I know you asked about toys but I always make spit up cloths out of my flannel....I just cut a 10 or 12 inch squares, place right sides together and sew around it but leave a small opening to pull it right side out....make sure to clip the corners to get a good point when turned right...then tuck the opening inside and sew all around the outer edges(I usually use decorative stitching) and sew thru the center some...I've made 100's of them and everyone always talks about how much they use them...we sure have with our 4 grandsons as well.

I bad a set of balls for one of my grandsons and a set of blocks and blocks for my grand daughter. My daughter says that Chloe now packs around one of the smaller balls with her all the time. She is almost 7 months. The grandson loves to kick the bigger size ball around like a soccer ball. He likes them all. One thing, though is that they need to be stuffed really firm. I used fusible fleece on each piece so the stuffing would be smoother.

http://grandrevivaldesign.typepad.co...attern1000.pdf

I also made them each a set of the Heather Bailey ring stackers. They are not easy to make, but the directions are good so I am sure you can do it. They turn out so cute. My son said that my grandson likes to wear them on his arms like muscles.

There are lots of free patterns on the internet.