Toys for newborns and infants from 0-6 months
- Michaela
- Dec 7, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 8, 2023
Which toys should be an integral part of all parents, whether you have a newborn or an infant? Since newborns do not have fully developed eyesight and can sharpen at a distance of 20-30 cm, plus they do not recognize colors, it is a good idea to get high contrast toys first.
During the first days and months, it is best to support the baby's development with high contrast toys, whether it is a variety of black and white books (with elements of red or yellow), cardboard books, cards, carousels or even black and white pictures printed on paper. Why? Babies up to 4 months of age see the black and white spectrum and therefore it is advisable to support their development with black and white books, pictures and toys. Contrasting pictures stimulate the baby's vision, which trains focusing, activates the right hemisphere of the brain and improves immediate memory. No matter what contrast toys or books you have, always show it to your 20-30 cm from your baby and help your baby's development. For instance, by motivating the baby with pictures on the back and tummy. We have found very useful to spread a black & white folding educational book over the changing table, this kept the baby entertained during changing and is most useful for newborns. Personally, I struggled with the fact that the baby was still asleep and didn't get enough stimulation throughout the day and having a folding education book all over the changing table was a great way to stimulate the baby's eyesight during the time baby was most likely to be awake.
What if the baby's already bigger? We can still stimulate the baby with black and white toys and books. For instance even let the baby feel the books. Books like Black & White from BabyOno are suitable for this because we don't have just static pictures, the book has other elements like rustling, squeaking, there's a teether, so can keep even "bigger" babies entertained. The book allows babies to learn new skills from practicing their grip, to stimulating their gums with the teether, which some babies might appreciate from 2 months, some from 4 months. If there are animals in the books, imitate their sounds and describe the pictures. Apart from that, we mainly read fairy tales to the children, we read the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, The Mole, Old Greek Fables and Legends. Frankly, we read basically anything that is available. We have also read Decameron, The Governor, and Modern Multivariate Statistical Techniques: Regression, Classification, and Manifold Learning.
It is crucial to read regularly to your children as early as possible. Reading, regularly talking and describing things they see around helps kids with language development, cognitive development and teaches children to communicate. This introduces children to concepts like numbers, letters, colours in a fun way. Besides fairy tales, nursery rhymes and children's songs are also suitable. We read in Czech, Slovak and English. Of course, it is up to you in how many languages you will read kids, the important thing is to introduce the child to as many words as possible.
PS: Parents who read a picture book with their children every day will introduce them to approximately 78,000 words a year. That's if we only read one picture book. What does this imply? Let's read to our children as much as possible.
In addition, an interesting "fun fact": according to a study published in Cambridge University Press, see source. "Those who reached infant developmental milestones sooner in their first year of life had significantly better (p<0.05) mean scores in teacher ratings at 16 years, and at 31 years they were more likely to have achieved a better educational level than slower developers." So let's play with our children as much as possible, read to them, sing with them, and of course let them have plenty of time to spend on their own on their backs and tummies (with your supervision of course). Why would we do that ? In order for them to have the space to learn new things on their own and by that they might reach the milestones much earlier.
Apart from toys it is good to have some sort of play mat with hanging toys. Our baby truly adored looking at the toys and was fascinated by them from the first days of life. As the babies get older they starts to grab the toys and swing them around in different ways, which trains not only their grip but also teaches them concepts such as "action and reaction".
Besides that, we don't just have to use the changing table for tummy time, but we can use any play mat. Later, I recommend a non-slippery mat, we have a puzzle mat. Reason is simple, it is easier for the baby to stay balanced on the tummy longer because it doesn't slip as much as a on a play mat, another reason is that it's also easier for us to correct the baby into the "right position". What is the correct position for baby during the tummy time? Check out professional physiotherapists' videos in order to find out mor, or go to see a physiotherapist yourself to make sure you are handling your baby correctly. In case you are not, they will advise you what to correct. This way you will definitely not go wrong and you will be sure that you are helping your child with proper motor development.
Sources:
Sample of some of our most popular toys:
Links to the toys we have or a similar ones:
Comments