First Steps and Curious Minds: Toys for 10-12 month olds

I love watching these curious babies as they figure things out. They are getting really good at pressing buttons and realizing that's what started the music.....that twisting the knob makes the little puppy pop up.....that tapping the xylophone with the stick creates a tone! And they are motivated little movers.....cruising that leads to first steps, and then they think they are ready to run! So changing up the toys and activities for this stage was a fun little adventure to the toy aisle with the boys for the first time, and I put a little more thought into what they toys would teach instead of how good they would taste- ha:) Here's what we found: (some affiliate links are included!)

VTech Zoo Jamz Doggy Xylophone-- I actually bought this a little too early, and so my first grandson just wanted to chew on the stick instead of using it to play the xylophone......but finally, at ten and a half months or so, he realized that he could bang the stick and make some music. It has a few settings that we will use when the boys are older, like learning to play a song by following a pattern. For right now, they are just learning cause and effect!

Playskool Tumble Top Giraffe- This cute toy makes the balls pop when the giraffe's neck is pushed down--they loved it!

Playskool ABC Soft Stacking Blocks--I was going to buy the classic wooden blocks, but since part of the skills they are learning seem to include throwing things (!), I decided to go with these soft ones. It's a set of 12, and I can talk to them about colors too:)

Melissa and Doug's K's Kids Musical Farmyard Cube Educational Baby Toy- encourages some of their fine motor skills as they press the animal noses to make the melodies play, and they play with the different textures and hear the crinkly sounds.

V Tech Sit to Stand Learning Walker- SO many activities on this one, and then they can walk behind and push it around when they are ready!

Melissa and Doug Farm Animals Jumbo Knob Wooden Puzzle and the Melissa and Doug First Shapes Jumbo Knob Wooden Puzzle- we are just starting to investigate puzzles, and I love these because of the jumbo knobs and size of the pieces!

Fisher Price Pets Pop Up - this is a great version of a classic pop up toy, and they are fine tuning those fine motor skills and learning cause and effect, too. `