Melissa & Doug is the premier destination for parents and caregivers shopping for the best available baby and toddler developmental toys.
With a wide variety of baby and toddler toys that promote learning new skills and key development milestones to choose from at Melissa & Doug, your choices can be narrowed down by focusing on specific skills you want to promote to your little bundle of joy.
Helping kids develop the key skills they’ll need when they reach school age and beyond is why we launched “Skills at Play,” which adds colorful, eye-catching graphics to our packaging and website to help you easily identify the skills those respective toys help teach.
Top Development Toys: Learning Skills Through Play
With Melissa & Doug, there are so many Skills at Play! For more than 35 years, we’ve inspired learning fun through open-ended toys that help kids build skills and confidence. We’re here to help you support your child through their ages, stages, and individual learning styles. To easily understand the skills kids are practicing while they play, we’ve created Skills at Play!
Every child is different. They each develop PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, and SOCIAL abilities at their own pace. We have identified 16 skills across these learning areas that our toys may help your child develop. On product pages, you'll find the most relevant skills for that toy listed:
- PHYSICAL SKILLS: Help your little one hone their fine motor, movement, and sensory skills.
- COGNITIVE SKILLS: Boost brain development with play that promotes problem solving, cause & effect, matching, and more.
- SOCIAL SKILLS: Give kids ways to connect and communicate with others while building self esteem and empathy.
Look for these individual Skills at Play icons on Melissa & Doug toy packaging and our website, designed to help parents and caregivers easily identify what skills our baby and toddler toys help promote through play.
Discover toys to support your child through every stage, with this specially curated selection of our top toys to highlight our Skills at Play initiative.
Provide your new baby with a safe, secure place to explore and play with our undersea-themed Ocean Easy-Fold Play Gym! This wooden play gym encourages babies to play and learn through multiple developmental stages. The play gym includes five machine-washable, skill-building toys that can attach or be removed. Best of all for parents, especially new moms who may be recovering from delivery: The wide wooden arches that allow easy access to the baby, and the innovative Quick-Close button that allows for speedy fold-and-go travel with or without the mat and toys attached.
Ocean Tummy Time Triangle Baby Toy
Make baby’s tummy time extra special with this engaging, double-sided folding cloth triangle toy! Three fold-out panels with adorable ocean-themed graphics and friendly characters lie flat or fold and connect into an upright pyramid. The Tummy Time Triangle helps babies stay engaged and strengthen muscles during tummy play. It’s a great addition to registries and makes a great gift for newborns through 6 months+.
Wooden Shape Sorting Grocery Cart
This cheery and sturdy wooden grocery cart is filled with fun skill-building activities! Very young kids can sort colorful chunky wooden food shapes through holes in the sides of the cart, and place them in two wooden puzzle boards that store in the cart. As kids grow, using the cart as a push toy helps build motor skills and inspire imaginative play. A great way to encourage kids 12 months+ to explore problem-solving and cause-and-effect.
How sweet it is for babies to discover textures and sounds with the Melissa & Doug Pineapple Soft Stacker! Grasp, squeeze, shake, and stack two soft, fabric-covered rings (one of which crinkles), a durable plastic textured ring, and a soft textured topper with crinkle leaves and silky smooth ribbons. The stacker is an engaging way to help infants 6 months+ develop important sensory, fine motor, and problem-solving skills.
Spice up playtime with touchable, tactile taco play food pieces! Fill a happy-faced, fabric-covered soft taco shell with crinkling, squishy, multi-textured pieces to delight the senses. Pull out the pieces and refill the taco again and again! The Soft Taco Fill & Spill is an engaging way to help infants 6 months+ develop important sensory, fine motor, and color recognition skills.
K's Kids Pull-Back Vehicles Toy
Wheel them back to get new skills speeding ahead! The “rev up” mechanism inside each of these four cars and trucks makes it easy for babies and toddlers to get big acceleration with just a little input: Pull back one of the soft vehicles—hen release to see it zoom off across the floor! The action of grasping and pulling back is great for fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination; the activity of “driving” and collecting (pull, release, crawl) benefits large muscle groups and coordination, too.
K’s Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter Baby and Toddler Toy
More than a shape sorter—this is an on-the-go activity center! Using nine plastic shapes and the padded carrying case, children can lift crinkly flaps, identify the pictures, match the shapes, and drop the textured blocks through the sorter . . . then pull the plush dog around the edge to unzip the case and start it all again! The baby- and toddler-friendly games and learning activities are great for enjoying together or for independent play, and are sure to keep little ones giggling while they learn.
This cuddly fish friend will swim right into kids' hearts! With bright colors, bold facial features, and washable fabrics that include a variety of patterns and hidden pictures, this crinkling, squeaking, multi-textured soft toy from Melissa & Doug K's Kids is perfect for encouraging tummy time and fueling storytelling.
Add a fresh twist to playtime with touchable, tactile farmer’s market play food favorites delight the senses! Fill the mesh mini-grocery tote with a squeaking carrot, chiming milk bottle, rattling tomato, and crinkling lettuce, all featuring sweet, friendly faces. Pull out the easy-to-grasp pieces and refill the tote again and again! The Market Basket Fill & Spill is an engaging way to help infants 6 months+ develop important sensory, fine motor, and color recognition skills.
K Kids Soft Activity Book: Who’s Feet?
Crocodile can't find his feet! Turn the pages to find out whose feet are down below—and enjoy Crocodile's fancy footwork! This squeaking, crinkling, foot-filled cloth book from Melissa & Doug K's Kids is durably constructed to last through story time, playtime, and the washing machine, too!
K’s Kids Soft Activity Book - Itsy-Bitsy Spider
Kids will delight in turning the soft, textured pages of this cloth activity book to follow an adorable little spider on its adventures up and down the water spout! Interactive details on each page let kids of all ages grasp, crinkle, stretch, and play peek-a-boo as the classic tale unfolds. The eight-page book is durably constructed to last through story time, playtime, and the washing machine, too.
For more unbeatable toy content from Melissa & Doug, click the links below:
Shop All Melissa & Doug Learning Toys
Shop Melissa & Doug Toys by Age
Shop Melissa & Doug Baby & Toddler Toys
Explore Melissa & Doug Skills at Play
