The short version
The best toys under one have no batteries: stacking cups, a ring stacker, a ball, a cloth book. A JAMA Pediatrics study found parents say 40 words a minute with electronic toys, 56 with blocks and 67 with a book.
What happened
I counted them on his first birthday, sitting in a pile on the floor: fifteen toys, most of them gifts, most of them with batteries. The ones that sang the alphabet. The ones that flashed when you pressed a paw. A tablet-shaped thing for babies, which should have been a warning in itself.
Five had survived, in the sense that he still reached for them. Stacking cups. A wooden ring stacker. A cloth book with a crinkly page. A plain ball. A steel katori and a spoon, which weren't a toy at all. Not one of the five had a battery.
I assumed this was just him. Then I read a study that explained it. Researchers recorded parents playing with their babies using three kinds of toys. With electronic toys, parents said about 40 words a minute. With blocks and puzzles, 56. With a book, 67. The talking toy didn't just fail to teach him; it made me go quiet, because the toy was doing the talking.
The AAP's own toy guidance says the same thing more gently: for babies, the point of play is the relationship, and simple toys leave room for it. So my buying rule now has three questions. Does it need a battery? Can he use it more than one way? Will it still be a toy at two? If the answers are no, yes, yes, it's probably worth buying. The flashing things went to a toy library.
In a JAMA Pediatrics study of 26 parent-infant pairs (10 to 16 months), parents produced 39.6 adult words per minute with electronic toys, 55.6 with traditional toys and 66.9 with books; infant vocalisations and conversational turns were also lowest with electronic toys.
Sosa AV, JAMA Pediatrics 2016;170(2):132. SummaryThe AAP's 2019 clinical report on selecting toys concludes that simple really is better: electronic toys on their own don't provide the caregiver interaction children need, and for infants the main value of play is the relationship rather than skill-teaching.
Healey A, Mendelsohn A, AAP Council on Early Childhood, Pediatrics 2019;143(1). SummaryThe verdicts
Stacking and nesting cups
The toy we've used longest. Still in use at three.
A wooden ring stacker or shape sorter (Skillmatics or any ISI-marked wooden one)
No battery, three ways to play, lasts to three. Check the rings are too big to swallow.
Cubworthy, with a catch
Soft activity toy with crinkle, mirror and rings (Lamaze-style)
Good for the three-to-eight month stretch on the play mat; outgrown fast but earned its keep.
Anything that sings the alphabet
The study says it makes you go quiet. The batteries say it costs more every month. Toy library.
Product details are as we used them; the version on sale now may differ. Check the exact model and the manufacturer's instructions.