Your baby's team mate: Toys

As your baby develop, everything about life is a big discovery for him/her. Any objects are unusual and learnt about by experience. Toys are one of the most effective objects during this learning period. Some of them are colourful, and some of them have a voice, and some of them are soft; in short, toys are your baby’s first friends. For that reason, selecting the right toy for your baby directly affects his/her development.

As expressed by the experts, selecting the right toy contributes to the mental development of your baby. More educational and informative toys can improve the speed of your baby’s development.

However, please note that toys alone are not enough. Toys cannot replace the communication that you establish with your baby: it is very important that you spend at least two hours of every day with your baby. While choosing toys, their educational aspects should be considered, as well as their appropriateness for your child’s stage of development.

From the age of two to three months old, babies begin to take an interest in toys. Suitable toys fort his age group are those that help with eye tracking. After that period, toys for hand-eye coordination should be selected, and then you should select toys covering hand-eye movement coordination together with fine motor movements.

Once your baby turns four months old, different objects can function as a toy. For example, daily objects such as pots and plastic dishes (though not sharp objects) can be toys. At five months, toys such as jigsaws or those encouraging the grouping of colours or shapes will be very effective for the development of your baby. Such toys have the potential to develop the visual and geometric memory of your baby.

Finally, if you want toys to contribute to the development of your child, you should keep him away from the single-channel communication tools such as the TV, which can negatively affect the development process of your baby.