Baby Toys

Matt Widen        

02/08/15

Evren Guler

Baby Toys

        Throughout the baby’s development, play is an important learning experience for them. It is equally important that the toy is suitable for the baby’s age. The time from the baby’s birth to when he or she turns one consists of significant changes. Baby toys stimulate the senses, particularly sight, sound, and touch which plays a big part in how the baby learns to adapt.  Children go through various stages of development at different ages. Through the ages of 0-6 months, babies are discovering all of life’s sensations. They discover how to use their hands, feet, eyes and most of their senses.  Toys should be light, soft, and easy for the baby to handle. Babies at the ages of 6 to 12 months become more aware of their surroundings.  During the ages of 6-12 months babies become more aware of their surrounding. They start teething, learning how to grasp, pull themselves up, and crawl. They start wanting to explore their surrounding and objects around them. With toys, they exhibit a higher level of motor coordination that includes poking, dragging, and twisting.  Not only do they exhibit a higher level of coordination, but also begin verbal recognition. At a store, I chose 2 different age appropriate toys for a baby, which includes a colorful caterpillar rattle for a 0-6 month old and an interactive puppy stuffed animal for a 6-12 month old.

        I chose a rattle caterpillar that consisted of a contrast pattern containing bright colors of yellow, orange, red, green, and blue.  Newborn cannot see color, but they can see the contrast of the pattern of colors in the rattle. It was made of cloth, so it is fairly comfortable for the baby to touch. It is ideal rattle for a newborn because its has feet that comes out of it which is meant to be gripped as if it’s the mom’s and dad’s fingers. This is designed to encourage the baby’s early grasping skills. This rattle is great for tracking, the following of an object with eyes, because it has a sharp contrasting pattern that is great for attracting the attention of the baby.  With practice of movement of the rattle side by side, the baby will eventually become more coordinated visually. The baby will learn that it makes noises when shaken or banged.  This allows the baby to discover the concept of cause and effect for hearing.  Through the use of the rattle, the baby will develop some important motor skills.

          The puppy is an interactive stuffed animal that the baby can play with.   During the 6-12 month stage, the baby starts to understand words. It speaks in motherese, a very high voice, so the baby will feel more comfortable with it. The puppy is very stimulating to the baby because whenever the baby presses on one of the body parts, it says the body part and color that is on the body part. The baby will increase its motor skills by holding and carrying the baby to gain more coordination of the arms. The colorful body parts visually attract the baby to touch it. The flashing light on the heart keeps the attention of the baby. There is a learning mode in which the puppy sings the alphabet and sings from 1-10. This toy helps with the foundation of language and learning for representational thinking.