Activities

Baby Einstein Activity Keys
$4.99
These keys are great! My 1 year old just loves them. They've even helped her develop! She learned how to push the button to make the lights light up.

Design and Drill Activity Center
$42.99
We bought the design and drill activity center for my son's 3rd birthday. We also bought a Take-A-Part Airplane. The drills with the attachments can work on either toy, so we now have 2 drills for the design and drill center. Since we have 2 drills, we bring this out for playdates and it is always a hit. Boys and girls ages 2-6 have enjoyed it. I find that the kids like to drill in a lot more than they like to remove screws, so I end up having to remove them myself so that the toy gets played with, but that's a small price to pay for the 20 minutes or so of concentration this provides.
So far, no one has wanted to replicate the pictures - they just make up their own patterns.

Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center
$17.99
Fabulous toy and Crayola has great customer service. My children love doodling and now writing on this toy.

But, don't make the mistake of using other dry erase brand markers on this surface though as you may find that it does not want to come off! I made this mistake as I could not find these markers at a store (as another reviewer mentioned, these markers are difficult to find.) We used an Expo dry erase and another brand that I had bought from Target and they did not come off. We tried dish soap and rubbing alcohol and a lot of elbow grease. Then I read on the internet that someone suggested draw over the area that you want to erase and erase immediately.

What worked for us ultimately is drawing over the lines that would not erase with a newish Crayola dry erase marker, one that had lots of ink in it, and then using the eraser to wipe it off. We had to do this many times before the other dry erase lines were removed. Now you can't see the lines anymore.

We found that you can use the Crayola dry erase markers on this product and other true dry erase boards but you can't use other brand markers on this plastic surface - the ink is absorbed into the plastic.

Busy Zoo Activity Center
$99.99
This is the first toy they have that allows play while standing. They like to stand, using it as support, and use their hands to manipulate all the "things" with their hands and fingers. This big block is loaded with "things" to move around with little hands.

Mine looks just like the one in the picture. The paint was fine with no chips or any problems. The corners have a the edge taken off just like in the pictures. I can't see how this toy will tip over and fall on them at this age, given their sizes I mean. It's pretty sturdy.

The colors, patterns and symbols all over this toy are probably good for learning many things. At this point, I don't know if the babies learn from them but it's hard to tell what they learn when they can't talk yet.

The downsides are obvious - this toy is relatively expensive (but probably worth it), it is big (but not alll their toys should be small) and it is heavy (you don't want to have to pick it up and move it all the time).

I recommend this toy just because it's not like any of the others and the babies liked it right away and used it to support standing while playing.