• Wooden blocks offer an older baby a way to learn while playing.Tooga/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  Your baby thinks he's only playing, but all that fun helps his brain and body develop. A baby between the age of nine and 12 months needs the right toys to foster that development. Christmas provides the perfect excuse to supply him with exactly what he needs and then some.
  
  

Brainy Toys

• Shop for your nine- to 12-month-old this Christmas armed with knowledge about what toys will help her brain grow well. Baby Development News recommends musical toys, sturdy books, activity mats and sets, and toys with different textures for your baby to explore. Babies of this age begin pretending, so dolls, toy cars, and stuffed animals or puppets also make suitable learning toys, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
  
  

Mobility Gadgets

• Once babies turn the corner toward 12 months, they become mobile, crawling, pulling up to a stand and eventually walking. The National Association for the Education of Young Children suggests buying your older baby toys she can pull or push, as well as big balls and soft toys that she can climb on without getting high off the ground. Music will get your baby moving, so consider an age-appropriate CD, according to the Ohio State University Extension.
  
  

Finger Play

• Challenge your baby to exercise his fingers and begin using fine motor skills, with simple puzzles with knobs for grabbing, water toys, blocks and rings, and other stacking toys, Child Development News suggests. At this age, babies also love building toys and toys that come apart and go back together easily, like big blocks or cubes, and toys that nest together, the Ohio State Extension notes.
  
  

Warnings

• Remember, when you go shopping for your baby, keep safety foremost in mind. Ohio State Extension experts warn against buying a baby walker, due to a high number of injuries associated with it. The National Association for the Education of Young Children stresses looking for toys without anything that can cut, pinch or poke your baby and only those with paint without lead or other toxins. Toys that will not shatter or break also offer the most safety, as do those without parts small enough to cause choking.