These handmade ice cream cone rattles look good enough to eat! Made by a fair trade women’s cooperative in Bangladesh, these knit rattles measure 5″ long. They are available in strawberry, mint chocolate chip, and french vanilla, and are sold individually for $9 each at Elsewares.com.

Here’s an idea I’m surprised no one has thought of before: a vending machine full of baby supplies. Innovative Vending Solutions has created the Baby Station, a machine that dispenses diapers, wipes, pacifiers, rattles, bottles, and more. The machines are placed in areas where you would expect to find moms/dads and babies in need of items on the go, such as shopping malls. Right now the machines are in limited distribution (mostly in the Ohio and California areas), but as the company grows, they will be found more often across the United States. The company also sells the machines as a business opportunity which may appeal to stay-at-home parents. You can view this intriguing idea at InnovativeVendingSolutions.com.

A friend of mine bought my baby the sweetest little organic duck toy from Nanchen Natur. It is adorably cute and I love that it is natural and safe. I then started looking all over the Internet to find more toys from this company. I discovered, unfortunately, that they aren’t widely available. I found this incredible collection of Blumchen und Fruchte (little flowers and fruits) on the company’s Web site, but can’t find them for sale anywhere. They have got to be some of the cutest baby toys I have ever seen. They could certainly compete with favorites from Haba and Kathe Kruse. So far I have only been able to track them down on a UK site: TheOrganicToyCompany. If anyone knows of a US source, I’d love to know!

These You & Me Mirror Animal Rattles by Alex Jr. are bright and colorful and offer plenty of padded protection for your active baby. Each rattle  has a lightweight, non-breakable mirror on the reverse side to add another dimension of fun for baby. There are plenty of embroidered details and the faces are soft and fuzzy. Young children are very tactile at this age, responding to and learning about their world largely through touch.

You can choose from a Lion, a Pink Pig, a Bunny or a Frog. Each is priced at $10 at bestdressedkids.com.