Hellobee

In this edition of the Swarm, the Bees share their little one’s top 3 favorite toys according to age!

C H A R L I E

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Sophie the Giraffe, Green Sprouts Stacking Cups, Winkel, Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Leapfrog Music Table, Exersaucer. His true all time favorite toy at this age, the Fisher Price Cruise Musical Jungle, was discontinued. I got it for free off my local parenting listserv and Charlie played with it for hours daily.

12  M O N T H S +  :
– Doll Stroller, Push Trike, Baby Einstein Alphabooks, everything Thomas (18 months+)

2  Y E A R S+  :
– Megabloks, Jigsaw Puzzles, Sandbox, Kid Kraft Red Retro Play Kitchen (we got this around 9 months and it was instantly a hit, but 2 was when he really started imaginative play), and Melissa & Doug Play food (also these magnetic condiments and cutting food), Play tent (it’s a hit every single time we bring it out)

3  Y E A R S+  :
– Magnatiles, Dress up Clothes (Pilot, Astronaut, Doctor), The Incredible Hulk (and a general fascination with all things superhero)

If I had to pick an all time top 3 that Charlie has played with most, it would be Mega Bloks, the play kitchen, and Thomas.

O L I V E

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes, Tiny Love Stroller Arch, The First Years Star Teething Blanket

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Sassy Wonderwheel, Train Table, Kid Kraft Red Retro Play Kitchen, B. Parum Pum Pum Drum (she liked the egg shakers best)

12  M O N T H S +  :
– Melissa and Doug Shopping Cart, Legos & Megabloks, Fisher Price Piggy Bank

Her all time favorite toys are cars/trains/vehicles of any kind, and the Melissa and Doug shopping cart. She’s also always loved the train table and play kitchen. I just ordered a doll stroller for her and can’t wait to get it…. I think it will become her new favorite toy!

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
Play mat, Skip Hop Treetop Day to Night Owl, Rubber teethers – he mostly just used his paci as a teether!

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
Uncle Goose Blocks, V-Tech Hammer Truck, exersaucer. We have the Evenflo Circus one, however I wish we’d had the Rainforest Jumperoo because he LOVED that one in the church nursery.

R I A

>1
– Sophie the Giraffe, Playgym, Soft Book

>2
– Her teddy – he’s her constant companion, even now
– Wheelybug – from about 18 months to 2.5 years
– Board books – she has a lot and wanted to be read to aaall the time.

>3
– Stella Doll – for a while when Sunny was tiny, Stella was Ria’s baby
– Mega Bloks – she has them out every day (she has this set and a gender neutral set)
– Bathtub crayons
– Play Kitchen – more all the food than the kitchen itself. We have a lot of tea parties lately.

Her top toys are Teddy, Mega Bloks and her books.

S U N N Y

Mostly she just chases the cat and destroys TG’s towers. And pulls all the play food out of the kitchen to chew on.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Wooden Elephant teether, Sophie the Giraffe, Playgym (same as TG’s)

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Exersaucer (this style, I can’t find the exact one)
– Butterfly toy/Teether – It’s the toy that lives in my diaper bag and hangs out with her in the car. She loves it.
– Board Books (at nearly a year, she looooves to sit and look at them)

5  M O N T H S  :
This Playgym saved my sanity a million times… so has the Rainforest Jumperoo. Wowza he can get going in that thing! We also are borrowing a Summer Infant Super Seat that he likes pretty well. The Winkel. Also love the GUND bear. I left one of my favorite bears, a classic GUND Snuffles, at a taxi stand when I was five. I was inconsolable!

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Teething Keys
– Fisher Price Rainforest Jungle Gym – She still plays with some of the toys from the gym!
– Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal – She received this from a friend when she was a couple weeks old and has not been able to part with it since!

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Evenflo Exersaucer – For a few months, we could plop her in here and she would be completely entertained.
– Board Books – This should really 6 months – present because she loves books. Now she’ll try to say what she sees in the pictures.
– Fisher Price Sing Along Stage – This has probably been a favorite since about 8 months, but she STILL loves to play with this. She loves to make faces in the mirror, try all the instruments, and she dances along to the music. A great toy and I can’t recommend it enough!

12 – 18  M O N T H S  :
– Zany Zoo – I bought her this activity center for her 1-year birthday and it’s both educational and entertaining.
– Melissa and Doug Hide and Seek magnetic puzzle – This is great right now because she LOVES farm animals, and the magnets make it easy for her to place the animals back in their
– Winnie the Pooh ride-on car – My sister recently loaned this to us and she absolutely loves it! She loves hiding her toys in the seat of the car, and playing all the music and riding around the kitchen.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
Winkel, Sophie the Giraffe, O-ball, fabric books with crinkle pages. At this age, toys needed to be easy to grasp, chewable, and not too heavy because he would bonk his head before he had good control of his arms

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– stacking cups – he loves “talking” into cups
– stacking rings – he can get the rings on the cone, but won’t let go of it
– plastic golf clubs – Mr. TTT got Liam this for Christmas from the dollar store and it’s one of his favorite toys
– balls – he will flick a ball with his hand and crawl after it, over and over
– vacuum toy – This was a gift and I can’t find a link, but it plays music and sort of vacuums up balls. Liam isn’t walking yet, but he’ll sit on the floor and push it back and forth to get it to make music; then, he dances!

1  Y E A R +  :
Liam is all about playing outside right now. He lovee his water table and kiddie pool. He also loves playing in the park with his sand toys! He’s recently started to like trucks and makes a growling noise when he sees one.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– o ball rattle, Winkel, exersaucer

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes, Fisher Price activity table, Baby Einstein jumperoo

1 – 2  Y E A R S  :
– retro rocket, guitar, Kid Kraft Red Retro Play Kitchen

2 – 3  Y E A R S  :
– Melissa and Doug band in a box, drum set, ukulele

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Cardboard boxes, Tupperware, Rainforest Jumperoo, Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
(she still plays with these toys even at 2+ years so they’ve definitely withstood the test of time).
– V-tech Sit to Stand Learning Walker,Rockabye Rocker, Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Musical Table

12  M O N T H S  +  :
– Radio Flyer Walker Wagon, Kid Kraft Red Retro Play Kitchen, Colorful cups from IKEA – (I bought them for drinking, but she loves using them for stacking and pretend play!)

2  Y E A R S +  :
– Step 2 Push Around Buggy –  (she loves pretending to drive… “just like daddy”)
– Play Food (it’s the first thing she’ll go to when she comes home from daycare – she loves to “share” with mommy).
– Melissa + Doug ABC Peg Puzzle – she’s obsessed with anything with numbers and ABC’s

Her favorite toy though has to be balls, for as long as I can remember. Although there are a lot of big items on my list and she’s enjoyed them all, the things that entertain her the most are the little things – ABC’s, balls, anything with bright colors, stickers, tupperware, boxes, crayons/colored pencils and paper, bubbles…

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Sophie the Giraffe – Little C started getting teeth just before he was 4 months, so he LOVED Sophie very early on.
–Rainforest Jumperoo – He was so thrilled with being upright, and loved jumping as soon as he figured it out.
– Winkel – C would sit and stare at it in wonder, and eventually pass it from hand to hand.

6  M O N T H S  –  P R E S E N T  :
– THIS BABY MARACA (formally known as the Halilit Maracito) – I kid you not when I say that we cannot leave the house without this rattle, and Little C usually has it in his fist every waking minute of his day (sometimes two – makes for an interesting clanking noise when he crawls). In fact, I’d recommend any of the Halilit products – all of their “instrument” toys are fabulous.
– Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Puppy Piano – Not only does C love this toy, but our puppy has figured out how to step on this and make it sing.
The Farmer Says – Little C’s grandma bought him this because apparently it was one of my favorite toys, and she hit the nail on the head. C is fascinated by the animal sounds and loves to watch the spinner go round.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Sassy Ring O’ Links, Bend and squeak toys, Ikea Baby gym

6  M O N T H S  +  :
– Books of all kinds, Stacking rings,  Zany Zoo

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– Sophie the Giraffe, Sassy Ring O’ Links, Rainforest Jumperoo

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– Vtech learn and crawl ball, ALEX busy wood cube, stack rings

1 – 2  Y E A R S  :
– pottery barn kitchen {the best thing ever filled with wooden food} + Melissa and Doug Shopping Cart
– elmo/cookie monster puppets
– mason: Little Tikes mini basketball hoop
– raya: stroller and dolls

2  Y E A R S +  :
besides the kitchen/cart which remain huge hits:
– Crayola easel with magnetic letters
– play dough
– books, books, books!

Overall the kitchen, Sophie and the easel have been the biggest hits.

I feel like I have shafted poor Baby Popcorn on the toy front! I *just* learned about Sophie the Giraffe. What rock have I been living under? Honestly, the only toys Baby Popcorn has are the ones people have given her. We haven’t done a lot of research about these things. She has lots of books, a hand puppet, a Fisher Price Swing Seat, some other bouncy chair, a Fisher Price Starlight Papasan Swing, and a Jelly Cat Puppy Tails book, which is her new favorite thing to put in her mouth.

Not sure any of these are my favorites per se, but she seems to enjoy them. I think she enjoys me making funny voices with the hand puppet or just me making onomatopoeic noises in general the most. Someone gave us Winton Marsalis’ Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! which is by far her favorite book.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
1. Skip Hop Treetop Activity Gym
2. Bumbo (to give a different perspective of the gym)
3. Manhattan Toy Skwish

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
1. Rainforest Jumperoo (this was a HUGE hit from 4-9m)
2. Indoor/Outdoor swing
3. The stairs – there was nothing more fascinating from 9-14 months than climbing up and down the stairs

12 – 16  M O N T H S  :
1. Angel Dear Pair & a Spare Lovey
2. Balls of any kind
3. Teepee I made, similar to this.

Most of all, his favorite thing to do since he was 12 weeks old is to go to the park. He goes for hours daily at daycare; he can’t get enough of the park! Also, I started reading to him before nap when he was ~2 weeks old, but around 13 months he REALLY got into books. He’d have us read to him all day long if he could.

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
1. Sophie the Giraffe 2. Mortimer the Moose 3. Rainforest Jumperoo  (from 4-6 months)

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
1. Fisher Price Rock-A-Stack 2. Bright Starts Around We Go 3. Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Musical Table

12 – 18  M O N T H S  :
1. Balls of any kind! 2. Melissa & Doug Chomp and Clack Alligator 3. B. Zany Zoo

18 M O N T H S  +  :
1. Thomas trains 2. Kidcraft Play Kitchen 3. Fisher-Price Rev n Sounds Race Track

E L L I E

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
Mama!

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
Plan Toy Shape and Sort It Out, Haba Dragonstone Castle, Plan Toys Stacker  (she still sometimes uses this as amusement park equipment for smaller toys!)

12 – 18  M O N T H S  :
Thomas, Plan Toys Turboprop Airplane Pilot, Haba Sticky Bricks Building Blocks

18  M O N T H S  +  :
Play Stand Arch, Play Silks, Dollhouse (we had a neighbor make an identical one for her birthday)

L O R E L E I

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
Lifefactory Sensory Silicone Teether, Grabbing Star with Wooden Teething Ring, Tiny Love Double Sided First Book,

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
Play Stand Arch, Play Silks,  Bilibo – Lorelei likes to use it as a car (she’ll sit in it and have me or sister push her around on the carpet), or put other toys under or inside of it. She’s also tried to use it to rock babies. Ellie uses it for all sorts of things (stands on it, pretends to be a turtle, uses it as a cradle), toothbrushes, garlic press

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
Skip Hop Treetop Activity Gym,  Sophie the Giraffe, Sassy Jitter Bugs

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Stacker (the blue star/ring is her most favorite thing in the world!), Baby Einstein Jumper, Radio Flyer Walker Wagon

0 – 6  M O N T H S  :
– James – Fisher Price Rainbow hedgehog
– Joe – Lamaze Mortimer Moose
– Nick – Lamaze Apple teether
– Lilly – Disney princess bath toys

6 – 12  M O N T H S  :
– James – exersaucer
– Joe – Sing along Stage
– Nick – ball pit
– Lilly – Fisher price Laugh and learn tea pot

1 – 2  Y E A R S  :
– James – Peek a boo blocks
– Joe – play kitchen and wooden food sets
– Nick – pull along toys. He absolutely loved the Plan Toys snail.
– Lilly – Little People

2 – 3  Y E A R S  :
– James – Thomas wooden railway sets
– Joe – wheely bug
– Nick – Rody horse

3 – 4  Y E A R S  :
– James loves being outside. He loves his big boy bike.
– Joe – Imaginext or Star Wars Playskool Heroes
– Nick loves to pretend. We have lots of dress up clothes in our playroom. Most are handmade, but we do have some lke this firefighter set from imaginarium.

4  Y E A R S  +  :
– James love anything Power Ranger, Superhero or Ninja Turtles. It drives me crazy because most of the products he wants are cheaply made plastic stuff with lots of little parts, but it’s what we really wants to play with. I prefer the superheroes over the Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles because I find the others to be pretty annoying.

My favorites and ones I think are worth the money are:

1. Little People. They last long and are study. Even little babies can pick them up and play with them. My twins who are almost four still take them out and play with them.
2. Wooden Train sets. Thomas is incredibly expensive but they last forever. My sister gave me a ton from her three kids and they have still survived my four kids. The great thing about the wooden railways is that they tend to all match together. You don’t have to spend money on Thomas specific track or sets. Many toy companies like Imaginarium, Melissa and Doug and KidKraft also make wooden train sets that all fit together with the Thomas Brand.
3. The Imaginext brands from Fisher Price. As my kids have gotten older I have become more and more irritated by the quality of toys and action figures. The Imaginext brand has yet to fail me. They are made out of sturdy plastic. They are well made but they do have small parts, as they are meant for older kids. They have lines for some of the DC comic characters and I like them because even the bad guys don’t look disgusting and mean. They have a relatively benign look about them which makes them a good transition to the world of super heroes. My kids love the dragon and the castle set, plus the Star Wars.
4. Classic wooden toys, like pull toys and stackers. They seem to just be all around better than plastic.

I wont lie — I dont really remember anymore which is why I am having a hard time doing this swarm post and a few others.

I would say overall Drakes favorite toys have always been books, especially his Baby Einstein alphabooks.

We got him this KidKraft Vintage Kitchen the Christmas before he turned 2 and he still loves playing with it along with these pots and pans and fruits.

He also is a huge fan of Duplos. He recently has gotten into puzzles a lot so we play with those a lot too.

And surprisingly Sophie has recently gotten a lot of play when he didn’t care for her at all as a baby. He plays with her more like a toy in that he talks to her and has her do stuff and sit next to him; he doesnt chew her at 3 but treats her like a little friend.

1 – 2  Y E A R S  :
– I love Little People and the animal sounds in this set are so fun!
– Lil’ CB played with this pretend food set more than anything else in his kitchen. It’s amazing how realistic the cutting sounds on the wooden cutting board!
– This B. Parum Pum Pum Drum set is so fun because there are several instruments that fit into the drum (built in storage!), so it led to many family jam sessions!

2 – 3  Y E A R S  :
– Thomas – much to my chagrin (y’all know how I feel about Thomas!), Thomas and his friends (as well as other trains) were Lil’ CB’s number one favorite toy from the time he was 2 years old. He still enjoys playing with his trains, but it really peaked at 2.5-3 years-old.
– Disney Cars Blazing Trails Books — this is a fantastic product that is a book and play set all in one. It comes with a folded playmat and 12 small figurines that are great for traveling or playing with at home. We have 3 sets: Cars, Cars 2, and Thomas (blech) and there are several other sets, too. I keep the Thomas one in my purse in a baggie without the book and it’s great to whip out at restaurants, waiting rooms, etc.
–  I love Green Toys products and this firetruck was great for Lil’ CB’s growing imaginative play scenarios. The side ladders are removeable and the top ladder swivels.

3  Y E A R S  +  :
– I cannot say enough about how awesome this balance bike is! Lil’ CB loves scooting and cruising on this bike and we are anticipating that he will easily transition to a standard two-wheeler this summer because of this bike!
– Lil’ CB is an avid basketball fan and loves to watch and play the game. He will go outside and practice dribbling a standard size basketball for upwards of an hour, but for inside the house, this over-the-door set has been great!
– Now that Lil’ CB is a bit older, he’s become interested in playing board games. Memory is a favorite because it’s easy to understand and play. Other games we enjoy are Spot It and Candyland.

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Now it’s time for you to share! What have been some of your little one’s all time favorite toys?