My hands down, all-time favorite online toy store is Oompa. It has an awesome selection, free shipping for orders over $65, and orders under $65 ship for a flat $4.95. You really can’t go wrong with anything from this place. It offers the good European brands like Haba and Selecta, most of which are not made in China, if that worries you. Haba does manufacture a few things there, but the nice thing about Oompa is it tells you where the toy is designed and also where it’s made. Oompa’s motto is this mother’s dream come true: no batteries, no blinking lights, no cartoon-themed toys. Period. It also has a wish list you can make and send to the grandma. Fabu.

My mom got my son a doll house made by Plan Toys. He loves it, calls it “playing family.” He’s two and I wanted one that wasn’t all pink and purple, like the ones his girl friends have; I didn’t want to discourage doll play, but for his father’s sake I didn’t want him to do it in pink!

I also got some nice wooden teething things from Plan Toys when he was little.

Another favorite are the Fantasy Blocks from Haba. He’s been playing with these almost daily for the past year. I added the Gedulsteine and Discovery Blocks set and it has worked out great. The Kaleidoscopic blocks and the Mirror blocks look cool too. He loves his Haba Ball Track, but he likes anything with a ball. The best toy we have is a basket filled with balls: wiffle, nerf, squish, any kind, different sizes–there’s at least 30. We dump’em, golf’em, hit’em. And he’s got rubber bases too, which is great if your kid likes baseball.

Grandma just got him Variola from Selecta. I found it’s not for carpet; much better on hardwood floor if you put a rubber no-slip mat underneath.

Another great toy he just received is the Your Body Boy Puzzle from Beleduc, a German company, though the toy is made in China. Totally worth it though. He loves it. It’s designed for 3+, but his dexterity is good and he can do the whole thing. We’ve been talking about how food goes in the mouth and what it does before it comes out as poop, and this puzzle puts a nice graphic to what’s inside.

I don’t love Melissa & Doug toys because the paint seems to chip a lot. Also they are made in China, so who knows how safe that chipped paint is? I’ve tested a few of his M&D toys for lead and none have had it, but still I don’t like the idea of all the chipped paint. And yet some of their stuff is great, and for a toddler who isn’t also teething on the toy, they’re at least an affordable, nonplastic alternative. Also, M&D have some great toys which you can’t find elsewhere. His favorite is the fishing game. He got this from Nik for his 1st birthday. She figured he could grow into it since the age is 3+. But he was doing the game by the end of the day, and it’s been over a year and he still asks to “play fishing” almost every day. Now we fish and count them, and line them up and name them and their colors. It’s a really simple magnetic game that you can take places. He also loves magnets. And speaking of magnets a great building magnet toy that you don’t have to worry about the magnets falling out (have to be careful about this, kid swallows two of them, they’ll join together through their intestines and stuff. Bad news.) or the balls getting swallowed is Magneatos. They’re plastic and made in China but hey with 80% of the toys made there you do the best you can. Anyway they make a jumbo set with balls 2″ diameter so your toddler can build and your 6 month old won’t choke.

I also like the “Take-A-Part Truck” by Battat. My boy got this for Christmas and he’s kind of a tool guy. (He gets that from his mom, I have a soft spot for nice power tools.) Anyway, he thinks my power drill is just the best and when he got this toy he flipped. They also make a crane and a plane but the concept is great. It comes with a “power drill” and the truck is put together with these big screws. The kid unscrews all the screws and takes the truck apart and then puts it back together. There’s even interchangeable bits and you can take the tires off too. There’s a little button on the drill to make it go righty tighty or lefty loosey. Which my kid has been talking about all holiday season since we use the old-school c7’s on our tree and he has been unscrewing them all season. Hopefully this toy will help get that out of his system by next year so we can maybe turn the tree on more?? But it’s just great and he loves it. And I love that he can do it all himself. Again the age is 3+ but if your kid has good dexterity and is past eating stuff that isn’t food, it shouldn’t be a problem. Also this toy is the one thing he wouldn’t share with his best pal, Nik’s son, both of which are great sharers so that’s saying something. Oh and with his own “drill,” I was finally able change all the pulls in my kitchen, since I could use my drill and he could use his.

Let’s see, I got grandma to get him a digital camera and he digs it. Keeps his hands off mine now which is just great. I got him this one by VTech but this one from crayola] looks a little simpler.

I think that pretty much wraps it up! Enjoy and happy playing!

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We started by showing him short video clips, mostly from YouTube. The videos are short (2-5 minutes) and some even have fun soundtracks that kids like to dance to. The nice thing is that my son can just call out anything he’s interested in (lately: elephants!, tapir!, helicopter!, choo choo train!) and I can find a good video of it in a flash. One very large word of caution is that you have to screen the videos before you show your child. A quick search of “elephants” might take you to a video of an elephant gone mad at a circus, killing its trainer, a “wildebeast” video might show one being devoured by a crocodile (let’s not traumatize the kiddies), “helicopter” is often a crash. But, if you are willing to do a little research, you can find some great videos.

Here are some of his favorites:

Italian cartoon called “La Pimpa”

A helicopter ride over Hawaii

“Steam Train”

Curious George

The “Planet Earth” series from the Discovery Channel has some of the most amazing cinematography I have ever seen. I bought the whole series, which we play on my laptop and watch for about 20 minutes at a time. He loves it and so do I.

If you have suggestions, please let us know!