Ages & Stages: Best Toys for Baby's Development

Child development is always a hot topic.  I mean, what parent doesn’t want to know how to nurture their growing baby?  Babies develop a wide range of skills within the first year of life.  From smiling to cooing, from rolling over to walking, baby is busy learning and developing from day one!  You may already know the basic stages of development from birth to age 1, but do you know how to foster those developmental milestones through play? Look no further!

According to WebMD, there are many things to look for and expect to see from your growing baby.  We’ve taken their list of first year developmental milestones, and paired them with toys that foster their emerging skills.  After all, learning should be fun - what better way to learn than through play!

0 - 3 Months

Within the first three months of life, babies learn to take in the world around them.  Their bodies and brains are working overtime to figure out how to live in their new surroundings.  During this time you may find your baby smiling, lifting their head/chest off the ground while on their tummy, grasping, bringing hands to mouth, reaching for dangling objects or tracking objects with their eyes.  Below are toys that support baby’s growing skills during this phase of growth and discovery.

Toys from left to right: Whoozit® Activity Spiral™ , Playtime Pond™, Winkel™ Color Burst, Natural Baby Beads™, Wimmer-Ferguson® Infant Stim-Mobile™

3 - 6 Months

Over this period of time, infants are beginning to master the art of hand and arm manipulation.  Cue the reaching out, grasping, and shaking! This phase is all about discovery to see just what their hands and arms are capable of doing.  Plus, they are beginning to find their voice.  During this stretch of time, babies might be found rolling over, babbling, laughing, reaching and grabbing at objects or even sitting up.

Toys from left to right: Wimmer-Ferguson® Double Feature Mirror™, Wimmer-Ferguson® Crawl & Discover Mat™, Skwish® Colorburst,  Lullaby Owl™,  Whoozit®

6 - 12 Months

Once the skills of rolling over and sitting up have been achieved, it won’t be long until baby realizes that they can go mobile! Rocking forwards and backwards will eventually turn into crawling. Throughout this time period, you could find your baby starting to clap and play games, pull up to a standing position, point at objects, mimic your actions or even take their first steps.

Toys from left to right: Roly-Bop Elephant™, Bababall™, Tree-Top Adventure™, Put & Peek Birdhouse™,  Playtime Activity Cart™