Compare:
http://images.google.de/images?q=clutching+to...
Versa:
http://images.google.de/images?svnum=10&hl=de...

grasping toys, maybe?

Perhaps grabing toys is right, though to me it sounds like a toy that will grab your child. I don't recall using any term for them when my kids had them and given my druthers, I would just call them toys or infant toys.

I've looking around a bit, and though "grabbing toys" is used, it is not the sort of positive image I want to portray here. Any one have a clever idea of how to market such toys to US parents? I am fresh out of ideas this Friday.

Must be a very recent development. I'm a BE native-speaker but I have never heard it. And I agree, it sounds terrible.

"Tactile Toys" ... just a thought.

check out http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/brands/haba/..., a US on-line toy shop selling "haba" toys. If you look under ages 6-12 months, for example, you'll find "clutching toys", too.

That is exactly the problem: it has been adopted by Haba and Käthe Kruse, to just name two, but is another one of those translation bloopers like "goblin" for Wichtel.

What is the German for this?

Greifling is used in German.

Well, if you are brave enough, you could use 'grab(b)ling' . . .

But do keep in mind, the ratio for 'grabbing toy' versa 'clutching toy' is 7 : 1 (see above links, #1)

@Selkie - Clutching, grabbing toys sounds like something straight from Stephen King. We used to call them "baby's first toys, or Learner's"...something along those lines. Personally, I'd rather have the baby doing the action, maybe "graspable toys" graspies for short. That's what they're - learning to grasp :-))

I remembered the Lamaze toys all the toy stores have in the US, and this originally American toy is also called "clutch cube": http://www.liveandlearn.com/lamaze/clutchcube.html

They also sell a a "grip & grab rattle", maybe that is a nicer term.