In order to study the effects of toys on the behavior and reproductive performance of sows during the early stage of pregnancy,51 pairs of French purebred large white gestation sows with the same genetic background and similar expected date of birth (3±1.5 d) were divided in 3 groups (17 in each group):the control group with no toys and two repeated groups with treatment of toys. The results showed that:(1) On the 6th day after the start of the experiment,the degree of skin damage in the toy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.01). (2) On the 25th day of the experiment,the length of sitting in the toy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.01),on the 11th day of the experiment,the times of drinking water in the toy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.05) and the frequency and duration of no chewing of the sows in the toy group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P＜0.05). (3) Pregnant sows had a preference for welfare toys in the order of straw＞chain＞pine＞smell wood＞ordinary wood＞gunny sack. (4) The number of stillbirths in the toy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.05). The results of this study indicate that welfare toys can improve the behavior and reproductive capacity of group-raised pregnant sows and alleviate the stress of pregnant sows.