The first toy is the baby’s first intrinsic value. This is a very important thing that can be remembered for a lifetime, and it will definitely make a significant contribution to the development of the child. The first toys are often purchased before the child is born, or already in the first days after his birth. There are rarely many of them, most often at first they buy only 2-3 things that can keep the baby occupied, and only then, as he grows up, they buy new ones. And these few things will be quite enough for the first time. The main thing is to choose them correctly.
Toys for babies: their role in child development
In the first weeks and months of a child’s life, his vision, hearing, and all senses in general are still being adjusted and sharpened. And toys for the first year of a child’s life should contribute to his development as much as possible, without creating risks. They should also occupy his free time and evoke positive emotions.
In the first days after birth, toys are not yet needed, so you should not take them to the maternity hospital right away. In the first days, the child gets used to the new environment outside the mother’s womb, learns to use his arms and fingers in general. Often, at first, babies are generally afraid of their hands, and this is also quite normal. Some time must pass before the little man can understand that he can control his limbs and control them. It also takes some time to focus your vision. And the most important thing in these first days is to have a mother nearby who calms, warms, feeds, and helps to cope with emerging difficulties. The baby should receive maximum attention, but toys are not needed yet. But as soon as the newly-made family member begins to control his hands and fingers, learns to focus his gaze and hold it on some object, when he begins to react to sounds and turn in their direction, it’s time to give him his first property.
Little explorer. Why was Misha unlucky?
Between six and eight months, most babies start teething and put everything they see in their mouth. The babies begin to crawl and explore the territory of the apartment. Misha crawled so fast that it was difficult to stop him.
How to raise a son: Is an obedient child good or bad? Real story.
One day, Galina, Misha’s mother, and her baby came to visit me. The mother released the baby from her arms, which made him very happy. There are so many unfamiliar things in grandma's house! My grandson was clearly determined to crawl to my kitchen cabinets, open them and see what was inside. But Misha was unlucky. His mother prevented him. With a smile, she unfolded a developmental mat in front of the child, which attracted her son’s attention. On the wonderful green “lawn” there were favorite rattles attached to the base of the rug. There he found painted animals, buttons, laces, elastic bands.
The kid had a lot of fun: he felt, fingered, pulled, grabbed. Meanwhile, my mother and I, while the child was playing, talked to our heart's content.
Up to one year old, babies need to create conditions in order to develop their memory and coordination of movements. Due to increased activity, babies who are already starting to walk need increased attention from their mother. They love to roll balls, jump on hard floors and soft mattresses. Our Misha loves to throw different objects on the floor and see what comes out of it.
Rules for choosing a toy for a newborn, what is possible and what is not
So, the baby has already studied himself as a newborn and created some kind of his own idea of the situation that surrounds him. The time has come to figure out what first toy to buy for a newborn in order to engage in his development and broaden his horizons. If you are already ready for this important and responsible purchase, you need to indicate the main criterion for choosing a thing: its safety. You should choose a product based mainly on this indicator.
However, by what criteria is the safety of a product for a child assessed? It’s not difficult to figure this out, especially since the criteria are approximately the same for clothes, toys, and all other things that surround a newborn. If you are interested in which toys are safe for newborns, then choose the following:
- Strong, reliable, where there is no risk of small parts separating.
- A noticeable, but not poisonously bright color. Excessive brightness indicates chemical additives, and besides, it does not have the best effect on a child’s color perception.
- Without sharp elements, the most simple device, where there is no place for a child’s finger or hand to get stuck.
- Made from high-quality reliable plastic or natural materials.
You may have already seen that most pharmacies sell rattles and some other toys for little ones. Ideally, you should buy your first products here, since only certified and proven options are supplied to the pharmacy.
Advice for young parents
Play with your child, talk and talk about what is “good” and what is “bad” in the game.
Encourage your baby to comment on his manipulations with the toy.
Indeed, during this period a person develops speech, he learns language much more effectively than in subsequent years of life.
By the age of two, a little man’s vocabulary contains about three hundred words!
Editorial opinion
Ilya Tarasov
Chief Editor
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Do not leave your baby unattended for a long time. After all, a curious child can find a way to find out how a socket or a hot iron works.
Examples of toys for babies: rattles, mobiles
Time-tested and definitely the best toys for babies under one year old are rattles. They are presented in a huge assortment - made of fabric and plastic, fastened to the child, to clothes, to the stroller and crib, or simply adapted to be comfortably taken in the hand. Both are useful - those that are not fastened also form a grip. Many parents don’t like this at all, but the child can throw these rattles, also developing useful skills.
Rattles develop a reaction to sound and can keep a child occupied for a long time. First, the parents should demonstrate the toy; it is the mother who shakes the rattle so that the baby stops crying and is distracted by a new thing that suddenly appears in front of him and makes an interesting sound. By the time your baby gets his first teeth, it is worth buying a special rattle that you can chew on to speed up the process of the first baby teeth coming out. But with overly bright products, with heavy rattles or with those that have a strong odor, you should be careful. It is also worth checking the sound - a rattle that is too loud will deprive the child and the whole house of peace, so you should refuse such purchases.
There are also more modern toys that develop and soothe very young children. These are mobiles that are available in every children's store. They are hung on the crib, and they are necessary for the child to learn to concentrate his vision on a static or moving object. They are also equipped with a sound module with pleasant music. Watching slowly rotating toys accompanied by rhythmic music is calming, which is why a mobile phone is considered one of the best tools that can quickly calm a baby. This first toy for newborns will benefit both the baby and his parents. A child does not always become interested in a mobile phone right away; sometimes he needs to “grow up” a little to such a thing. But at the age of a couple of months to a year, he will give many pleasant moments. The game will begin with close observation of floating objects, and will end with attempts to catch these toys. When choosing a mobile, you should take into account the fact that sooner or later the toy will end up in the hands of a curious younger generation, and therefore it should not be fragile. Ideally, it should meet all the same requirements as a rattle.
Cubes
Cubes are perhaps the simplest educational toys for children under one year old. Your child will need plastic or wooden products for a very long time. They will be useful to him not only for building towers, but also for studying colors, sizes, and, if there are appropriate pictures, the alphabet and numbers .
By the age of six or seven months, buy your baby the simplest painted wooden cubes and show him how to use them. Pay his attention to the fact that they are different colors, compare their shape with balls, try to roll them. The child will really enjoy such research, and you will see how he will begin to experiment with other toys, gaining his own experience.
By 10-11 months, you can purchase children's cubes with a simple pattern on the edges, which need to be assembled by turning the sides. With your help, your child will quickly learn to add simple pictures. Once your baby understands the principle, you can start buying wooden or plastic blocks with more complex designs. Don’t worry that too many of these toys will accumulate—the child will later need them to build towers and castles.
How to make a toy for a newborn with your own hands
Children did not always use store-bought toys. Quite the opposite. In many families, the tradition of making things for the baby with their own hands is still alive, and this approach can only be approved. Usually these things are made by someone from the older generation, for example, a grandmother. In such situations, the connection between generations is clearly demonstrated, and you should not forbid your loved ones from making homemade things for the baby or giving them as gifts. It’s worth listing what toys you can make with your own hands for the first month. You can make homemade rattles, fabric toys, carved things - for example, from wood. There are old sewing patterns, following which you can easily make a beautiful and simple fabric toy. And if you put inside it, for example, the “yolk” from a Kinder Surprise with dry peas, it will become a rattle. However, before you take or buy homemade children's products, you should carefully check them for quality and safety.
A good homemade toy is made from natural materials. It is carefully stitched, not a single thread sticks out of it. The fabric selected is natural, without bright colors. There is no need to sew buttons or beads on it, which a child can tear off or bite off. If you need to highlight the eyes, you can at least draw them, but under no circumstances should you mark them with a bead. As a last resort, use buttons with four small holes and carefully sew them on. Kids also like knitted items; for them you need to choose natural wool and dense knitting.
Considering the first toys of a child, which were historically used by many peoples, we can highlight dried vegetables filled with the same peas - it turns out to be a rattle. Or even without filler. They are hard, fit well in the hand, you can bite them, and generally put them in your mouth. And without such a “test,” the child’s acquaintance with a new thing will never take place.
Collapsible items with small parts, fragile and dangerous items should be excluded. If any toy makes you suspicious, it is wiser to refuse it immediately.
But still, most modern parents prefer to purchase toys in stores. Fortunately, in Moscow and in any other city in the country there are no problems with finding and choosing such things. Therefore, it is worth giving the most detailed instructions that will allow you to avoid buying an unsuitable or dangerous item. 1. No need to buy cheap things from little-known brands. You will have time to buy cars that last for one day, or dolls whose limbs fall off, for an older child, for whom such things will not pose any particular risk. Unfortunately, there are a lot of cheap, low-quality toys being sold today, and it is extremely important to quickly learn to distinguish them by eye in order to avoid purchasing them. 2. Be careful about the plastic, its quality and thickness. It is even recommended to check the product for strength. If something bends when pressed and threatens to break at any moment, it will be a bad purchase for your child. Broken plastic can cause a lot of trouble. 3. You need to choose things specifically for newborns, marked age 0. As already mentioned, the easiest way to choose them is at the pharmacy. 4. If the product has small parts, it is better not to take it. As a last resort, be sure to check how tightly they hold and whether the child can tear them off. Beads, rhinestones, and buttons are dangerous; they can be swallowed or enter the respiratory tract, which entails serious risks. 5. The product should not contain anything dangerous for children. If possible, study the composition. If this is not possible, make sure that there is at least no chemical smell and no poisonous bright colors. 6. Strings and elastic bands can be just as dangerous as beads. 7. Sharp seams and corners on the toy are unacceptable, as are small holes in which a finger can get stuck, for example. 8. Heavy toys and things that are too loud will also not do any good. If the child is left alone with them, he may become very frightened and experience real shock. 9. There is no need to buy something difficult for children to understand. You don't even need cartoon characters as your first toys. A simple face, a neutral expression of emotions is quite enough. Something more complex will be needed later, when the child is over a year old. Remember the Soviet baby dolls. The youngest children need approximately the same toy in terms of facial expression, shape, and so on. Thus, you should not buy your first toys at random. This is a rather complicated process, as is choosing other things for a child for the first time. However, if you use our not at all complicated instructions, you can easily purchase everything you need. Don't rush into buying things for your newborn, do everything carefully. And then your baby will receive his first basis for development, he will be able to spend time with pleasure with his first property, in complete safety and comfort, without disturbing his parents once again, giving them at least a couple of extra minutes to rest. But a break from everyday chores is a real dream for young parents!
Skills (1 year 1 month)
Walking. Can climb onto a child's chair on his own. He can get off the chair himself. Opens the washing machine. Opens the oven door. If I start vacuuming, Alexey presses the button and turns off the vacuum cleaner. Turns the lights on and off in each room (he especially likes to do this if someone is in the toilet or bathroom). Pulls the plug out of the socket. He waves his hand: “Bye-bye.” Claps his hands. Strings rings onto a pyramid. He happily greets all arriving guests. If he stole something from his older sisters, he hides the “loot” behind his back and runs away. Kicks the ball with his foot. If he wants to eat, he smacks his lips. He kisses his mother, applies his lips and says: “Pp.”
