GAMES, PLAYTHINGS AND PLUSH The Best for Babies Trends in Baby Toys, Including Plush, at Baby Stores

If true novelty is rare in the baby department of toy stores, perhaps it’s because babies themselves remain the simplest of creatures. Soft plush to cuddle, sensory objects to shake and non-toxic teethers to chew on — that’s all most babies have needed for generations. So while styles and materials continue to evolve, classics like stuffed animals, dolls and rattles remain top sellers at children’s and baby stores, according to many retailers.

In particular, the British Jellycats line of super-soft plush is a hit at stores from coast to coast. “We sell so many of those. It’s just crazy how many Jellycats and plush toys we sell,” said Amy Morris , manager at The Little House in Prairie Village, Kan. “We can hardly keep them in stock.”

At the 4,000-square-foot children’s clothing store, where about 10 percent of retail space is devoted to toys, shoppers have lately favored retro versions of classic toys. Morris sells lots of wagons, shopping carts and baskets in natural fibers like woven rattan as opposed to plastic. “A lot of the furniture that’s up and coming right now is rattan and more retro-looking, so it’s just kind of what the industry is doing, and toys follow the trend,” she observed.

At the Bull and the Bee in Portland, Ore., Manager Sonja Cook sees a lot of parents studiously avoiding plastic in favor of classic wooden toys from countries like Germany and France. “And then I would say our next most popular is the complete opposite — Simple Dimples, which is a little silicone pop toy,” she laughed.

In fact, Cook thinks silicone toys are a trend: “They’ve definitely progressed over the years, with new takes on an old classics,” like a shape sorter in silicone from the Fat Brain Toys line. “People feel a little safer with silicone, and it can be chewed on as well as played with,” noted Cook. That’s because silicone, unlike plastic, is universally free of troublesome chemicals like BPA. Teethers and other sensory toys are showing up more often in silicone.

But plush, especially the Jellycats line, remains the top category at the Bull and the Bee. Cook said Jellycats are popular for featuring a wide variety of animals, as well as foods, fruits and other plants — all rendered in ultra-soft plush.

“Jellycats are just so incredibly soft,” affirmed Darla Mosbarger , owner of Heirloom Boutique in Goodland, Kan., where the plush line is the top selling baby item. “And they’re made in London. You can’t compare that to something you could buy at a gas station.”

At her 2,500-square-foot children’s boutique, where about 10 percent of the space is devoted to toys, the Cuddle + Kind line of hand-knit dolls from Peru are “super popular,” Mossberg said. Besides being soft, their proceeds go toward a child hunger charity, making them a popular choice for shoppers. Rounding out the best-seller list are toys from the venerable, natural materials line Melissa & Doug — “their quality holds up” - and the Manhattan Toy Company, which has a lot of bright primary colors “so they’re good for either a boy or a girl,” explained Mosbarger. “If you have a boy first and a girl second or vice versa, you can use them for both.”

Gunda and Jellycats are the favorite plush lines at Keedo Clothes in Oklahoma City. Owner Kelly Smith said gift-givers especially love that the plush felines, puppies and other critters often have matching board books. “Right now, the trend is instead of giving a card, you give a book with a gift, and then you write a note inside it,” she explained. “Instead of paying $2-$3 for a card, you might as well pay a little bit more and then they have a book as a keepsake.”

Similarly, rattles and teethers from the higher-end Sassy Baby line are popular “because they’re nicer than what you get at Target and Walmart, very well made,” explained Smith. She noted that shoppers come to her 2,700-square-foot specialty store expecting to pay a little

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