Did you know that giving your child a crib toy can not only entertain them, but it can also develop positive sleep associations that will help them get into better sleeping habits? They’re seriously a lifesaver and a great toy for your baby to have. We review a lot of toys here on EM, so we know a good crib toy when we see one. We’ve got all the best crib toys in this list, along with some safety notes for your parenting pleasure.
Best Portable Crib Toys
The Tiny Love crib toy can clip onto almost any surface whereas the VX-star Play Arch can only clip onto cribs that are no wider than 20.2 inches. With that being said, the VX-star Play Arch does not require batteries compared to the Tiny Love crib toy that requires 3 AA batteries.
Tiny Love Meadow Days Take Along Crib Toy
Tiny Love Meadow Days is possibly the best mobile crib toy on the market. It’s portable so it can be attached to multiple baby gear such as the crib, playpen, car seat, stroller (no bouncers), etc. It can be attached to a baby gear with a universal attachment arm and the large stroller clip or by the use of the attached Velcro straps.
It helps in giving the baby a sense of familiarity, seeing the same soothing animal motions as well as sounds wherever you go. It’s perfectly mobile in all senses of the word. The animals on the mobile are facing downwards so the baby has a clear visual sight at all times too. It is recommended for a newborn until 6 months of age, but some kids get accustomed to the sounds so this can be easily used for longer.
Setting it up is pretty easy. The height of the arm is about 12″ from tip to the highest point, so it’s high enough. There’s no tools or screws involved, you just attach it to the crib with a clamp, add 3 AA batteries, and it’s all ready.
Love Meadows comes with 30 minutes of continuous music with 5 different tunes. The songs that are currently on the mobile are:
- Bach J.S.suit No 3 in D Major
- Bach minuet G major
- Mozart K467 Piano concerto
- Mozart Minuet and trio in G K1
- Original- folk
The best part is that it turns off automatically. Love Meadows can play up to 20 hours of songs because of that. So, it’s all about popping the Love Meadow on and sneaking off to drink that cup of coffee while it’s still hot.
Size-wise it’s not tiny as the name may lead you to believe. It’s mid-sized and rotates in a slow controlled motion that helps the baby fall asleep.
Looks-wise the felt characters are gender-neutral, so that makes it easier to buy as a gift for someone or just for your own little cutie.
Keeping it clean is pretty simple, a quick wipe down with a damp cloth and you’re good to go.
Why it’s so great
- Plays for 30 continuous minutes
- Easy to attach
- Can play 5 different tune
- Has an auto on/off option
- Can be attached to multiple baby gear
- Rotates in a smooth slow motion
- Gender-neutral characters
- 20 hours of battery life
What to keep an eye out for
- The connector can be loose when attached to the fabric over plastic such as on playpens. It’s best to attach it to the plastic edge for stability
X-Star Baby Travel Play Arch Crib Toy
Toy bars are surprisingly versatile. The X-Star Baby Travel Play Arch gives you a few ways to keep baby entertained in the crib and elsewhere.
For starters, the play arch features 3 different toys attached with a toy ring. There is a lion with a rolling, rattling ball in the middle, a zebra with a squeaker inside, and a monkey with an inner rattle, song player, and attached teether toy. All of these toys can be removed individually for use in the car seat, bouncer, or anywhere!
Each of the toys also features crinkle paper in the design, as well as a plush feel. The bar itself is crafted with bright colors and black and white designs, which are especially stimulating to young babies.
This toy play arch will fit across cribs that are 11.6 inches to 20.2 inches wide. If your crib is wider than that, you can always attach it so that it runs along the side of the crib. You can move this play arch to go on a stroller or bouncer, too. It uses two twist-to-tighten clamps.
Why it so great
- 3 removable toys
- Lots of colors
- Sounds and songs
- Attaches to any round surface (crib, stroller, etc.)
What to keep an eye out for
- The clamps aren’t flexible, and the arch is on the short side, so it doesn’t work at all in big cribs
- It’s a tall toy when attached, so baby can’t reach the toys from the crib
Best Musical Crib Toy
Fisher-Price Smart Stages Kick and Play Piano Crib Toy
When your infant is learning to use and coordinate those chunky little legs you know you need to help boost all that energy. And there’s nothing better than getting help from an adorable musical piano aide like the Fisher-Price Smart Stages Kick and Play Piano.
Decked in the cutest animal characters, the Smart Stages Kick and Play can be used as a crib toy while the baby’s lying down, moved to the floor for tummy time, or even as a sit and play mode. The soft keys are sensitive enough to respond to the baby’s touch. It’s a pretty great tool for a baby to see a cause and effect impact on the kicks and the resulting music and lights. Plus, you will get tons of cooing and teeny little giggles out of it!
I’m always looking out for baby gear that gives me my money’s worth. And any toy or gear that is multi-use or long-lasting is a total winner in my book. Essentially the baby can start using the Kick and Play from birth to up till toddlerhood.
It’s made from soft fabric with fabric strings that lets you tie it to the crib. You will need 3 AA batteries to turn it on. That’s all there is to the assembly.
It’s called the Smart Stages because it has 3 stages that you can use, depending on the age of your child. In stage 1, it’s just basic fun songs and sounds. In stage 2, animal friends and their sounds are introduced. In stage 3, it adds in shapes, colors, and numbers with the songs.
There are two modes to the Fisher-Price Crib Piano, a free play or a ‘build-a-song’ mode where your little munchkin can hear sounds with tiny kicks or taps. The long play mode lets the baby enjoy 20 minutes’ worth of continuous melodies and songs with volume adjustment. During both times the colorful lights continue to dance in line with the tunes for visual stimulation.
Kick and Play can be cleaned very easily with a damp cloth or wipes. In case of a mess, it’s recommended to spot cleaning. Its dimensions are pretty standard to a cribs width; it’s 15.8 L x 1.4 W x 10.6 H.
Why it’s so great
- Made from soft fabric
- Multi-use for play
- Stimulates action and reaction effect for the baby
- Gender-neutral characters
- 2 modes of manual play or continuous songs
- Volume control
What to keep an eye out for
- Younger babies might not get the connections between hitting it and it making songs
Best Developmental Crib Toys
SHILOH Baby Developmental Crib Toy
This crib toy is like heaven on earth. It’s so well made that even before your child can interact with it, it features just bring you sheer joy.
It’s environmentally friendly with non-toxic and durable ABS material to ensure your baby’s safety if the baby does try to bite it (which is highly likely at some point). The Shiloh comes with 4 strings attached to plush toys that have various visual and sound triggers for the little one. The plush toys include a BB squeaker, jingle bell or a music player that creates wonderful sounds when squeezed. And the fun part is, the plush toys are all removable and can be played with individual toys!
Shiloh mobile can be used on various cribs, bed boards or playpens as long as the board is not curved or has a width greater than 1.8 inches. It is a little of the larger size. Larger because it has the capability to be adjusted as your little one grows. How incredible is that!
The rotating mobile toy can play over 60 different continuous melodies. You do require 2 AA batteries for this and it should last you for some time. There is an auto-sleep feature that turns the mobile off after 30 minutes of inactivity, so you will have to press on again to get one full hour of songs.
The plush toys are absolutely adorable! Most of the material used is either velvet or cotton which kind of add to the different textures and give a sheen to the cute toys.
My favorite part of Shiloh Musical Mobile is that its arm is adjustable at 3 different levels, so you can safely say it’s part of the grow as you go kind of a theme.
Cleaning and maintaining are simple, all the plush parts are machine washable in a gentle cold water cycle. It is recommended to air dry it.
Size-wise the measurements are 13.8 x 19.7 x 13.8 inches. It fits well in any crib. Find the best cribs in our full crib breakdown article.
Why it’s so great
- 3 level height adjustment
- 60 minutes of continuous songs
- Auto sleep option
- Plush textured and sound enabled toys
- Non-toxic material
What to keep an eye out for
- Expensive
- Can fit on limited baby gear
Best Crib Soother Toys
The Cloud soother is great for cuddling, easy-to-wash, and requires 4 AA batteries compared to the Settle & Sleep soother that is not made for cuddling, requires 4 C batteries, yet projects fun images on the ceiling for baby.
Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System
The Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System is a sleep projector and soother that you can operate from your phone so you do not have to go in and accidentally make eye contact with the baby!
The Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System makes it easier for you to put your kid to bed. The interactive, wall-mounted assistant walks children through the bedtime routine, rewarding them as they perform each activity. The Lumalou system can also be used as a sleep-training tool for infants and toddlers, as well as a sound machine with lights and a sleep expert-approved music playlist to assist your child fall asleep. With the Smart Connect app, you can easily create and control your child’s daily tasks, sleep timers, music, sounds, and lighting.
From infant through child, a wall-mounted 3-in-1 interactive routine helper, sleep trainer, and nursery sound machine (Ages 0-8 years)
Make it your own with the Smart Connect app! Make your own habits, establish sleep and wake timings, and choose relaxing music and lighting.
With a remote to press as they complete activities for delightful incentives, onscreen indicators assist lead kids through the evening routine.
To assist with sleep training, the color of the starlight shows when it’s time to sleep or wake up.
Experts on sleep have given their approval. The music playlist Ready, Settle, Sleep with multi-color lighting helps the baby go asleep and remain asleep.
Parents love that their kids can turn the soother back on when it turns off rather than having to do it themselves!
Why it’s so great
- Connects to an App
- Works for 8 years of your child’s growing
- Wall-mounted
- 3-in-1 Interactive routine helper
- Colorful lights and motion
- Built-in clock
What to keep an eye out for
- App not available everywhere.
- Can only schedule one routine per day.
- A little pricy
Fisher-Price Twinkle & Cuddle Cloud Soother
Soothers are some of the most popular crib toys because they are a calming alternative to some of the bright and super-engaging crib toys. The B07WPBVZH3 has gentle lights, calming music, and it is sure to help your baby get calm for bedtime.
This soother is essentially a plush cloud with a little built-in fun. The sweet sleepy cloud face is part of a soothing light show that helps get baby sleepy. Meanwhile, the lights slowly change in color and location in tune with the music.
While the lights dance around the scene, gentle music plays. You can expect calm music designed by experts to help babies sleep. This light and sound show goes on for up to 20 minutes. You can adjust the songs to suit your baby’s age. The lights will slowly dim on their own every 10 minutes to help baby get tired, too.
Another fun feature is the fringe on the cloud with fun colors babies will love. Choose from soothing sounds, wind, heartbeat, waves, forest, rain, or even lights only. You can do music only too and control the volume.
There’s a remote that comes with this that turns it on and off and also adjusts the songs and sounds. All of the sounds fade to white noise to help work with your baby to transition to sleep.
It’s soft and plush so works great to soothe other children as well. You can even take the toy on the road with you for soothing on the go.
This will fit on most standard size cribs. There are crib attachments on the back that also help this grow into a bedside soother for a toddler. You can toss the toy in the wash if it gets dirty too.
Why it’s so great
- Gentle light show
- Fun cloud design
- 20 minutes of songs or sounds
- Multiple modes
- Fits most cribs
- Transitions to help kids sleep
- Great for toddlers too as it’s plush
What to keep an eye out for
- Odd button placement
- Batteries are required, which can get expensive fast if baby uses this daily and nightly
Best Hanging Crib Toys
Both sets of toys below include four hanging toys that include built-in bells for a natural musical sound. Both hanging crib toys are similar but the Binen crib toys are a bit longer and less expensive than the TUMAMA toys.
TUMAMA Baby Crib Toys
The TUMAMA Baby Crib Toys are plush toys that can hang from your baby’s crib for gentle play and stimulation.
Four little animals are included that provide visual stimulation with fun colors and shapes in addition to hearing stimulation with rattle and crinkle noises. Each can be attached to the crib, stroller, or play mat or simply played within your child’s hands.
Each animal features different shapes hanging from their feet with some shapes being “teethers,” which are great for chewing on when your little one’s popping a new tooth in.
Why it’s so great
- Natural rattle and crinkle sounds
- 4 different animals included
- Stimulates visual and hearing senses
- Can hang on crib, stroller, etc., or be played with alone
What to keep an eye out for
- These don’t play music
- Toy may easily fall out of orange ring
Baby Hanging Rattle Toys
Mobiles, soothers, and tie-on-toys are standard crib toy material. But what about some toys that are moveable, hangable, and much more versatile than a great big mobile? The Baby Hanging Rattle Toys are perfect for this purpose.
Each set has four hanging toys including an owl, monkey, dog, and elephant. Each of these toys has a built-in rattle and chime. The faces of the characters are cute and friendly and mostly gender-neutral.
Next, each toy offers bright colors and patterns. There is also the added bonus of different textures for baby to feel, like soft plush, silky ribbon, or crinkle paper. The elephant is also holding a gripping ring toy that your child will love to grab and gnaw on.
At the top of the toy is a ring that allows you to clip each toy onto wherever you want! If you choose not to clip the toy onto a crib, stroller, or car seat, each of the rings has a different texture and design, so it makes a really good teething toy for baby.
Why it’s so great
- 4 different toys
- Fun animal characters
- Chimes and rattles
- Can hang anywhere
- Textures for baby to feel
What to keep an eye out for
- These toys are long (about 15 to 18 inches long) and hang quite low, so using them on a play mat or car seat means that baby can completely hold them
- The rings are on the small side, so it will only clip to a thinner top crib rail
Crib Toy Safety
The most parent-favored and safe toys that I’ve found over time are the ones that are secured to the crib or any baby gear for that matter. I’m always hesitant to encourage the use of soft toys that babies can hug on onto for fear of SIDs in case the baby does fall asleep.
Of course, when under parental supervision then no problem at all. But we all know that all parents need a break, and having crib toys that won’t make you hold your breath is a great feeling.
Like any baby toy, crib toys need certain features in order to be deemed safe and appropriate for infant use. After all, you can’t just slap any toy on the side of baby’s crib and be okay!
Parenting magazine has 3 important crib toy safety guidelines to note:
- Make sure the toy can be securely fastened to the crib rails
- If it has strings or dangling toys, make sure they aren’t long enough to cause strangulation (less than 6 inches long is best)
- Make sure there are no sharp edges or pinch points on the toy
The Best Portable Crib Toys Compared
The table below compares only the recommended products on this page. A low or high Price means it is low or high compared to the other products listed. The Popularity Score reflects how often readers click on and buy the product. The Quality Score is our assessment of the overall performance and satisfaction with the product compared to others in the table.
| Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System | 8.6 | - | 66.04 |
| Tiny Love Meadow Days Take Along Crib Toy | 9.9 | 9.0 | 29.99 |
| TUMAMA Baby Crib Toys | 9.4 | 9.2 | 25.99 |
| X-Star Baby Travel Play Arch Crib Toy | 9.8 | 9.0 | 22.80 |
| Fisher-Price Twinkle & Cuddle Cloud Soother | 9.8 | 9.6 | 19.97 |
| SHILOH Baby Developmental Crib Toy | 8.5 | 8.8 | - |
| Fisher-Price Smart Stages Kick and Play Piano Crib Toy | 4.5 | 9.4 | - |
| Baby Hanging Rattle Toys | 3.9 | 9.6 | - |
Benefits of Baby Crib Toys
Why would you want to use a crib toy, beyond just keeping baby entertained? Here are a few benefits that your baby can get from playing with a crib toy:
- Self-soothing: The toys can distract your baby and help them fall asleep on their own instead of crying.
- Motor skills: As baby finds the toys, they can develop muscles and coordination by reaching for toys, pulling on them, kicking them, and reaching for them.
- Visual development: Bright patterns and fun designs will engage your baby’s brain and grow their vision.
- Education: Crib toys can introduce your baby to colors, numbers, letters, shapes, sounds, and songs at a young age.
- Entertainment: Baby can learn to play on their own and keep themselves content, which is a very important skill for any child to learn!
If you want the same benefits outside the crib, you can use a baby play mat to get them the same educational playtime.
FAQs – Crib Toys
Is it safe to put baby toys in the crib?
The CPSC recommends keeping all “pillow-like stuffed toys” out of the crib. Fortunately, most baby toys that are secured to the crib are out of arm’s reach and are safer for little ones. All toys are different, so be sure to check them before placing them in your baby’s crib.
And remember:
When in doubt, keep it out.
What are the best crib toys for infants?
I really recommend the Tiny Love Meadow Days Take Along Mobile because it is so versatile, especially during those infant days when baby is sleeping often. It’s great for use on the go or at home, so you really get a good bang for your buck.
For other great toys for infants, check out the best newborn toys and the best baby bath toys.
What are the best developmental toys for babies?
Most baby toys help with development in some way, including the crib toys mentioned in this article! Music, sounds, lights, movement, different textures, and more help stimulate your child which helps with their development. Anything that can stimulate their eyes, ears, touch, or other senses will help them develop.
And don’t forget- playing with your baby or reading them a baby book remains one of the best ways to boost their development!
Will crib toys ruin my baby’s sleep?
Like I mentioned above, crib toys can be a great sleep tool. And studies have shown that crib toys won’t ruin baby’s sleep at all. On the contrary, it can actually help your baby get to sleep. Think of it like you watching TV right before you go to bed- it’s a way to help you wind down and relax so that you get sleepy and not just tired. Crib toys accomplish the same thing.
They also have the benefit of helping baby feel happy and content in their crib. Babies who feel lonely, bored, or scared won’t want to spend any time in their crib, and their sleep habits will suffer.
Of course, you need to use crib toys responsibly. Make sure that the crib toy you have is age-appropriate and is used correctly. Also, make sure that it’s not a danger and not a crutch. It’s a fine line to walk with crib toys, but it’s really not bad.
