• Stimulate Infants With Baby Toys (0-6 months)

• Exercise Baby's New Skills (6-12 months)

• Select Baby Toys for the Active Toddler (1-2 years)

• Teach With Learning Toys (2-4 years)

• Find Baby Toys on eBay

• Buy Baby Toys with Confidence

Stimulate Infants With Baby Toys (0-6 months)

Stimulate Infants With Baby Toys (0-6 months)

While newborns haven't yet developed visual focus or muscular control, they are already sensing their new world. Baby toys that have bright colours and make noises are great for young babies. Since they're horizontal most of the time and haven't learned to move around yet, activity sets that rest on the floor or attach to cribs, car seats, and strollers are good toys for this stage.

• Crib toys & accessories: Colourful, sturdy crib toys help to keep baby content. These can be noisemakers with moving parts or plush companions to keep baby company. Bright shapes in a mobile above the crib can fascinate and calm a fussy infant; even more so if it plays music.

• Rattles and teethers: When your baby is teething, a chewable ring or rattle can help. Put rattles and teethers in the refrigerator when not in use. When your baby needs it, the coolness can help relieve sore gums.

• Sensory baby toys: Developmental toys (toys geared to helping babies acquire age-appropriate skills) at this age give babies things to squeeze that make noise and move. Toys with built-in rattles or squeakers help babies learn that their actions cause things to happen.

• Activities, play gyms: Hang an activity bar over your baby's crib or car seat, or set up an activity centre or play mat on the floor. These give babies a lot of options for gasping, teething, exploring, or just looking around. Activity sets come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Look for ones with sound and bright colours that are specifically made for infants.

• Soft baby books: It's never too early to start reading to your baby. Soft books establish good family reading habits. Sturdy cloth or thick cardboard pages also offer greater durability as baby “discovers” a good book.

Always check information from the manufacturer about whether or not a toy is appropriate for your baby’s age.

Exercise Baby's New Skills (6-12 months)

Exercise Baby's New Skills (6-12 months)

In this stage of life, your baby learns amazing things: moving by himself, exerting control over objects, identifying favourite playthings, and much more. Developmental toys can involve moving parts and fundamental puzzle solving. The baby toys you give them at this stage should be interactive and durable—they're going to take a lot of punishment.

• Activity tables: Colourful buttons, big bright switches, unbreakable mirrors, and maybe a noisemaker or two are all built into activity panels and tables. Some are designed to help support newly walking babies, holding them upright while keeping them interested in what their hands can do.

• Stuffed animals: At this age, babies are going to start acquiring favourite baby toys, and few are more favoured than that plush bear, dog, or baby doll that your baby begins to identify with warmth and comfort.

• Balls: Crawling babies will start rolling and tossing soft, lightweight balls with lots of glee. As they grow, the type of ball they prefer may change, but from now on your kids are likely to enjoy them, all the way through little league and intramural sports.

• Blocks: Dexterity will improve gradually in relation to blocks. The youngest babies may start to stack two or three blocks and then delight in knocking them down. By two years, they'll be stacking them higher, and by preschool, interlocking blocks will keep them amused for hours.

• Baby toys with wheels: As your baby learns to crawl and walk, a push toy can help give him incentive and keep him balanced. Crawling babies also like to start pushing wooden trucks and trains around the floor.

• Sand toys: Filling and dumping buckets becomes a favourite playtime activity at this age. Buy a small sandbox for your backyard or play room. (If it's outdoors, make sure it has a cover.) Then add sand toys and one happy baby.

• Books: As they near their first birthday, babies will like to turn pages themselves. Sturdy cardboard books are great for letting them get the motions right. They also will enjoy pop-up books and those with interactive elements like buttons that play sounds and flaps that open.

Select Baby Toys for the Active Toddler (1-2 years)

Select Baby Toys for the Active Toddler (1-2 years)

Toddlers have a formidable combination of energy and mobility. They can keep themselves entertained for longer periods of time, and the best developmental toys will let them exercise their new dexterity and greater understanding of how their actions affect the world around them.

• Activity toys: Activity toys with opening panels, flippable switches, and pressable buttons provide endless fun.

• Tub toys: From bath puppets to swimming fish to the classic rubber duckie, you can find all kinds of bath toys on eBay to keep your baby happily entertained.

• Crayons and paper: It's time for your little Picasso to make some masterpieces! Washable crayons, pens, finger paints, colouring books, and paper will let baby explore their creativity and ensure that cleanup isn't a hassle for you.

• Outdoor toys: As dexterity increases, your toddler will start to enjoy outdoor play sets with small slides, climbers, and baby swings (the kind that hold at the waist and between the legs). Your driver-in-training will also probably like to play on kid-sized cars and trains that let her ride around the house or yard.

• Toy tools and kitchens: In this phase of development, "monkey see, monkey do," is one of your child's major modes of operation. After watching mom and dad in the kitchen and the garage, kids want to play with toy tools, toy kitchen sets, toy phones, and the like.

• Puzzles: As his second birthday approaches, a baby enjoys solving simple puzzles. Watching a piece fit and hearing your praise encourages learning.

• Books: With newly developed visual acuity, the children's books your baby likes can become more "book-like" with more pictures and words. They’ll also sit still for longer as they build language skills.

As with infants, make sure to check with the toy manufacturer to make sure it's appropriate for your toddler.

Teach With Learning Toys (2-4 years)

Teach With Learning Toys (2-4 years)

As your children grow, the toys they’ll enjoy run the gamut from art supplies to ride-on cars to stackable blocks. Two-year-olds learn greater independence as they start speaking in sentences, learn to dress themselves, and begin to use the potty. Three- and 4-year-olds love imaginative play and are ready to turn a climber into a rocket ship.

• Outdoor toys: Balls to throw, bounce, catch, and roll are always popular with kids, both inside and out. When your child walks with balance, you can begin to introduce whiffle balls, miniature basketball hoops, water wings, and other age-appropriate sports equipment.

• Games and puzzles: Simple games like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory will support your toddler's brain development.

• Child-sized versions of adult things: Kids are still into kid-sized hammers and drills; stoves and dishes; and cars and boats. Playing in a playhouse with durable plastic props lets their imagination bloom. Don't forget musical instruments: a toy drum or penny whistle will delight your toddler. Costumes are also fun at this age, enhancing play in the land of make believe.

• Books: As children begin to speak more fluently, they can understand more complicated stories and even morals. You’ll find all the latest children’s books, including classics like Dr. Seuss, Where the Wild Things Are, and Goodnight Moon.

• Building toys: Big wooden blocks, LEGO sets, and other interlocking blocks can challenge your child to explore new possibilities, or just enjoy the delights of construction and destruction on a manageable scale.

Safety first! Check safe use information from the manufacturer for any toy aimed at kids 2 to 4 years old.

Find Baby Toys on eBay

Find Baby Toys on eBay

Once you know what you're looking for, go to the Baby portal, click Toys, and start searching for item listings on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. You'll find links for Activities, Gyms; Baby Blocks; Crib Toys & Accessories; Developmental Toys; Rattles, Teethers; and Other Baby Toys.

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a Fisher-Price activity table, type "Fisher-Price table" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Baby Toys with Confidence

Buy Baby Toys with Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to C$1,250.

• eBay Security & Resolution Centre: Visit the Security & Resolution Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.