All About Play…stages, toys and tips

What you’ll find here:

• an overview of what many children are capable of doing at each age and developmental stage
• types of toys appropriate for your child to play with at each age, plus suggestions from our own Fisher-Price^® favorites
• lots of ideas for how you can ensure your child gets the most enjoyment and learning from each toy at playtime

Kathleen Alfano, Ph.D.
Director of Child Research at Fisher-Price

Why we developed this section

Parents have told us time and again that they’d love some help choosing the right toys at the right stage of their child’s development. This section of our web site was created to offer that help, with recommendations of toys ideally suited for young children of different ages, from birth to 5 and up. They are offered by Dr. Kathleen Alfano from her many years working—and playing!—with children in our own Fisher-Price PlayLab.

How to use our tips during play

We suggest you take a relaxed, see-what-happens approach as you play together: try an idea and see how it works with your child—if it doesn’t, try something new! Trust your instincts as you play with your child, have fun together, and we hope you’ll come back for new ideas as your child grows and develops.

Reminder: All children develop at their own pace and reach developmental milestones at different times. The stages mentioned in this web site are meant as approximate guidelines only.