Many parents enjoy picking out toys for their new baby. With so many toys on the market, it can be hard to select the best toys for your infant. Infant toys allow your child to begin learning her world and provide different sensory experiences. With some careful shopping and planning, you can select the best toys for your infant.
Crib Mobiles
One of the first toys that most parents purchase for their infant is a crib mobile. Select a crib mobile for your child that has interesting objects to look at and plays soothing music. Many parents purchase a mobile that coordinates with the nursery decor. Be sure to remove the mobile from the crib when you baby begins to sit up in the crib.
Teething Rings and Rattles
You can attach wrist rattles to your infant’s wrists so that she can hear the noises when she moves her arms. The Lamaze Garden Bug Wrist Rattle is a popular choice with parents. Once your child is able to hold objects, begin offering hand held teething rings and rattles. Many of the Sassy rattles are hard plastic and provide contrasting colors for babies to look at. There are teething rings that are both soft fabric and hard plastic. Experiment with different teething rings and rattles to find the type that your infant prefers.
Activity Centers
Activity centers can provide hours of entertainment for infants. For newborns, an activity gym and play mat can provide a safe place for her to play and interesting objects for your baby to look at. You can also use an activity gym to encourage your baby to play on her tummy during tummy time. As your baby is able to sit up, she will enjoy playing in an Exersaucer. These toys keep your baby stationary (unlike a walker) while allowing them to move around and interact with different toys.
Plush Toys
Many infants enjoy soft toys that they can hold and touch. The Baby Einstein Octoplush plays music when your infant touches the legs. Other toys such as Lamaze’s Musical Inchworm and Freddie the Firefly offer interesting surfaces for your baby to touch. Some plush toys have a clip so that you can attach them to the car seat or stroller. Gund also has very soft stuff animals that many infants enjoy touching. Be sure not to put plush toys in your infants crib while they are sleeping.
Musical Toys
Babies enjoy listening to music and there are many baby toys that play music. When selecting a toy be sure to make sure that you do not find the music irritating since you will be hearing it play over and over. The Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes is small enough for an infant to hold and plays seven different classical tunes. Another popular option is the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube that allows your baby to create music by touching the different parts of the cube.
Stacking Toys
Once your baby begins sitting up, she can start playing with stacking toys. One of the classic baby toys is the Fisher Price Rock-A-Stack. Your baby will also enjoy stacking soft blocks, such as Baby Einstein’s Discover and Play Color Blocks. Another popular option is Fisher Price’s Baby’s Brilliant Basics First Blocks.
Books
Make sure that your infant’s toy collection includes plenty of books. This is a great time to begin reading to your baby and introduce books into her life. Because babies put everything in their mouth, you should choose board books, plastic books or cloth books. If you have keepsake books or paper books, you may want to put those away until your baby is older. Some popular books for babies include "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown, "Pat the Bunny" by Dorothy Kunhardt and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Usborne books has also has many great books for infants in their Touchy Feely Series, such as "That’s Not by Kitten" and "That’s Not My Train."
