Tips on Maximizing the Play Value of Infant Mobiles
Infant mobiles, a colorful fascinating toy to hang over your baby's changing table, over the crib and over the car seat, are often regarded as a must-have infant toy.
There is a lot of variation in these infant toys sold in the market nowadays. Some just swing in the breeze, while others have motors for continuous swing. Some are attached to the crib, some are attached to the wall. Today, most of them have music boxes attached to it.
Using baby crib mobiles for infant visual stimulation
The obvious benefit of baby mobiles is for infant visual stimulation. Research has found that infant which have lots of things to look at make a lot of neuronal connection in the brain which is important for brain development.
So what should an infant look at ?
There has been some reports suggesting that newborn babies are best stimulated by black and white or contrasting colors. In addition, bright red in the middle of black and white colors is also good for newborn sight stimulation. When the baby is older, perhaps around 2 months old, those black, white and red colors can be replaced by bright colors. Bold colors such as bright blue, yellow, red and green are the best. Therefore, in order for a baby mobile to be educational, it has to have black and white as well as bright colors for the baby to look at. In addition, newborn babies focus best when an object is placed at 12 inch distance. Therefore when hanging an infant mobile, it is best to stay at that distance to give the baby a maximal visual stimulation.
Using infant mobiles for sound or hearing stimulation. Baby crib mobiles can be used to stimulate hearing and soothe the baby as long as it has a music box attached to it. When choosing a baby mobile, it is important to determine whether you would want to use the baby mobile to soothe or stimulate the baby. Infant mobiles with loud and fun song are obviously not suitable for sending the baby to sleep and are best used for play times. In contrast, lullaby song is best used to soothe the baby. Recent finding has also found that classical music can both provide sound stimulation and increase the baby's cognitive development. Therefore, you may want to get a musical mobile which plays classical music.
Other benefits of infant mobiles. Other benefits of baby crib mobiles include: - excite the baby and enhance development of motor skills.
Babies will be excited by looking at the fun attachments, and the older one may even try to reach/kick the pieces. - help the babies to develop receptive language (language understanding capability).
The caregivers can touch or point to the attachment one by one and talk about each one of them. This will give a good introduction to language.
Now that you know that the best infant mobiles have plethora of benefits, you may want to find out how to baby crib mobiles. This baby crib mobile article shows you how.
Baby mobile recommendation
Musical Mobile: Symphony in Motion by Tiny Love
This baby mobile is our first choice and is the baby crib mobile we recommend to get for your baby. Read why we like it ...
Infant-Stim Baby Mobile
This is a more basic baby mobile which does a good job in stimulating your baby. It does not have all the fancy bell and whistles but is superior for infant visual stimulation.
NOTE: Do you want to keep up-to-date with children's toys-related issues ? Then subscribe to our FREE monthly newsletter 'Play, Learn and Grow' and receive a FREE bonus ebook on 'Toy Shopping Guide'.
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and claim the 'Toy Shopping Guide' for free.
Back to Baby Mobile Main Page
Links to other educational baby toys articles:
Guide to the Best Developmental Infant Toys for Babies 0-6 months
Guide to Baby Developmental Toys for Infant 6-12 months
From Tips for Maximizing the Value of Infant Mobiles to Baby Educational Toys Main Page
|
