Toys for 7month old - advice please

[Stangirl]

I think I need some toys for my 7month old that make noise/flash/move about. What do people recommend? I already have balls, cuddly toys, musical keys, cups, soft blocks but a partially broken baby einstein activity centre.

Don't think you'll do much better than Elc activity cube, not sure recommended age, but its good value, plus you can turn the sound & flashy bits off.I have to say I'm not one for lots of noisy flashy light things as I think they can sometimes overstimulate babies & are a bit unnecessary, however that said they do like noisy things.
Also have you got any Baby Einstein Dvd's, I found them a God send, especially Baby Neptune, would keep my youngest amazed for 20mins everytime!

Do you have a toy library near you?

It might be useful to go along and have a look at what they have and hire a toy out to see if your child likes playing with it before you buy it.

One of the things that both my DC played with the most was a small empty plastic water bottle that we had put some dry rice in. You can decorate the bottle if you like. They both loved it.

Do you go to a playgroup? I found those good for finding out what my DC liked to play with.

You don't need to buy toys. Put together one of these

Brilliant, honestly. You won't look back. I've got a massive list somewhere of the stuff we put in ours.

At this age babies like to explore different textures and shapes, if you already have lots of plastic toys I would try making up a treasure basket. Try searching on here and googling for information, some here to start you off.
Keeps baby occupied for ages, and you can collect items for it yourself from around the house.

Snap, moshiecat!

Brilliant ideas all. I'm going to give all of them a go. She really does love music and noise though - she bops around so much to the radio and the music she gets from her activity centre I would appreciate if anyone does have any recs on music toys.

Get a string of bells to put in her treasure basket. Please make a treasure basket - they are such fun for everyone!

Also, get her a drum, and - maybe not yet but soon, a "proper" in-tune glockenspiel.

I had a hobby horse that I galloped round on a lot when mine were little about making sure that the musical toys they played with were in tune, and they both now have very good musical ears. Could be co-incidence, but I don't think so.

Handbells are fun too.

Music toys - get a Vtech walker - my 11mo loves it; it plays tunes and does Simon says and all sort of other nonsense. And handy for walking practise later.

DS has been playing with it for over 5 months now with no signs of getting bored with it

Wilko's is good for getting cheap things to put in, that's if you can't find enough stuff in the house.