Educational Baby Toys Enhance Senses

 

Baby learning toys are much different than those for toddlers. Infants are developing their movements and senses. They are gaining strength as well as sight. Choosing educational baby toys is ultimately simple in comparison to choosing the perfect children’s educational toy.

Think about your baby’s five senses--sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. These are the basics that your educational baby toys need to enhance. You may think it is odd to include taste and smell in this article about toys and you are right. However, taste is one of the most important things to consider since the first place your baby is likely to put his toy in his mouth. Thus you will need to take into consideration the paint, dye, or stain on the toy. It needs to be non-toxic. Also be sure that there are no parts on the toy that could break off which are smaller than your baby’s fist. These pieces could lead to a choking hazard. This is why I say to consider the taste sense in this article.

Smell, on the other hand, is one of those senses that toys are not going to help develop. However, you might notice that your baby’s favorite toy is no longer being played with which could have a lot to do with a new smell. All your infant toys need to be cleaned frequently. It is possible that a particular toy has somehow been overlooked when you cleaned the baby’s toys and has acquired an undesirable smell. Thus your baby is not interested in it anymore. Or perhaps the cleaner used to clean it has left an undesirable smell or taste. Wash the toy again a little more carefully to be sure it is clean and safe.

Choosing an educational baby toy that enhances the other 4 senses is not as technical. Still, you should use moderation. Let me explain what I mean. You do not want toys so loud as to damage your baby’s delicate hearing. Nor do you want a toy flashing so bright as to blind them. With that said, let’s go through the other senses.

In selecting a baby learning toy enhancing sight you will want to consider contrast. The first thing babies will see is strong contrasts, (i.e. black on white.) Second will be shapes. Third, colors. Light up toys will capture attention and are definitely a contrast, but again, they may also be too bright and therefore cause damage rather than enhance vision.

Toys to help with sounds are easy! Just about every toy makes a sound while playing with it. Wooden toys make nice sounds. They are not too loud and not too soft. Musical toys are also wonderful to help babies relax and feel good (as long as it is not obnoxious or loud music.) Rattles can be intolerable because of how loud they can get. Not all rattles are loud. In fact, I have found a couple rattles to be priceless as to the effect they had on my very upset babies. I found them very useful in the car when my baby just plain did not want to be in his car seat.

Infants learn a great deal by touch. Educational infant toys with many different textures are wonder for this. Infant toys like the Galt Playnest Gym and Activity Dino are great examples of this and they have won many worldwide awards. Babies can be entertained for long periods of time just by touching many different textures. I noticed that when my first-born learned to crawl she would stop at every new type of floor or floor covering and just feel it for a while before moving on.

I also know of a wise grandfather who put a touch of honey on the fingers of his grandbaby then gave him a feather. That baby played with that feather for a very long time and was very content to do so.

So when you are visiting educational toy stores keep in mind that the best educational baby toys are the ones that enhance multiple senses at the same time. These will get used far more often than those made for only one sense at a time.

For more information or help in finding great educational products, visit us at http://www.4theKidsToyStore.com