How To Choose
The Best Developmental Infant Toysfor Newborn To 5 Months Old Infants
You may wonder, what the best developmental infant toys for newborn up to 5 months are.
(Click here if you are looking for baby developmental toys for baby 6-12 months instead)
In order to answer this question, let's look at the characters of this age group and see what types of toys are ideal for boosting the infant's development. Also in this page, we are going to see which toy in the market has the greatest value (i.e. play value, fun factor and price) for each toy type.
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Newborn Toys
Characteristic:
Newborns age 0-1 month are immobile and mostly inactive.
So how do you ensure the maximal development of your newborn ?
Apart from giving your newborn a good feeding, you can boost its development by stimulating all the five senses. It's very easy and cheap to do so. Just by holding and talking to your newborn often, you give her a good stimulation.
Of the five senses, the one least developed at birth is the eyes. In fact, newborn can only distinguish contrasting colors and human face properly. The optimum distance which a newborn can focus on is 12 inches. So the key of stimulating the newborn eyes is by exposing her to either human face or something with constrasting color at a distance of 12 inches.
Newborn Toy Recommendation
Based on the above characteristics, the best infant toys for this age group are toys to look and hear at and the ones which preferably has contrasting colors: black, white and red.
So which toys fall into this category ?
There are several infant toys you can buy: baby mobiles, baby rattles (hand rattles, wrist rattles, booties rattles), black and white baby books or flash card, and black and white stuffed animal like panda, zebra, penguin and dalmatian.
Where and what newborn toys to buy
You can buy some of those developmental infant toys at your local toy store. But if you wanted to have more choice, I recommend you to buy online.
For a newborn, I recommend the Genius Babies deluxe infant stimulation package which contains all you need to stimulate your newborn baby: black and white baby mobile, flash card, black and white jingling toy, and baby rattles (hand, wrist and booties rattle).
NOTE: You can only get this package in this store since those products are exclusive to this store.
However, if you don't like their black and white baby mobile , you can get other infant stimulation package which does not contain any baby mobile and then buy the mobile separately.
For infant stimulation purpose, I recommend either two of these developmental baby mobiles: Infant Stim Baby Mobile by Wimmer Ferguson or Tiny Love Baby Mobile (either the discontinued Symphony in Motion or the newer Island Dreams).
- Infant Stim Baby Mobile.
This is an award winning mobile, which was designed based on infant visual stimulation research. There are a variety of cards for attachments. So you will get cards with black-white-red graphic and pictures of human face which is ideal for a newborn as well as attachment with primary color graphic for older babies. Unfortunately, this newborn mobile does not have music and is operated by wind, which means it won't move until either you or the wind moves it. You can get this at Genius Babies as part of Wimmer Ferguson visual stimulation set or individually. Amazon also carries it at a slightly lower price and you can buy it here
.
- Tiny Love Baby Mobile.
I actually like Symphony in Motion by Tiny Love as this battery-operated baby mobile has been the best baby mobile in the market for a few years with many attractive and developmentally-appropriate attachment. Sadly, it has been discontinued and the only one available
at Amazon is offered at an exhorbitant price. Fortunately, Tiny Love has its 'replacement', the newer Sweet Island Dream. It has all the features of Symphony in Motion (good number of attachment toys with bright colors, music and movement). However, it certainly is more revolutionary
than Symphony in Motion since Sweet Island Dream has multidimensional movement as well as more choices in music and volume setting. If you're looking for a developmental infant toys which does a good job in both stimulating and entertaining your baby, this is the one. You can get this either at Genius Babies or here
at a slightly lower price.
Developmental Infant Toys For Baby Age 2-5 months
Characteristics:
Once a baby reaches 2 months of age, it starts to be able to kick, reach, and poke. At 5 months, your baby will be able to flip over by herself, kick, reach, poke, pull, and grab toys. So any developmental infant toy which can stimulate them to move their body, hands and feet around is good.
How about their visual ability ? Although their senses are getting better in responding to outside stimuli, still their visual ability is immature. Here is what happens to the baby's visual capability at second month. As a baby reaches its second month, it is gradually able to see other colors (i.e. not only black, white and red) more clearly. Since the baby's eyes are still immature, it is best to stay with the black, white and red developmental infant toys until your baby's third month. Then you can switch to infant developmental toys with bold or primary colors afterwards. Save the baby toys with softer colors until she's six months or older.
Best Infant Toys For Baby 2-5 Months
The best infant toys for this age groups is: baby playmat or play gym, stuffed animal/doll and baby mirror which have bold or primary colors. Baby mobiles and rattles also continue to delight your baby. However, watch your older baby carefully when she's playing with baby mobiles . Make sure she cannot reach and pull it down.
Other safety precaution you have to bear in mind when buying developmental infant toys for this age group are:
- safe. No string, no small size, and no lead paint.
- for developmental infant toys like baby mobiles and playmat, make sure they're sturdy enough and can't cause any accident.
- if you're buying stuffed animals or dolls, make sure the button, wiggly eyes and tiny things attached to it (if any) are secure.
Where and what developmental infant toys to buy
Baby Rattles:
The foot and wrist rattles from her newborn days still continue to delight your young baby. May be by now, she even enjoy those newborn toys even more. However,at around three months, your baby will appreciate a rattle which can also be used as an activity toy. After looking for so many rattles in the market, I decided that Lamaze Peekaboo Clutch Cube has the best value in terms of the fun aspect, play, and developmental value. You'll find that this rattle can be used for many things, like for peek-a-boo play (because it has a flap which reveals a mirror when opened), texture exploration, noise exploration, as a teether and as a rattle. It's also engaging visually. In short, this developmental infant toy is fun and so developmental you can use it for at least a year. It is available here
.
Baby playmat/activity gym:
For playmat/activity gym, I recommend Gymini Super Deluxe Light and Music by Tiny Love because it is developmental and will grow with your baby. The mat is fun and has many activities to accommodate each growth stage. When your baby is young, she can enjoy the crinkly and squeaky sound of the playmate during floor time.
When your baby is a bit bigger, then she can enjoy the tummy time with the mirror and peek-a-boo flap on the playmat. In addition, she will be excited to kick and reach a a number of fun toys which can rattle, spin, jitter, etc, on the arch. Finally, the playmat plays the music a when the music touch pad is kicked, hit or touched by your baby.
This developmental infant toy is available from here
at a very low price (33% off MSRP).
Baby mirror
When shopping for a baby mirror, two things you have to make sure is that it has accurate reflection (not all mirror has accurate reflection) and it fits your needs. In other words, if you wanted a mirror for both tummy and crib time (i.e. for hanging), then buy a mirror for that purpose. Remember that not all baby mirrors can be used for both tummy and crib time.
For an interesting and relatively cheap baby mirror which can be used for both tummy and crib time, I recommend Sassy Me In The Mirror.
The frame is decorated with bold color fabric and has some cute animals stuck on it. When the mirror is shaken, there's a rattling sound coming out of those animals.
This is not the most sophisticated baby mirror because I'm aware that there are other more expensive baby mirror loaded with music and light to entertain the baby. However, I don't think you need that kind of features for a baby mirror.
Also, if you already has a baby mirror embedded in other baby toys, then you definitely won't need this toy. If you haven't, and are looking for a good and relatively inexpensive baby mirror, this is the one. This developmental infant toy is available here
Baby mobile
The purpose of having a baby mobile as a newborn toy and for older infant is to entertain the baby, to give visual stimulation and to encourage pre-reaching activities. Therefore, when shopping for a baby mobile, find the one which has appropriate color (bold and highly contrasting color) for attachment and whose toy attachment face down to the baby. Not all mobiles have these features, so be careful when buying one. In my opinion, two baby mobiles which fit the bill are:
- Infant Stim Baby Mobile.
This is an award winning and affordable (cheap) mobile, which was designed based on infant visual stimulation research. There are a variety of cards for attachments. So you will get cards with black-white-red graphic and pictures of human face which is ideal for a newborn as well as attachment with primary color graphic for older babies. Unfortunately, this is a basic mobile (well, you can't expect a lot from a mobile which cost less than $20, can you?). This mobile does not have music and can only be moved by either wind or you. Nevertheless, this is a mobile which does the job in stimulating your baby's sight. You can get this developmental infant toy here - Symphony in Motion or Sweet Island Dream by Tiny Love.
If you cringe at the thought of getting a basic mobile like Infant Stim Baby Mobile, then you should try baby mobile by Tiny Love which is battery operated and has been the best infant toy mobile in the market for a few years. Unlike Infant Stim Mobile, these mobiles have music and the hanging toys move in different combination. Additionally, the toys are attractive and developmentally-appropriate. So if you're looking for an infant mobile which does a good job in both stimulating and entertaining your baby, you can get either Symphony in Motion or Sweet Island Dream.
NOTE:Symphony in Motion has been discontinued, but you may still get this from second hand marketplace (ebay). Its replacement, Sweet Island Dream, is certainly better though, with more music and volume setting choices, as well as
more multidimensional movement of the attachment toys. You can get Sweet Island Dream at Genius Babies or here
at a slightly lower price
Dolls and stuffed animal
The best stuffed animal for this age group is the one which has bold color and is safe.
It means, the wiggly eyes, buttons, and so forth should be tightly secured to the toys.
Better yet, the toys do not have any attachment at all.
For stuffed animal, it can be difficult to find because usually they don't have bold colors.
However, you can try to get something like penguins, panda, and dalmation.
If you are having difficulties locating such stuffed animals locally, you can try Stuffed Ark Store. It has every stuffed animal imaginable, even the rare ones.
Baby's first dolls can also be tricky. The famous maker of baby's first doll is Eden Toys. Their dolls are so soft and are appropriate for baby, but they have soft/pastel outfit. They used to produce developmental baby dolls which has bold color and different texture to explore though. Unfortunately, it's been discontinued, but I've seen it popping up periodically on ebay store with fair price and new condition. You can take a look at the entire Eden Doll product line here at Genius Babies website.
Above all, always remember that merely giving your baby educational and developmental toys is not a guarantee for having a smart baby. The presence of an attentive care giver (you !!) is the most important factor that determine the outcome.
So always talk and play with your baby. Indeed, simple talk and activity (games) will dramatically accelerate your baby's development. But don't forget to get developmental infant toys for the greatest results.
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If you are interested in looking at the discussion of each toy type including shopping guide, play ideas and the benefit of the toy, then visit these following pages:
Guide to Baby Developmental Toys for Infant 6-12 months
From Developmental Infant Toys (0-6 months) to Baby Educational Toys Main Page
Advice on choosing and shopping for toys for any age groups:
Toy shopping for other age groups :
