A Parent’s Guide to Smart Play
For first-time parents, caring for a baby marks the beginning of a new and exciting journey filled with immeasurable joy, love, and wonder. Watching your child reach one important developmental milestone after another is what makes the journey so rewarding.
The early years for your child are a learning period when they master the most crucial skills as they try to make sense of the world around them. The toys your child plays with are not just meant to entertain or keep them absorbed but are pivotal in developing the core skills they’ll need as they grow.
In this guide, we cover the some milestones your child goes through, activities to encourage play-based learning, and how newborn toys can promote development in the early years.
Decoding Infant Development: Milestones and Support Strategies
1. Head Control: The First Move Towards Physical Development
Within the first three months after a child is born, babies start tilting their head slowly and keeping it in a straight and upright posture. Learning how to hold their head against gravity allows a child to look around and explore their surroundings. Head control strengthens the child’s neck muscles and upper body, which facilitates the development of further motor skills like rolling over, sitting up, and eventually walking.
Typically, it takes around 4 months for a child to gain full head control, but some children are slow to achieve this milestone. If your baby can’t hold his head up without support within 4 months, you are well-advised to talk with your pediatrician.
How to Support Head Control
● Place your child belly-down on a soft play mat for a few minutes each day. Make sure to supervise your child as they do this.
● Surround the mat with high-contrast toys or soft mirrors that catch their attention and encourage them to lift their head.
● A colorful toy that lies a distance away can make your little one reach for the toy, while hanging toys are a fun and safe way for babies to track and reach for moving objects.
● Go for water play mats that promote tummy time and high-contrast soft books or toys.
2. Mastering the Grasp to Build Fine Motor Skills
Between the first 2-4 months, a child demonstrates another key skill–reaching out for objects with their hands, which is good for their grasp reflex. A child is born with a closed fist, and grasping teaches a child how to coordinate his eye and hand movement without letting go of the object.
Wee Gallery Taggy Ball with Rattle
Generally speaking, in the first 4 months, a child begins to reach out for objects without grasping them yet, while in the next 4-6 months, they may be able to grasp whatever is placed in their palm for a few moments.
It's only later, in the next 4-9 months, that a child learns how to actively pick up small things with intention.
How to Support Grasping
● Opt for lightweight and easy-to-hold development toys for infants, like soft bumpy balls, which your baby can hold, squeeze, and toss around.
● Use toys with a variety of textures, sounds, and shapes to encourage your child to explore them with touch.
● Playing with blocks lets your baby grasp and even stack objects, and allowing them to feed themselves can develop fine motor skills.
● Give your child lots of practice batting their hands for dangling objects by placing your baby on their back in a play gym. This allows the child to move their hands when seeing toys and even touching them accidentally.
3. Babbling: The Foundation of Language Development
Children start babbling within 3-6 months, which is their primary means of communicating with others. This may include making cooing sounds, which consist of single vowel sounds like "ooh" and "aah." In the next 6-10 months, they go on to utter consonant-vowel syllables like "ba”, da or ga.
HABA Color Fun Play Gym Activity Center
Babbling emerges around 4 months for most babies, while they learn to imitate the tone and rhythm of real language sounds by the sixth month.
Babbling kickstarts the language acquisition process by familiarizing the child with speech sounds, which act as building blocks for the first words they speak.
How to Support it Babbling
● Talk to your baby as much as you can while looking directly at them and attempt to imitate your baby’s cooing as this encourages them to try speaking again.
● Musical plush toys or toys that play sounds with buttons are not only interactive but can encourage your baby to vocalize.
● Read your child soft books with a focus on different sound rhythms to help them associate spoken words with sounds. This way, they can learn how to interact orally and not just with cues or gestures.
● Practice peek-a boo which keeps your baby intrigued while the surprise element stimulates them to make sounds before you reappear.
Lilleputiens Jack Sound Rattle Roll
Features to Consider in Development Toys
Newborn toys for development encourage your child to move around, make sounds or stimulate their mind. Put your baby in activity centres where they can observe lights, listen to music or touch objects during playtime.
Use newborn toys that promote problem-solving skills in kids and help improve hand-eye coordination, such as soft blocks, shape sorters or stacking cups.
Wee Gallery Sensory Bundle for Baby
Certain toys, such as convertible play gyms that consist of a baby gym, nest, play mat, ball pit, and fence, can easily adapt to your child’s development needs.
Pop-up toys and button-activated musical instruments teach your child how a particular action leads to a particular result.
This would not only pique your child’s curiosity to explore more but also add to his understanding of the concept of cause and effect in the real world.
For babies, toys are the main point of contact with the world around them, which they can touch, grab, or even put in their mouth.
That’s why it's necessary to ensure that development toys for infants meet safety standards to protect them from accidents and hazards.
Non-toxic, Safe materials
Babies are naturally inclined to chew whatever comes their way. Opt for toys that come with a BPA tag as they are free from toxic materials like phthalates, lead, and other harmful chemicals.
Avoid Choking Hazards
Consider the toy’s size–it should be too large to fit into the baby’s mouth, and shouldn’t it have any loose or detachable components as they come with a choking risk.
Baby-Friendly Toys
The skin of a newborn is delicate like silk, so the toys should be gentle to touch and without any sharp edges. Go for development toys made from plush material and soft fabric books, as well as silicone teethers that allow your child to explore their senses securely.
Wee Gallery Ocean Playmat
Strong and Sturdy
Babies can be remarkably strong for their size. Select toys that a baby can hold on to for long periods, chew, or drop without them breaking into pieces.
Easy- to-Clean
Look for toys that can be washed easily or wiped with a cloth to remove any dirt and bacteria on the surface.
Newborns' senses are actively developing and help them learn about the surrounding world and interact with it. Therefore, choose sensory toys that stimulate both their cognitive skills and motor development from the get-go.
Bright Colors
Babies have limited vision, and they are most receptive to high-contrast colors like black, red, and white. Toys that come in vibrant colors and bold patterns are excellent for boosting a child’s ability to visually track things, including high-contrast books, mobiles or colorful playmats.
Wide-ranging Textures
Expose your child to toys with a variety of textures, from soft plush and soft plastic to ribbed silicone, to enhance their sensibilities. A fabric activity book, textured ball, or teething toy allows a child to explore with their fingers and mouth.
Wee Gallery Cuddle Bunny Bow Ties
Stimulating Auditory Senses
You must know how a soothing lullaby or a soft music melody cheers up your little one or puts him to sleep. Children don’t just hear sounds but process them, so pick toys that make pleasant noises, such as musical plush toys and crinkly fabric books, rather than sharp, rattling sounds.
This will initiate your child’s interest in sound and make them aware of how sounds work.
Wee Gallery Forest Playmat
Key Takeaways
When choosing newborn toys for development, think about your child’s growth and safety. Choosing the right toys can arouse your baby’s interest and magnify the fun while support their development in the early months.
Every moment of play brings your child closer to important development milestones, which is why toys are important.
You’ll find expenses adding up when raising a child, and considering the hefty price of toys, you can easily get overwhelmed. That’s where resale toys come in, as they are a great and sustainable way to ensure your child gets the best of toys without straining your budget.
Explore Toycycle’s collection of the best development toys for infants that benefit your child’s growth journey and help you save.