Do Toys Influence Your Baby’s Character and Learning Process {Guest Post}

Playing provides more than amusement for your baby it also impacts the learning process in a variety of ways. The cooing and other noises your baby makes while playing is helping to develop language skills. Gross and fine motor skills are enhanced as babies learn to grasp and pick up objects. A baby’s cognitive thinking is also affected through play. Toys teach babies about the concept of cause and effect. Lastly, toys help develop a baby’s social skills as he or she learns to share. The trick to getting optimal learning enhancement through play is to give your baby the appropriate toys when he or she is ready to learn the skills associated with those toys. The best formula for choosing appropriate toys is to understand what skills and abilities babies normally develop at a certain age, and knowing what types of educational toys are proper for encouraging those skills.

Three Months- By three months movement and colorful toys will attract your baby’s attention. He or she will begin to recognize the faces of parents, and be able to raise his or her chest while using his or her elbows for support. At this point introduce teethers, squeaky toys, and small plastic bottles both for stimulation and learning new skills.

Six Months- At six months your baby will likely have learned to sit unsupported, and have developed a new love for exploring that will assist your baby in learning new skills. He or she may look for something that has dropped, and will love playing peek-a-boo. The best toys to introduce at this age are action/reaction toys and toys that encourage crawling.

Nine Months- Your baby at nine months is filled with excitement about the world around him or her. He or she may walk with a moving object, catch a ball if it is rolled to him or her, and use deliberate gestures such as waving, “bye-bye”. The best toys to introduce at this age are toys that encourage language development, toys with dials and buttons, and ones that encourage standing and cruising around.

Twelve Months- At one year your baby is likely using words and has managed to take his or her first couple steps. Your one year old is also likely to understand much of what you say. The best toys for this age are ride on toys, animal-themed play sets, and toys to enhance physical development.

Just as adult have personality traits babies do, as well. These traits should be taken into account when choosing toys. Babies with naturally low activity levels may become overwhelmed with too much physical play. Instead, these babies should be given plenty of options to motivate them to become more active. Highly active babies, on the other hand, have a higher tolerance for stimulation and may reach gross-milestones, such as walking, before their peers. If your baby is very social he or she will benefit from interactive toys and should be given plenty of opportunities to socialize with other babies. If your baby is easily distracted he or she will need toys that offer a lot of different options and plenty of them to choose from.

Despite the myriad of electronic toys to choose from it is important that your baby have non-electronic toys at any age for several reasons. Non-electronic toys encourage imagination. If there are no buttons to push or lights to look at your baby will have to use his or her own imagination to make the toy fun. This type of toy also encourages more interaction. Again, if the toy isn’t doing all the work of entertaining your baby on its own, your baby will have to interact more with it to make it fun. This also encourages more physical activity from your baby. Last, but not least, non-electronic toys last longer. There are fewer parts to break and no batteries to replace.

JoEllen Krauss writes freelance for Providian Medical who specializes in OB/GYN ultrasounds. She is a mother of two boys and loves spending time with them and her husband.  In this post she explores the influence of toys to our kids’ character and leaning abilities.