Playing with your 9-month-old is a terrific way to support them in achieving all of their developmental goals while also generating some smiles. Your baby’s motor capabilities and cognitive growth at this age would undoubtedly take you by surprise. Many infants have the motor abilities necessary to crawl, pull themselves up to stand, and cruise around furniture by the time they are 9 months old.
They become more interested in exploring their surroundings and reaching for toys on their own. However, safety should be the top priority when selecting toys for this age group, as they still enjoy putting objects in their mouths.
We have compiled a list of the best toys for 9-month-olds that will not only entertain and engage your little ones but also help them develop new skills and abilities.
Our Top Picks
- Best Walking Toy For 9-Month-Olds: VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker
- Best Learning Toy for 9-Month-Olds: Fisher-Price Interactive Learning Toy
- Best Developmental Toy For 9-Month-Olds: Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter
- Best Fine Motor Skills Toy For 9-Month-Olds: Playskool Busy Poppin Pals
- Best Ball Pit Toy For 9-Month-Olds: VTech Pop-a-Balls Drop and Pop Ball Pit
- Best Stacking Toy For 9-Month-Olds: Sassy Stacks of Circles
- Best Musical Toy For 9-Month-Olds: Baby Einstein and Hape Magic Touch Piano
- Best Vehicle Toy For 9-Month-Olds: Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Pull-Back Vehicle Set
- Best Crawling Toy For 9-Month-Olds: VTech Wiggle and Crawl Ball
- Best Push Toy for 9-Month-Olds: Fisher-Price Walk Bounce & Ride Pony
In This Article
HappyBabyHub’s Best Toys For 9-Month-Olds Picks
VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker – Best Walking Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- No assembly is necessary as everything snaps easily into place
- The handle is the perfect height for a baby learning to walk
- There are a lot of things going on with it and all kinds of sounds
- The board/console easily comes on and off the walker
- Interlocking gears are a little difficult for babies to play with
VTech’s Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker is an innovative tool that can help your 9-month-old transition from crawling to walking. The walker comes equipped with a plethora of exciting features that your little one will enjoy as they start to take their first steps.
The walker’s farmyard-themed activity panel is easy to detach, allowing for floor play or on-the-go entertainment. It has a telephone handset, five piano keys, three colored rollers, three light-up shape sorters, three light-up buttons, and spinning gears. These features not only entertain your baby but also promote their learning and motor skill development.
In addition, the Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker is a great way to teach your baby about shapes, colors, animals, and music, among other things. Don’t forget to get to install safety gates at the top and bottom of your stairs though (1).
Fisher-Price Interactive Learning Toy – Best Learning Toy for 9-Month-Olds
- Teaches counting, letters, colors, and opposites
- Has a record feature that repeats
- This toy is ready to use right out of the box
- No charging or batteries needed
- A little bit expensive
This interactive toy will help your 9-month-old learn the alphabet, counting, colors, and more with just the push of a button. With over 75 tunes, noises, and phrases, this toy is a true party for your little one.
It features three Smart Stages levels that adapt to your child’s age and development. The toy also features soft ears and a multicolor light-up face that provides fun sensory play, adding to the overall interactive experience.
The motorized spring motion of this toy ensures that your child’s bouncing pleasure lasts as long as they want to play. This feature adds an extra layer of fun and excitement to the toy, making it a must-have for any young child.
Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter – Best Developmental Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- The colors are very catchy
- One of the few travel toys available online
- Has most of the shapes and related items that you wish to teach your child
- Zipper closure is nice during non-play storage
- There is only one of each shape
The Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Take-Along Shape Sorter is not your ordinary shape sorter. It’s an activity center that can be taken anywhere, providing your child with hours of entertainment and learning opportunities. With nine plastic shapes and a cushioned carrying case, this toy offers various educational activities for your little one.
Your child will enjoy removing the crinkly flaps, identifying photos, matching shapes, and dropping textured blocks through the sorter. They can also drag the plush dog around the edge of the case to unzip it and start all over again.
The comfortable, cushioned handle makes it easy for even crawlers, scooter riders, and toddlers to transport the entire set.
Playskool Busy Poppin Pals – Best Fine Motor Skills Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- Perfect to teach my little one how to push, pull, twist, and press buttons
- Very sturdy toy
- No batteries required
- There are no loud noises
- A bit expensive
The Pop-Up Pals toy is a beloved classic with cute peekaboo creatures that make playtime an exciting adventure of exploration and discovery. Your 9-month-old will have a blast discovering new shapes, colors, and animals, all while honing their fine motor skills with the dynamic poppin’ play feature.
This toy offers a range of engaging movements, like sliding, pulling, pushing, twisting, and pressing, to make friendly creatures pop up. And when it’s time to tidy up, simply close the lids and come back to play later.
VTech Pop-a-Balls Drop and Pop Ball Pit – Best Ball Pit Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- It’s pretty durable and baby friendly
- It is easy to fold up and put away
- Guaranteed hours of fun for baby
- Very interactive
- Not as many balls
The Drop and Pop Ball Pit is a fun-filled play area for your little one. Inside, they will find 30 vibrant and eye-catching balls to play with, encouraging the development of their motor skills and introducing numbers and animals.
The ball pit also features a hoop that counts up to 10 and an electronic activity screen that your child can interact with. They can roll the balls down the slides, through the hoops, or flip them out of the reservoir, sending them flying back into the pit.
For even more entertainment, the colorful buttons produce fun phrases, animal sounds, and lively music to spark your child’s imagination during playtime.
Sassy Stacks of Circles – Best Stacking Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- While the rings are of different thicknesses, they can be stacked in any order
- Some rings can be used as teethers
- One ring is even a rattle
- Your child can play with them as bracelets
- The base needs more weight
Stacking rings have never been more fun with The Stacks of Circles! Unlike traditional stacking rings, each ring in this set has the same core size, allowing them to be stacked in any direction without getting stuck.
In addition to being entertaining, The Stacks of Circles also promotes early STEM learning by introducing concepts such as sorting, sizing, sequencing, and building. The inclusion of rings in various sizes on the straight post also helps to improve hand-eye coordination, while the chunky rings are easy for babies to handle and develop their fine motor skills.
Baby Einstein and Hape Magic Touch Piano – Best Musical Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- Sturdy construction
- Easy to clean
- Easier to control the noise level, compared to standard xylophones
- The interesting design of the piano is extremely modern and attractive-looking
- Electronic; at the risk of sounding super old school
The Magic Touch Piano from Baby Einstein and Hape lets your 9-month-old create endless melodies with just a touch of their tiny fingertips. This wooden piano toy is designed with magic touch technology, eliminating the need for buttons or keys. Your child can compose their own tunes or play along with popular melodies using two play modes.
Introducing musical toys to your baby early on can aid in the development of their sense of rhythm and different tones. This educational toy comes with three music sheets. By matching the color-coded notes on the sheets to the piano keys, your child can enhance their color coordination skills.
Melissa & Doug K’s Kids Pull-Back Vehicle Set – Best Vehicle Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- Medium-sized to large-sized cars
- Rubber treads allow for better traction
- It is soft but sturdy
- Cute creatures in vehicles
- Does not work on carpet
Melissa & Doug’s Pull-Back Vehicles set features four soft and secure cars, including a school bus, family car, fire engine, and police car. The rev-up mechanism inside each car allows babies and toddlers to quickly and powerfully accelerate them by pulling them back and releasing them to watch them fly across the floor.
Plus, it comes with a washable cloth surface and a removable, easy-to-clean wheelie insert!
VTech Wiggle and Crawl Ball – Best Crawling Toy For 9-Month-Olds
- It rolls around by itself and sings
- Makes a lot of sounds
- Very cheap for the fun it gives
- Sturdy
- Just rolls in a circle and comes back to baby
Your child can crawl and play with friendly animal companions on the VTech Wiggle and Crawl Ball. This interactive ball wiggles and wobbles on its own, encouraging your child to chase after it and improve their fine motor skills.
By pressing the bear, cat, and dog buttons, they can learn about animals, colors, and numbers with over 45 entertaining songs, words, and noises. The spinning, twisting, and sliding motions of the animals, along with the five flashing lights, will also stimulate their senses.
Fisher-Price Walk Bounce & Ride Pony – Best Push Toy for 9-Month-Olds
- Transitions easily from ride-on toy to push toy
- The orange handle in the back can fold down underneath
- Easy assembly
- The parts are of good quality
- The handle is vertical with no incline
This musical walker and ride-on toy feature a soft and cozy seat, stimulating lights, and encouraging sounds to keep your baby moving. From walking to bouncing to scooting, this toy can grow with your child.
As your 9-month-old plays with the buttons and spins the bead roller, they will hear fun melodies and words about colors, the alphabet, and numbers. This helps to enhance their cognitive abilities while they improve their balance and coordination skills while transitioning from sitting to walking, bouncing, and riding.
How To Choose The Best Toys For 9-Month-Olds?
- Safety: Since babies love to put items in their mouths at this age, due to the possible risks if consumed, babies should not play with magnetic items or toys that use button batteries (2). Before purchasing a certain toy, consider how much a baby will want supervision or assistance while playing with it.
- Milestones: Milestones are a terrific benchmark to use as a check to see if your child is maturing in line with expectations. These involve crawling, moving items from hand to hand, and developing their gross and fine motor abilities (3).
- Movement: Toys that promote movement are excellent for building a baby’s muscles and general strength. Large balls, squishy objects for crawling on, or toys with wheels for pushing and pulling are all excellent ways to get a 9-month-old’s body moving (4).
What Kind Of Toys Should My 9-Month-Old Be Playing With?
They love any toy that encourages them to place items in a container and take them out, or that has components that stack or attach. To practice this new talent, give your infant a sizable plastic bucket, some brightly colored blocks, or other tiny toys. Babies of this age also adore any toy with moving components, especially if they can control it to elicit a response. Examples of such toys include ones with levers that cause pictures to pop up, doors to open, and knobs to turn.
How Many Toys Should a 9-Month-Old Have?
There should be fewer than 12 toys for a 9-month-old, based on the size of the room and the number of components in each toy. This guideline states that a set of stacking cups or a basket of Duplo blocks qualifies as one toy. Another excellent rule of thumb is to not leave out more toys than you’re prepared to pick up at any one moment. It is also important to remember that 9-month-olds would have an attention span of around 2-3 minutes per single toy (5).
Do Toys Help With A 9-Month-Old’s Development?
All of these activities may only last two minutes since a 9-month-old has the attention span of a flea. However, toys that foster language, cause-and-effect understanding, and fine and gross motor abilities can be quite helpful. There are many excellent choices for toys that assist infants in practicing crawling, standing, or cruising, boost early language development, and teach them to move objects between their two hands (6).
