As a new child enters your world, your apartment or house can become a bit disorganized. After kids come along, the disorderliness can worsen into clutter and a total mess. This was definitely the case for me after we had a baby. All of a sudden, my house was like a toy store with baby toys and things all over the place. I could not keep up with working and raising a child. I was happy if just half of the apartment was cluttered with baby toys. Parents expend a lot of energy thinking about which toys their child should have and which toys are useless. Most parents think their child should have educational baby toys to embark on life with. I was one of them. However I don’t think its a good idea to rule out the plain old toys for fun. She definitely learned her colors and alphabet way before any of the other children but I also thought that she needed to understand how to be a child too.

Baby toys are available in so many places, K-Mart, Toy-R-Us, the supermarket and of course specialty shops just for babies. You can buy them new at stores or you can look around for yard sales. It depends on the amount of money you want to spend. I was not able to afford to buy the brand new expensive baby toys. When my wife was pregnant, she ordered several baby toys knowing that we would not have as much time to spend shopping once the baby arrived. We also discovered lots of my daughter’s baby toys at neighborhood yard sales as well as inherited toys from cousins who had outgrown them. Many of those toys that we managed to find were not all that educational since we usually picked the ones that were colorful or ones that we remembered from our own childhood.

When looking for baby toys or toys for any young child, you have should choose to buy educational or fun toys. Some toys have to invigorate them mentally and help them raise their intellectual abilities while others should really just be about playing. Now that my daughter is a toddler, she no longer needs baby toys that teach the simple basics. I do owe some of her mental alertness and early learning skills to her baby toys. However, now that she takes an interest in older toys she still learns things. For example, her kitchen set has food and plates and other such items. She’s loves to play pretend now and in doing so she now understands the concept of table setting and which foods go with which foods.

While I do attribute a lot of her baby toys for giving her an incredible head start, a lot has to do with what you permit your baby to do. It’s really as simple as allowing them to look around and generate a creative imagination. They will thank you for it someday.

Babies can learn so much through play. At first it may seem like they cannot do many things however they develop fast and the toys they play with have a definite effect on how they develop. So, the next time you are at a toy store to find a  baby toy keep in mind that toys play a big role in their development. If in doubt, have a chat with the child’s parents or guardian first to see which toys the baby may already has and what type of toys they like to play with.

Popular baby toys

There are many choices in the baby toy aisles. Some of the more popular ones are listed below:

Play mats and Activity centers; babies can lay comfortably on these mats and explore them. Many of these mats come with an arch with fun things hanging down. They also come with special areas that make noises or that feel different to stimulate their senses.

Mobiles; mobiles help a baby learn how to focus their eyes. Some are electronic and can play music which can also be useful when putting them to sleep.

Bath toys; there are all kinds of toys that a baby can play with in the bath from individual animals and characters through to play-sets that encourage them to build and sort.

Rattles; all babies love rattles and noisy toys which are good from a hearing perspective and also help their fine motor skills learn how to hold.

Teethers; teethers aren’t just a useful aid to teething, they can make noises and help with motor skills

Soft books; it’s never too early to introduce a child to books. Babies enjoy looking at the pictures and can also learn about touch through the different textures.

Musical toys; musical toys and music can help babies sleep and can also help them learn about problem solving as they work out how to make noises with their toys.

Push/Pull toys; as babies get older and more active a push/pull toy will help them develop physically.

Stacking/sorting toys; as babies become more mobile they will enjoy stacking, building… and knocking down!.

Walkers; walkers can help babies develop the skills they need to walk. Some walkers double up as brick cases and ride-ons which can also be useful.

Safety and age restrictions

When buying baby toys it’s recommended that the toy should match the age of the child (toys should show this on a label) and that it meets all necessary safety requirements. Age restrictions on toys are there for a purpose as many toys for older children use small parts that present a choking hazard or may have hard parts that could hurt them.

Babies, like adults, have their own ideas when it comes to the toys they like to play with. To make sure that the baby toy will suit the baby check with the parents first who will be able to give guidelines on what is suitable, what the baby likes and what the baby needs.