Babies this age are full of curiosity and are eager to explore everything they come across, banging toys against each other or their bodies and placing objects in their mouths. When purchasing toys for this age range, look for soft ones without sharp edges that won’t cause harm.
At this age, children become fascinated with cause-and-effect relationships and enjoy toys that respond to their actions, like musical instruments or games that teach letters and numbers.
1. Balls
Young children require toys that promote physical, social and imaginative development – but choosing from among all of the brightly-colored options in stores can be daunting and time consuming.
Toys designed for infants and toddlers must be safe (free from sharp parts, splinters and pinch points); painted with nontoxic paint; easy to clean; open-ended in terms of their purpose – they should provide lots of ways for play – as well as easy storage.
Babies benefit greatly from playing with toys like mobiles and rattles that allow them to explore sounds and visuals while improving hand-eye coordination. Babies also enjoy gazing upon themselves in unbreakable mirrors to explore what their bodies can do.
Toddlers explore their world through pretend play, so toys such as dolls, Play-Doh and other sensory materials such as dolls are great at encouraging imaginative explorations. Toddlers make tremendous strides in developing fine motor skills during this stage so toys like puzzles or large Lego blocks may help. Also ideal are toys which stimulate their fine motor abilities such as puzzles or large Lego blocks for refinement; drums and hammer-and-peg toys can provide added noise-making fun; drumsticks and hammer-and-peg toys can also challenge problem-solving skills like fitting different sized rings onto a cone!
2. Blocks
Early development for babies involves discovering their hands and developing fine motor skills such as grasping, swiping and reaching. At this age, babies also begin learning object permanence (the concept that something exists even when not visible) and spatial relationships – toy solutions like mobiles and busy boxes that provide this interaction are helpful, notes Cynthia Hockman ARNP MSCPNP of UnityPoint Health.
At approximately six months, babies begin exploring their bodies and teething, providing ample opportunity to play with toys that promote body awareness and pretend play – like using a mirror as a form of self-reflection! Also helpful is an aid that helps babies reach and grasp things like ring stacks with various-sized rings for easy storage on cones.
Toddlers are active beings by now; they’ve begun crawling, walking and pronouncing their first words according to Dr. Roberta Golinkoff of the University of Delaware’s department of child psychology. Toddlers tend to enjoy action toys like push/pull cars/trains; as well as various role-play items like puppets/dress-up clothes/Play-Doh sets that allow them to create two dimensional and three dimensional designs of their own!
3. Puzzles
Puzzles, like blocks, help children’s cognitive development by teaching problem-solving, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Puzzles also teach kids to recognize shapes, colors and animals more readily. When selecting a puzzle for your child, make sure it suits their age and capabilities as picking too difficult of one could frustrate and overwhelm them.
If your toddler is aged 1-2, opt for a puzzle with pieces no smaller than 2 inches wide to help minimize choking hazards. Dreampark makes an engaging toddler puzzle featuring easy-to-grasp wooden knobs which allow children to move pieces around easily while exploring sounds and coordination. Preschoolers might enjoy Melissa & Doug USA Puzzle which integrates geography with playtime by featuring extra thick wood pieces as well as color illustrations on its base that allow kids to quickly locate their piece quickly.
Introduce kids to three dimensional puzzles with this Rolife set from Roco, featuring doors, buses and insect worlds – pieces are colorful and easy to grip – they lock into place once completed and come with its own storage tray!
4. Dolls
Young children find pleasure in dolls because they mimic adults around them. Dr. Elizabeth Carroll from Pediatrician Solutions notes that these toys can help children build important social skills such as sharing, taking turns and resolving conflict resolution.
By age 1, children have begun crawling, walking and talking. They’re also beginning to understand goal setting while playing with toys that challenge their intellectual capacities such as puzzles, books and musical instruments; strategic games (such as B. Toys’ bracelet assembling game) also require strategic thought processes and this one teaches kids how to work toward them successfully.
At this age, children can focus for longer periods of time and understand cause-and-effect relationships more clearly. As they explore shapes and sizes more fully, action toys like push-and-pull toys or ride-ons become particularly appealing. Puzzles provide further stimulation; building block sets allow children to create complex structures; as do high tech toys that make real world sounds, such as telephones that ring or dolls that speak.
Baby and toddler toys should not contain choking hazards to keep children safe, and are recommended with features like crinkles, squeaks and nubby textures to engage their senses and keep them engaged with playtime.
5. Books
Books provide children of any age an invaluable way to develop speech and language abilities, imagination and socialization skills. Children also learn to recognize words, colors and pictures through interaction with books.
Infants aged one to three should play with toys that promote movement and learning. Babies develop their body awareness by kicking, reaching for toys, crawling on hands and knees or playing with mobiles; encourage tummy time for belly rolling and push-up skills development; infants may start reaching for toys on their own with improved motor control but will still require assistance sitting up or laying down.
Toddlers between two and three can begin naming colors, pointing out pictures, reciting simple words and engaging in more complex activities such as counting objects or placing items into containers. Their skills can be further developed with puzzles with four to 12 pieces and toys featuring latches, locks, hooks, buttons or snaps that they can manipulate themselves or collections of things to sort.
Four and five year-old children experience rapid development of their ability to think and solve problems, becoming adept at using imagination to play pretend as someone else such as teachers, pilots or doctors. Choose toys which promote creative play such as role playing toys that stimulate this ability versus those that beep when children make an error in answering.
6. Musical Instruments
Musical instruments make an excellent toy choice for toddlers. Not only can they encourage creativity and imagination development, they can also strengthen motor and cognitive skills while teaching rhythm, tempo and sounds of various instruments.
Due to their shorter limbs and fingers, toddlers need an instrument with scaled down dimensions like a piano or violin – one like this from Melissa & Doug is ideal as it comes equipped with brightly colored keys and includes an accompanying songbook!
A saxophone and trumpet set is another ideal gift option for young children. Each key has been color-coded so children can easily remember which notes to press. Furthermore, these plastic instruments come coated in silver paint to give the appearance of realistic instruments.
A drum set can help kids develop both motor and listening skills in an enjoyable and convenient manner. This one from iBaseToy comes complete with its own carrying bag for convenient play-and-practice counting exercises on-the-go! Also included are popular classic xylophones and drums alongside maracas, castanets, kazoo and recorder!
7. Sensory Toys
Sensory toys can stimulate different parts of the senses: touch, vibration and temperature stimulation as well as vestibular stimulation through changing shape or movement and auditory stimuli such as sound or music. Furthermore, there are toys designed specifically for kids sensitive to smell that help them distinguish different scents more easily.
Sensory toys can help children with autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorders to relax their senses and focus. Popular examples of sensory toys for this use include sand or putty which children can use to build fine motor skills by shaping it into containers or creating shapes with it. Edushape provides a selection of sensory toys tailored specifically for all ages and stages such as teething toys, stuffed animals, bathtub play toys, puzzles and toy musical instruments – among others!
Wilson recommends Play-Doh or puffy clay as an enjoyable, less messy option for children aged 3 to 5, which helps build muscle strength while encouraging creativity through sculpting, cookie cutter cutting and creative play. She also suggests fidget toys to improve concentration.
Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage
Babies this age are full of curiosity and are eager to explore everything they come across, banging toys against each other or their bodies and placing objects in their mouths. When purchasing toys for this age range, look for soft ones without sharp edges that won’t cause harm.
At this age, children become fascinated with cause-and-effect relationships and enjoy toys that respond to their actions, like musical instruments or games that teach letters and numbers which helps them to grow as an adult with special skills to be able to better play games like online poker on any of the sites mentioned at https://centiment.io.
1. Balls
Young children require toys that promote physical, social and imaginative development – but choosing from among all of the brightly-colored options in stores can be daunting and time consuming.
Toys designed for infants and toddlers must be safe (free from sharp parts, splinters and pinch points); painted with nontoxic paint; easy to clean; open-ended in terms of their purpose – they should provide lots of ways for play – as well as easy storage.
Babies benefit greatly from playing with toys like mobiles and rattles that allow them to explore sounds and visuals while improving hand-eye coordination. Babies also enjoy gazing upon themselves in unbreakable mirrors to explore what their bodies can do.
Toddlers explore their world through pretend play, so toys such as dolls, Play-Doh and other sensory materials such as dolls are great at encouraging imaginative explorations. Toddlers make tremendous strides in developing fine motor skills during this stage so toys like puzzles or large Lego blocks may help. Also ideal are toys which stimulate their fine motor abilities such as puzzles or large Lego blocks for refinement; drums and hammer-and-peg toys can provide added noise-making fun; drumsticks and hammer-and-peg toys can also challenge problem-solving skills like fitting different sized rings onto a cone!
2. Blocks
Early development for babies involves discovering their hands and developing fine motor skills such as grasping, swiping and reaching. At this age, babies also begin learning object permanence (the concept that something exists even when not visible) and spatial relationships – toy solutions like mobiles and busy boxes that provide this interaction are helpful, notes Cynthia Hockman ARNP MSCPNP of UnityPoint Health.
At approximately six months, babies begin exploring their bodies and teething, providing ample opportunity to play with toys that promote body awareness and pretend play – like using a mirror as a form of self-reflection! Also helpful is an aid that helps babies reach and grasp things like ring stacks with various-sized rings for easy storage on cones.
Toddlers are active beings by now; they’ve begun crawling, walking and pronouncing their first words according to Dr. Roberta Golinkoff of the University of Delaware’s department of child psychology. Toddlers tend to enjoy action toys like push/pull cars/trains; as well as various role-play items like puppets/dress-up clothes/Play-Doh sets that allow them to create two dimensional and three dimensional designs of their own!
3. Puzzles
Puzzles, like blocks, help children’s cognitive development by teaching problem-solving, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Puzzles also teach kids to recognize shapes, colors and animals more readily. When selecting a puzzle for your child, make sure it suits their age and capabilities as picking too difficult of one could frustrate and overwhelm them.
If your toddler is aged 1-2, opt for a puzzle with pieces no smaller than 2 inches wide to help minimize choking hazards. Dreampark makes an engaging toddler puzzle featuring easy-to-grasp wooden knobs which allow children to move pieces around easily while exploring sounds and coordination. Preschoolers might enjoy Melissa & Doug USA Puzzle which integrates geography with playtime by featuring extra thick wood pieces as well as color illustrations on its base that allow kids to quickly locate their piece quickly.
Introduce kids to three dimensional puzzles with this Rolife set from Roco, featuring doors, buses and insect worlds – pieces are colorful and easy to grip – they lock into place once completed and come with its own storage tray!
4. Dolls
Young children find pleasure in dolls because they mimic adults around them. Dr. Elizabeth Carroll from Pediatrician Solutions notes that these toys can help children build important social skills such as sharing, taking turns and resolving conflict resolution.
By age 1, children have begun crawling, walking and talking. They’re also beginning to understand goal setting while playing with toys that challenge their intellectual capacities such as puzzles, books and musical instruments; strategic games (such as B. Toys’ bracelet assembling game) also require strategic thought processes and this one teaches kids how to work toward them successfully.
At this age, children can focus for longer periods of time and understand cause-and-effect relationships more clearly. As they explore shapes and sizes more fully, action toys like push-and-pull toys or ride-ons become particularly appealing. Puzzles provide further stimulation; building block sets allow children to create complex structures; as do high tech toys that make real world sounds, such as telephones that ring or dolls that speak.
Baby and toddler toys should not contain choking hazards to keep children safe, and are recommended with features like crinkles, squeaks and nubby textures to engage their senses and keep them engaged with playtime.
5. Books
Books provide children of any age an invaluable way to develop speech and language abilities, imagination and socialization skills. Children also learn to recognize words, colors and pictures through interaction with books.
Infants aged one to three should play with toys that promote movement and learning. Babies develop their body awareness by kicking, reaching for toys, crawling on hands and knees or playing with mobiles; encourage tummy time for belly rolling and push-up skills development; infants may start reaching for toys on their own with improved motor control but will still require assistance sitting up or laying down.
Toddlers between two and three can begin naming colors, pointing out pictures, reciting simple words and engaging in more complex activities such as counting objects or placing items into containers. Their skills can be further developed with puzzles with four to 12 pieces and toys featuring latches, locks, hooks, buttons or snaps that they can manipulate themselves or collections of things to sort.
Four and five year-old children experience rapid development of their ability to think and solve problems, becoming adept at using imagination to play pretend as someone else such as teachers, pilots or doctors. Choose toys which promote creative play such as role playing toys that stimulate this ability versus those that beep when children make an error in answering.
6. Musical Instruments
Musical instruments make an excellent toy choice for toddlers. Not only can they encourage creativity and imagination development, they can also strengthen motor and cognitive skills while teaching rhythm, tempo and sounds of various instruments.
Due to their shorter limbs and fingers, toddlers need an instrument with scaled down dimensions like a piano or violin – one like this from Melissa & Doug is ideal as it comes equipped with brightly colored keys and includes an accompanying songbook!
A saxophone and trumpet set is another ideal gift option for young children. Each key has been color-coded so children can easily remember which notes to press. Furthermore, these plastic instruments come coated in silver paint to give the appearance of realistic instruments.
A drum set can help kids develop both motor and listening skills in an enjoyable and convenient manner. This one from iBaseToy comes complete with its own carrying bag for convenient play-and-practice counting exercises on-the-go! Also included are popular classic xylophones and drums alongside maracas, castanets, kazoo and recorder!
7. Sensory Toys
Sensory toys can stimulate different parts of the senses: touch, vibration and temperature stimulation as well as vestibular stimulation through changing shape or movement and auditory stimuli such as sound or music. Furthermore, there are toys designed specifically for kids sensitive to smell that help them distinguish different scents more easily.
Sensory toys can help children with autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorders to relax their senses and focus. Popular examples of sensory toys for this use include sand or putty which children can use to build fine motor skills by shaping it into containers or creating shapes with it. Edushape provides a selection of sensory toys tailored specifically for all ages and stages such as teething toys, stuffed animals, bathtub play toys, puzzles and toy musical instruments – among others!
Wilson recommends Play-Doh or puffy clay as an enjoyable, less messy option for children aged 3 to 5, which helps build muscle strength while encouraging creativity through sculpting, cookie cutter cutting and creative play. She also suggests fidget toys to improve concentration.
