Developmental Toys - Paving the Way for Your Child's Growth

Developmental toys are designed specifically to aid in a child's physical and emotional growth. Although they may be for any age, developmental infant toys are the most popular type including developmental toddler toys and developmental baby toys. Various toys in this overall genre help develop motor skills, color recognition, or assist in attaining mobility milestones like rolling over or pulling up to a sitting position. Although they may not be labeled specifically as developmental toys, many of the play items bought for toddlers and babies have some developmental purpose incorporated into their design.

Purpose of Developmental Toys

A developmental toy should serve two purposes. It should help in some part of a child's maturation and it should be entertaining. There are different purposes for different developmental toys. Infants may benefit from one set of toys while another is more appropriate for toddlers. Some of the purposes of developmental toys include:

• Help develop hand eye coordination
• Help develop motor skills
• Help develop color recognition
• Help children learn the basics of space and size
• Help develop literacy and number skills
• Help toddlers recognize shapes
• Provide an incentive for babies to attempt new movements
• Help babies differentiate between different textures and sounds.

Various Developmental Infant Toys

There are a large number of developmental infant toys from which to choose. Some of the top rated developmental toys include:

• Tiny Love Wonder Wheel: This is one of the many sensory toys available. Multi-sensory toys allow children to interact with toys on different sensory levels, including sight, touch and sound.
• Magic Sound and Light Show: This is one of the most popular developmental infant toys for babies. It allows small babies to experience the sights and sounds that will help them to develop sensory skills.
• Mobiles: Mobiles are great to place over a baby's cot or rocker. They allow the baby to follow the interesting pieces of the mobile and to develop their recognition of colors and shapes.
• Baby Einstein Discovering Water Pat Mat: There are a number of different water mats available, but this is one of the most popular. The mat contains floating sea friends. Babies can roll around on the mat, enjoying the sight of the floating pieces while interacting with the interesting texture of the mat.
• Soft blocks: Soft blocks have been a popular developmental toy for babies for a long time. Babies improve their hand eye coordination and motor skills by trying to place blocks on top of each other. They also learn about shape, size and distance as they try to manipulate the blocks.
• Special baby balls: Balls for babies are often made of interesting textures (sometimes more than one) and make different sounds when they are picked up or tossed. Like blocks, these balls cultivate better motor skills.
• IQ Baby Beep Traffic Jam: This is just one of the developmental imaginative toys available that involve the use of a steering wheel and make believe car. The activity console has lots of different devices that make noises and can be manipulated in different directions for variety and interest.
• Stacking cylinders: There are a number of different stacking toys for babies and infants usually in bright colors and sizes appropriate for little hands. Ordering the pieces correctly up and down the cylinder teaches children about size and space.

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