Destiny Baby

You know those cool toddler activity play centers with spiral zig zag mazes for counting beads that you find in your pediatrician’s office? Well, this is an affordable portable version of those activity centers that your child can take with them on the road. The EverEarth Triangle Activity Center for Toddlers features three different activities. These include bead fun, a sliding wood peg maze and sliding wooden beads! (Read more…)

Floor play mats are a great gift idea for for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Indoor play becomes lots of fun with these soft foam and vinyl activity and crawling mats that promote coordination, physical movement and recognition of colors, shapes, letters and numbers.

With some, like the Edushape tile sets, your child can fit the pieces together to build giant soft blocks out of the tiles that make up the floor mat.

These are also a great hygienic way to support active floor play while you and your family are on the road traveling for the holidays or for use in hotels on family road trips. Destiny Baby has always loved to play around on the floor, so we always bring a can of Lysol to hotels to spray the carpet!

Below is a list of some of the highest rated floor activity play mats for infants and toddlers on Amazon. And don’t forget to check out more Top Holiday Deals on Toys & Games from Amazon.

Play mats for toddlers or infants that crawl:

Uppercase 36 Sq. Ft. ‘We Sell Mats’ Alphabet and Number Floor Puzzle-Each Tile 12″x12″x3/8″ Thick with Borders

Edushape Edu Tiles Uppercase Letters Playmat, 26 Piece Set

Edushape Edu Tiles – 10 Piece Set

Infant activity mats:

Tiny Love Gymini Super Deluxe – Lights&Music (This infant playmat has won many awards, including Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, Parents’ Choice, and Parenting Magazine Toy of the Year Award.)

Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym

Fisher-Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym

Top Holiday Deals on Toys & Games from Amazon

Sometimes the most fun we had when Destiny Baby was younger was to roll a giant exercise ball around the house. He would love to play a human bowling pin and get knocked over by the giant orb. We had two–a big one that I bought to actually exercise with (that was a short-lived endeavor) and a smaller one that we won at Circus Circus in Las Vegas out of a giant prize grabbing machine (You know the kind where you control the mechanical arm? Imagine a giant one full of exercise balls covered with different basketball teams–yes, very cool.) You don’t have to go all the way to Nevada to get one–check out the SloMo ball. Catching it will be easy for your toddler because it’s a slow-floating ball! It’s super-lightweight and easy to track, and the surface is has enough give for children to grasp. The inflation level controls the bounce and softness, and it’s strong enough to support a child. The straw to inflate the ball is included, and it comes in various colors. Having fun can be the best kind of learning experience. (Believe me, they’re learning physics when they try to jump on top of a giant ball and roll right off!) (More…)

When your little one is riding around in the car seat, you’ve got to protect them from too much sunlight in the car, right? Well don’t get a dark, no-frills shade that just pulls down and blocks the sun and obscures their view. (Although I have to say nothing is quite boring to an enterprising young toddler with nimble fingers and a knack for figuring out how things work–our son always managed to push the automatic release button on the window shade causing it to fly up and him to cry!) We could have done better. Now you can do better. The Lamaze Car Shade not only provides year-round safety protection against harmful UV rays, it has a cool removable bar feature with three non-removable plush characters to entertain your baby as you’re riding around. Plus, each character has its own unique developmental feature–squeaker, crinkle, or rattle!

When it comes to buying toys featuring our kid’s favorite television characters like Diego or Dora the Explorer, it’s not just about buying any toy with the name of the character slapped on. As we’ve mentioned before, child development experts have repeatedly shown that the best kinds of toys encourage unstructured playtime and have multiple uses.

Diego is a popular children’s cartoon character on Nick Jr. (Baby Destiny looooves him!) He’s an animal rescuer and cousin to Dora the Explorer, who goes on adventures all over the world. Like Dora, the show is interactive, asking young viewers to identify objects, follow clues, all while teaching vocabulary (including Spanish!) Stores are filled with toys and products featuring both characters.

Below are some of the best toys and books we’ve found featuring both of these favorite cartoon characters. Follow the links below to find out more about educational toys featuring Dora the Explorer or Go Diego Go!

We always knew LEGO toys were lots of fun, but did you know they make ideal educational learning toys, too? Besides the joy of engaging in creative play building model trains and buildings and other objects together with your little one, you can use simulations and model replicas while incorporating role play to provide important opportunities for your child to explore their own ideas about how these engineering and architectural marvels operate.

While supplies last, you can get 25% OFF of an Eiffel Tower 1:300 scale model!

And for you train enthusiasts out there, here comes the Emerald Night! You can build this incredible classic-styled train with loads of amazing details, from the steam locomotive with furnace to the opening tender and dining car with removable roof, opening doors and detailed interior. This set includes three minifigures, elements in rare colors and all-new large train wheels with piston motion. Motorize your Emerald Night by adding LEGO Power Functions accessories.

Check out the full range of Educational Toys at LEGO Shop at Home and have fun while learning with LEGO toys!