcards or mirror up.
The comforter is really soft and I really like the chewy lion teether and I love the guide that tells you what to do with each item and at what age it is best for, as sometimes new mums like me can be unsure how best to stimulate our baby. It's not cheap but I think it would make a great gift for a new parent.
3. Playgro Clip Clop Activity Rattle, £6.99
– Great budget buy
Available at: Amazon and The Entertainer
Age suitability: 3 months+ | Best for age: From birth | Size: L7cm x W18cm x H18cm | Batteries: None
This great-value activity toy has a good variety of smooth, soft, silky and bumpy textures, crinkly and rattly sounds and features including a baby-safe mirror, moving teether beads on an easy-to-grasp ring and peekaboo lift-up saddle. It's the kind of toy that your tiny baby will enjoy staring at and listening to as you rattle it and then, as they grow, will love to hold and feel and learn to shake independently.
This is a good price, most similar toys to this cost at least twice as much! There's lots here to keep a baby interested as they develop and grow, Parker was initially drawn to the bright colours and the reflective mirror on the bottom of one of the hooves and, now he's a bit older, he enjoys holding the handle and shaking it.
4. Lamaze My Friend Jasmine, £15.99
– Great for comfort
Available at: Amazon and John Lewis
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: From birth | Size: L17.78cm x W8.57cm x H 34.29cm | Batteries: None | Awards: Silver – Best Doll, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
Lamaze My Friend Jasmine is a brightly coloured, soft plush doll designed with different sensory learning elements. Dressed in a pink romper, this friendly-faced doll has crinkly legs and a variety of fabric textures on the body including ribbons and frills, for a tactile experience. Jasmine has a hard plastic rattle flower babies can shake, which is safely tethered to her hand. There’s a large clip attached to Jasmine allowing her to be easily attached to a pram, car seat, nappy bag, and so on. This makes her a portable and convenient toy.
She was completely focussed on the different textures to feel and the different sounds the toy made. It's been lovely watching her as she engages her fine motor skills which are great for development.
5. Sophie La Girafe, £15.99
– Great for sore gums – with a squeak
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: 3 months+ | Size: L9cm x W3cm x H17cm | Batteries: None | Awards: Gold – Best teething toy, MadeForMums Awards 2023
A firm favourite with new parents for over 60 years – and a frequent winner in the teething category of our MadeForMums Toy Awards – Sophie la girafe is something of a cult classic, and it’s easy to see why.
Made from natural rubber and painted with non-toxic, food-grade paints, this firm but squashy teething toy has striking spots, a sweet face and a gentle gnaw-friendly feel and squeak. It's a really good size for little hands, with the long neck and legs providing plenty to grab and explore.
It immediately caught my baby's attention and the squeak sound made her smile. She easily held it in her hand. We’ve played with it lots and it is already a favourite toy.
6. VTech 3-in-1 Starry Skies Sheep Soother, £34.99
– Great for soothing baby to sleep
Available at: Argos and John Lewis
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: 3 months+ | Size: L30cm x W17.5cm x H15cm | Batteries: 2 x AA (included) | Awards: G0ld – Best Baby Sleep Aid Toy, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
Considering its competitive price, the Starry Skies Sheep Soother from VTech includes a lot of functionality. The soother includes various lighting effects and sounds including songs, nature sounds and gentle white noise. On top of its functionality, the toy itself is appealing and soft and includes great volume controls to help tailor the sound levels to your child. Overall, the quality is good for the price with the light projections and stories both working well and the 15-45 minute timers giving you that extra bit of control over bedtimes.
Although there are similar items on the market, the Starry-Skies Sleep Soother feels original, especially with its range of modifications, combination of both light and sound effects and particularly because you can separate the teddy from the machine.
7. Taf Toys Savannah Tummy Time Book, £17
– Great for tummy time play
Available at: Mamas & Papas, Amazon and Good Little Egg
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: 2 months+ | Size: L4cm x W19cm x H15cm | Batteries: None
This soft, colourful, textured double-sided book can stand up on its own, making it perfect for tummy time. One side features high contrast black and white pictures for newborns to gaze at, and the other side features more colourful pictures for older babies in different prints, textures and fabrics, along with flaps, a mirror, a lion teether and ribbons. The design of this book is very well thought out and we like how if folds down neatly so you can stow it easily in your pram or bag.
The mirror seems to surprise and entrance him each time we turn the page!
8. Mini Mizzie, £9.95
– Great for sore gums – without a squeak
Available at: Not on the Highstreet
Age suitability: 3 months+ | Best for age: 3 months + | Size: L1cm x W5cm x H14cm | Batteries: None
This cute kangaroo teether, with the most expressive eyelashes, is made from 100% natural rubber, and coloured with water-based, non-toxic dyes. It's firm but slightly squashy and it doesn't have a squeak – which some parents may consider a godsend. The hole in its middle makes it easy to grasp and also easy to hang from a pushchair.
It looks so lovely with nice, bright colours. The pointed angles of the nose and ears fit nicely in a little baby's mouth, too.
9. Lamaze Freddie the Firefly, £14.99
– Great for tactile stimulation
Available at: Boots and Amazon
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: From birth | Size: L6cm x W25cm x H30cm | Batteries: None
Freddie's been a bestselling activity toy for many years now (he even has a whole baby activity gym themed around him) and he continues to be a serious baby magnet, thanks to the sheer number of tactile features he packs into his little bug body. Each segment of his body is made from a different fabric, he has little knotted legs and each of his crinkly wings has different things to explore, from a squeaker and peekaboo mirror to a bright yellow teether tucked into a little pocket (and secured with a ribbon string). He has clacking rings attached to his tail and a clip on his head for attaching him to a pushchair or car seat.
So much to see, feel hear and chew! And it washes great – it's been machine-washed a billion times!
10. Manhattan Toy Baby Whoozit, £9.99
– Great for dangling entertainment
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: From birth |Best for age: 3 months+ | Size: L8cm x W13cm x H25cm | Batteries: None
Small enough to tuck into your changing bag but BIG on baby entertainment, the Whoozit is a 7-legged beanbag friend with a squeaky red nose and a big smiley face. There's loads of differently patterned and textured fabrics to see, touch and feel, and a little mirror hidden behind his nose.
Our 5-month-old baby tester Oliver loved the dangling legs with different shapes on the end, and his mum Sarah was particularly taken with the Velcro strap that lets you attach the toy to a pushchair or car seat: she found it easier than trying to use a plastic clip.
11. VTech 4-in-1 Tummy Time Fawn, £34.99
– Great for sensory and developmental play
Available at: Amazon and Argos
Age suitability: 3 months + | Best for age: 3 months + | Size: L47cm x W11.2cm x H41.5cm | Batteries: 1 x AAA (included) | Awards: G0ld – Best Baby Activity Mat/Gym, MadeForMums Toy Awards 2023
This soft pillow in the shape of a baby deer that supports various stages of development as your child grows. It provides tummy time support, which can help strengthen neck and upper body muscles. The pillow can also be used for sitting and encouraging independent play as your baby gets older. Included with the pillow are a detachable hippo rattle, fox mirror and electronic piano. Light up piano keys along the pillow introduce different animal noises and play piano notes, sounds, and there are 15 melodies and four songs. The fawn features textures, patterns, and colours for visual and tactile stimulation.
The thing that makes this toy special is the versatility of play. My son practises tummy time daily, so has been using the fawn cushion as a support during time. He loves all these toys, and they keep him happily entertained during tummy time.
VTech Calming Purrs Kitten, £35
– Great for relaxation
Available at: John Lewis, Argos and Amazon
Age suitability: From birth | Best for age: 3-6 months | Size: H39cm x W24cm x D135cm | Batteries: 4 x AA (included)
Much like the sheep above, this purrrfect Kitten is the ultimate soft soother for your newborn. Fast asleep, the kitten will gently move its head from side to side, wrinkle its nose as its dreams and breathe deeply. You can also press the moon button and watch soothing lights splay out of its body, or enjoy some of the sounds, including melodies, snoring and nature noises.
This has instantly become a firm favourite for me and my 5-month-old baby. It’s guaranteed to keep my baby entertained, and because it doesn’t require any intervention from me then I’m free to get on with other tasks while he is happily distracted. He loves cuddling it, feeling its vibrations and movements, grabbing its soft fur, listening to the music, and watching the colourful lights on its belly.
How to choose and use newborn toys safely
It's particularly important with newborns to consider safety when choosing toys. Here's what to look out for.- Look for the CE mark, which is the sign from the manufacturer that the toy meets regulatory requirements
- Look for the voluntary British Toy and Hobby Association's Lion Mark (a red lion inside a yellow triangle)
- Buy from retailers that you know and trust
- Ensure the toy is appropriate for your child's age. Small pieces (including things like plastic eyes on teddy bears that are 'fastened on' rather than super-securely attached) are choking hazards for newborns.
- Beware of any items that detach or have sharp edges
- Check toys regularly for things like loose threads or escaped filling
- Supervise your newborn at all times when they're playing with toys
- Never leave toys in your baby's cot while they sleep, even if they are said to be safe from birth
We've got more top tested and rated toys here...
Authors
Gabrielle Nathan has been a journalist for 20 years, writing lifestyle features for publications including Red, Women’s Health, Wildflower and Condé Nast Traveller. She has been writing about parenting since 2012, the year she became a mum.
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