Everyone at DestinyBaby.com hopes you and yours have been enjoing the holidays. We hope you were able to find some great educational toys for the babies, toddlers and preschoolers in your life (hopefully with some of our help!) We want to draw your attention to a number of seasonal and post-Christmas sales. If you were holding back on some of your shopping you might want to take a look at the great markdowns on the season’s most popular toys and gifts for young children from The Land of Nod, where you’ll find everything for your kids from A to ZZZ is featuring a Winter Wonderland Sale with up to 50% off their most pouplar items.
Every baby exhibits slightly different inclinations and capabilities, and there is no such thing as a “foolproof” pick. However, by following a few basic guidelines, parents can see to it that their hard-earned money is wisely invested, rather than wasted, and with some reliable knowledge about what infants and toddlers are like at different stages of development, they can ensure that their baby will have an ample supply of appropriate and enjoyable playthings. (more…)
Looking for the ideal educational learning toy for a toddler? Need something to stimulate your child’s imagination and creativity? Why not get an activity table such as a musical learning table. Musical learning tables, such as the LeapFrog Learn & Groove Musical Table are made for children as young as three months up to 3 years old, though parents have found older siblings up to age five enjoying these fun tables. Mixing sound, mechanical motion, colors and more they provide visual and hearing stimulation and promote motor skills development.
Of the three, the LeapFrog table is the most popular of the three, with parents citing the entertainment value of the toy, its musical variety, and bilingual Spanish and English options. Personally, we like the Chicco table a lot because the play surface is two-sided. You can flip over the table and use it for building blocks (blocks are included) when your little one inevitably wants to move on to something else. It is also easy to store things — the blocks are stored under the table, making clean up fun and easy.
The fact that these kinds of tables are easily taken apart can be a minus and a plus. On the downside, if your little one likes to take things apart, you will forever be putting the tables and legs back together. On the other hand, this makes the tables portable. In fact, with the Chicco Music ‘n Play Table, you can take it apart in just three pieces, which is really convenient. In fact, the legs are not critical, and if your son is like ours, the table top will often be played with on the floor. (This is also helpful from a safety perspective if your toddler likes to climb on top of things!) (The LeapFrog also has removable legs, but there are four separate legs).
You could also try out actual pianos, like the color coded Melissa and Doug Learn to Play piano that features 25 keys. You can also consider an inexpensive electronic keyboard, which our 2 year old has and loves a lot. While you are at it, you might pick up a whole band, like the wooden drum set Musical Band by Plan Toys, the Rockin Riffs Guitar by International Playthings, and a wooden Percussion Set (featuring tambourines and shakers). You can get all these toys from eBeanstalk. Use the code FREESHIP$65 to get free FedEx shipping on these toys and more from eBeanstalk.com.
You might also check out the extremely cool table top Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Musical Instruments Sound Puzzle. The sound of a Guitar, violin, xylophone, piano, drums, harmonica and brass instruments will play their sounds when your child plugs in the correct colorful puzzle pieces on the wooden puzzle board.
Other toys in clude the Bilingual Talking Garden Activity Table by Chicco, which can be used to teach the alphabet, numbers, spaces, colors, textures, and first words. There is also a musical table mode where babies can play music, her sound effects. The table uses flashing lights to stimulate interactive play.
You can also try the Xylopiano by IPlay, which combines the xylophone and piano into one toy to spark your child’s interest in musical learning. The Xylopiano features colored sound cars that will help teach your child to play simple tunes and read music!
Check out more bestselling musical toys, such as the all-in-one electronic keyboard and play along song book called Play Me Another Song Piano Book, which has 12 songs, color and number coded to atach the keys, including Row Your Boat, Happy Birthday and more. You and your child can also create your own tunes on the piano’s 23 keys. This is one of Destiny Baby’s favorite toys, as we praised this fun piano book in an earlier review.
My son and I stumbled across the Fisher-Price online games and activities website. For over an hour, we played the games online for toddlers and infants. What was cool was that most games are set up where your little one can push any key on the keyboard and get a visual and sound reaction. Some games are peek-a-boo style learning games where animals pop up and make sounds, others feature ABCs and 123s. He particularly liked the coloring games, where pushing keys would color in a scene. He also got hooked on the ABC games, making the game sing the ABC song over and over again while he worked to keep up. Overall, it was fun for both of us and is a site I am bookmarking to return to often.
I first found these sites a few years ago when I was pregnant with my son (who just turned 2 in July – time does fly). Consider this a mini-guide to get started finding free stuff for moms and gifts and toys for babies on the web. DestinyBaby.com is not affiliated with any of the following sites or companies. These are just resources for discounts and deals that I found when I was expecting…enjoy!
Do you know about online coupons? You can use some for online stores and others you print out at home and take to the store. There are online coupons for groceries, clothes, department stores and more! Some good ones I’ve used include printable copuons from Wow Coupons and from Keycode.com I’ve printed coupons from their site and used them a New York & Company and The Avenue.
DestinyBaby.com is the #1 place to find reviews and deals on the best and top selling educational learning toys, games, puzzles, and more for infants, toddlers, and kids!
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. The sound of a Guitar, violin, xylophone, piano, drums, harmonica and brass instruments will play their sounds when your child plugs in the correct colorful puzzle pieces on the wooden puzzle board. 
, which combines the xylophone and piano into one toy to spark your child’s interest in musical learning. The Xylopiano features colored sound cars that will help teach your child to play simple tunes and read music!
, which has 12 songs, color and number coded to atach the keys, including Row Your Boat, Happy Birthday and more. You and your child can also create your own tunes on the piano’s 23 keys. This is one of Destiny Baby’s favorite toys, as we praised this 
