Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Baby. I am compensated for my work. I received product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions on awesome toys for imaginative play from Baby are 100% mine.

How do you encourage imaginative play? Start by looking at your toys.

One of the best ways to encourage creative play is by providing kids with awesome toys that will inspire them to play more (or differently) – using their imaginations!

What are characteristics of toys for imaginative or pretend play?

The best toys for imaginative play have some or all of these components:

  • They can be used in a variety of ways. There isn’t just one way to use it and then kids are done with it.
  • The toys encourage kids to use their own creativity and play in different ways, adding in additional toys or materials as part of their play.
  • Imaginative play materials help kids develop social skills, including negotiation skills, turn-taking skills, and sharing.
  • They often allow kids to role-play.
  • They give kids an opportunity to develop their language skills through talking, listening, and having exposure to new vocabulary words.
  • They help kids escape into a different world of characters and step out of their current lives OR they help kids repeat what is happening in their life to enable them to make sense of their experiences.

Psychology Today indicates that there are so many benefits of pretend play and that it is a vital component of child development! Research shows that early imaginative play was associated with increased creative performance years later for kids as well!

Because imaginative play is so important, we want to make sure we have plenty of toys that help us foster those skills!

Here are two awesome toys for imaginative play from Baby!

Baby invited us to try out their Baby Treehouse Playset and Baby Pets! My preschooler started counting down the minutes till their arrival once she heard about them!

I am always on the hunt for toys that can be used in a variety of ways AND that keep my preschooler occupied for more than a few minutes. These toys do both!

My daughter spent two hours playing with these once they arrived and has played with them every day since. They have been a lifesaver for me as a busy working mom with four kids!

Let’s dive in and I’ll tell you about each of these toys in more detail.

Baby Treehouse Playset

The Baby Treehouse Playset includes 20+ surprises in a magical and colorful treehouse.

  • The Treehouse opens up to reveal a house and playground in one, including a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, slide, swings, elevator and more!
  • The flower shower really sprays water, so baby dolls and pets can take a bath.
  • The set also includes an exclusive baby doll with beautiful glittery butterfly wings, cute outfit and color change diaper.
  • Kid sized charm bracelet

My kids are fascinated with elevators, so my daughter loves making the dolls ride up and down the elevator during playtime.

The playset is also the perfect size to allow many of our other toys to come play along with the baby dolls and pets too!

As I mentioned before, the best imaginative toys encourage kids to use their own creativity and play in different ways, adding in additional toys or materials as part of their play.

Although this playset was designed for Baby dolls, it’s always awesome when your new toys can complement your old toys and work together.

Another cool thing about the Baby dolls is that you can wash off their eyelids to reveal their eye color. Just use a wet washcloth and rub the eyes for a fun surprise.

Bonus: Playsets that fold up and store easily are also important to me. This one is nice and compact and can fold up into a carrying case with a handle that you can take on the go. You can also store it in a closet or under the bed.

Baby Pets

Baby Pets come inside little bathtubs wrapped in a soft towel. Once you open them, they are snug inside a soft swaddle.

Just unwrap them and start playing! They have some fun surprises that even the grownups at our house thought were cool!

  • You can unwrap the pet from its soft swaddle to reveal your adorable pet. Your pet’s pacifier tells you if it’s a boy or a girl.
  • You can wipe the pet’s sleepy eyes to reveal their eye color
  • You can give the pet a bath in ice cold water to reveal an incredible color change surprise – the entire pet changes to either a different animal or into a totally new color and outfit.
  • You can also take the pet on-the-go with the keychain clip that’s included.

The color changing pets were pretty amazing.

Bonus: There are 18 unique Surprise Pets to collect. My kids love collectible toys and I like to always have easy gift ideas to send to grandparents for the holidays.

I’ve already added several of these to our Holiday Wish Lists!

Do you have any other favorite toys that encourage imaginative play? Have you tried Baby toys yet?

These would be great ideas to add to Holiday gift lists for kids ages 2-6!

Kristina Buskirk of Toddler Approved is a former teacher, and mom of four, on a mission to help busy parents thrive with simple activity plans, easy to set up learning ideas, and useful parenting resources.