As a second child, Juliet will forever be getting hand me down toys. It’s inevitable. The plus side is that I did spend a lot of time researching products for Drake, so most of the toys Juliet has been passed down should be stimulating and interesting for her. I recently did a quick search of the best infant toys, and we already own most of the items that popped up, which tells me that infant toys don’t really change and the tried and true ones still stand.  Still, some new items have come out since Drake was a baby, so I did find some infant toys that might be nice to buy just for Juliet.


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1) Skip Hop Hug and Hide Activity Toy – I’m a huge fan of Skip Hop products. I love how adorable their products look as well as the many functions they seem to serve.  Many of my mom friends have raved about this toy, how it engages their little ones and how the different textures and sounds as well as portability of it make it a great toy.

2) Mamas and Papas Princess – This company is one I never heard of, but it is popular in the UK and has recently crossed over the pond.  While I can’t vouch for any of their products, I am quite smitten with this little girl and just ordered it for Juliet. It’s a car hanging toy, but I think I might just try making this her lovey in the future since it’s so adorable.

3) Giggle Gang – I think these guys are adorable. I saw them on a recent trip to Target with Juliet (Drake was at school) and showed it to her.  Her face lit up! I pressed its tummy and it giggled and she smiled.  I haven’t bought one yet, but it may find its way home with us on our next trip.

4) Yookiddo Crawl n Go Snail –  By the time I discovered this toy, Drake was already crawling well.  While I don’t expect or want Juliet to start crawling anytime soon, this toy would be better served for us earlier than later so it might be a great toy for Juliet to grow into.

5) Infantino Pat and Play Water Mat – Like Drake, and probably most babies, Juliet hates tummy time.  I saw this at Babies R Us the other day and was drawn to the idea that it might make tummy time more interesting.  It seemed like a fun toy for a little one with the soft feel of the water inside, the moving sea animals and portability.  The box also said it would be a good toy for meal time when they can sit up which I can see.  As it is my 3 year old is equally as fascinated with this toy, maybe more so than my 3 month old, so I guess that’s an added bonus in allowing them to play together.

6) Sassy Alphabet Rings – I never bought these for Drake when he was little despite how popular they are, so I thought it would be nice to get Juliet an alphabet version. This would be neat to have to not only serve as a regular attachment ring/chewing toy, but also later on to help encourage alphabet shape recognition.  Drake, lover of all things letters, was also was taken by this toy, so once again this is something I can use to encourage them to play together.

7) Taggies Elephant– When Drake was born, everyone raved about Taggies saying they were the best toys and every child loved theirs.  I remember looking at a few and wondering what was so special about them.  In the end I bought him this one, and he didn’t care for it one bit.  I have noticed recently though that Juliet loves chewing on her fingers — something Drake never did as a baby. Drake was firmly attached to his pacifier and only used that whereas Juliet seems to be happier with her fingers during the day (she uses the pacifier to sleep).  Since the appeal of taggies is the little tags you chew on, maybe this is why the toy held no appeal to Drake.  I am going to give Juliet Drake’s car taggie to see if she has any interest in it. But this elephant taggie is adorable!

8) Infantino Wonder Whale Kicks and Giggles Gym–  Juliet has Drake’s old play gym but doesn’t really love it.  Drake had a great time staring at all the dangling toys, but Juliet seems a bit uninterested.  Juliet has loved her bouncer for a while now (a toy Drake could have cared less about) and really loves kicking around and making the birds above her sway. So I wonder if she would enjoy this kind of playmat more where her movement will cause things to move and catch her attention.

Are there any new infant toys that you recommend?