Guide to Buying Baby Toys

Guide to Buy­ing Baby Toys (0–12 months)
This guide is designed to help par­ents make toy choices and to assist friends in buy­ing the most appro­pri­ate toy for your baby. It is organ­ised by baby age as this pro­vides the best over­all guide. Remem­ber also to use the age guide on the toy descrip­tion and to ensure that the toy is from an estab­lished man­u­fac­turer who has designed to the lat­est EU safety reg­u­la­tions. For hygienic rea­sons toys which will be han­dled need to be washable.

0-1month
The new­born has lim­ited senses and toys which pro­vide stim­u­la­tion can be use­ful. Baby has very lim­ited vision so toys with strong con­trast­ing colours and move­ment are suit­able. Cot mobiles pro­vide stim­u­la­tion and brighten up the room. A sim­ple activ­ity gym on a floor mat also pro­vides stim­u­la­tion. Rat­tles are always appre­ci­ated by baby.

1–3 months
Baby is now devel­op­ing rapidly and will be start­ing to lift his/her head and find­ing the world looks dif­fer­ent! Playmats/activity gyms pro­vide reach­ing shapes which baby can start to “punch”. Rat­tles attached to foot socks are also great for a good kick on the mat. These types of toys encour­age the devel­op­ment of motor skills and hand to eye coor­di­na­tion. The use of tex­ture is impor­tant and toys with mul­ti­ple mate­ri­als and sounds are appre­ci­ated by baby.

3–6 months
This is an excit­ing time as baby becomes more inter­ested in the envi­ron­ment and his/her mouth! Baby will like to pick up small toys (but not so small that they could be swal­lowed) and turn them over in his hand – before hav­ing a good chew!

Toys with sound will intrigue baby but remem­ber that you will need to live with the tune! Designs which incor­po­rate a num­ber of dif­fer­ent parts or sec­tions, like stack­ing blocks, pro­vide stim­u­la­tion. Baby can be intro­duced to books – maybe books with ani­mals which will give the Grand­par­ents an oppor­tu­nity to prac­tice their farm­yard sounds …or maybe not!

6–9 months
Baby may be sit­ting up by now and try­ing to crawl so toys which encour­age crawl­ing are good. These are toys which can roll such as wooden balls or soft balls with tex­tures. This is a good time to intro­duce books with nurs­ery rhymes and hand move­ment, maybe with a CD to help with the singing!

9–12 months
Baby is on the move! Sit­ting and crawl­ing is now sec­ond nature and fur­ni­ture walk­ing is fun — if a lit­tle unsta­ble. A 4 wheel trol­ley with a han­dle will encour­age mobil­ity. Baby is start­ing to become inde­pen­dent and exer­cise choice of play toys. Choos­ing a par­tic­u­lar toy from the box is part of devel­op­ment. Man­ual dex­ter­ity is impor­tant so a toy which may be picked up and then opened or sep­a­rated is fun. Baby will now enjoy musi­cal toys and may have a spe­cial toy (make sure you have a backup spe­cial toy in case of loss).

It should be noted that cud­dly toys are more suited for older children.

Watch the video related to baby toys

Pick­ing toys for an infant is tough; learn about var­i­ous types of baby and tod­dler toys in this free video on baby toys and safety. Expert: Stacey Olson Bio: Stacey Olson holds a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in edu­ca­tion and human sci­ences, with an endorse­ment in inclu­sive early child­hood edu­ca­tion. Film­maker: Jon Olson

Help answer the ques­tion about baby toys

What are the toxic-free brands of baby toys? Are brands such as Safety First and The First Years safe?
Are these brands free of ptha­lates? My baby is 7 months old and she needs some toys to stim­u­late her. Any sug­ges­tions. Safe toys, of course.

About Author

Trevor Ginn is man­ag­ing direc­tor at Hello Baby (www.hellobabydirect.co.uk) an online baby shop based in Beth­nal Green, East Lon­don, UK. They sell a wide range of Toys and other baby prod­ucts such as prams, pushchairs, nurs­ery fur­ni­ture and car seats. Trevor also writes a blog on eCom­merce which can be found at www.trevorginn.com