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What are the Most Popular Games for Babies ?
Today’s kids have a wide range of
toys to choose from. The concept of popular toys differs from
one person to another. To me, the most important thing that the
parents should consider before investing in a toy is to
ascertain what value it has in the child’s development process.
In this article, I have tried to pick up those toys which I
think are popular and also play a significant role in educating
the baby. Hope you will find it useful.
Peek-A-Blocks Incrediblock-the toy
from Fisher Price: This is an incredible toy and
is a great gift idea for babies from 9 months and above. This
educational piece also has lots of light and a sound effect like
Ocean Wonders Aquarium and is a wonderful tool to teach your
baby. There are 8 Peek-A-Blocks with which the child can have
immense fun. He or she can try making a structure, put the
blocks through the holes and watch them disappear. The blocks
can move with light and sound and bring a smile on your baby’s
lips. Try it out; it will be a great present for the growing
baby.
Ocean Wonders Aquarium-the toy from
Fisher Price: This is a great baby gift. The set
comes with a lot of sound and motion effects and is ideal to
entertain, educate and also relax the baby to sleep. The blue
button at the base of the toy can be pressed to activate the
light and sounds. The hum of raindrops, sound of waves of the
ocean and the soft rhythmic motion of the stream are very
soothing for the bay’s ears. This toy can also be attached to
the sides of the infant’s crib and is ideal for babies’ right
from birth to about 8 years.
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Brilliant Basics Rock-A-Stack-the toy from Fisher price:
Brilliant Basics Rock-A-Stack is the ideal
educational toy that teaches your baby to develop eye-hand
coordination as well as problem solving ability. Besides, it
also educates the baby about the various shapes and colors.
Simple and affordable, this toy is an ideal baby gift; it is
suitable for infants aged 6 months and above.
Learning Drum-the toy from Leap
Frog: This toy will actually help your
child to develop a sense of rhythm-an aspect which will later
improve his mathematical ability. As the baby hits the drum, it
starts playing music or recites numbers or alphabets. This helps
your child to learn the alphabets as well as the numbers and is
a nice baby toy idea.
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Lamaze
Grip n Grab Rattle: This bright colored plastic
rattle is an interesting toy for your tiny tot. Designed for
babies aged 4 months and above, this is a great way to entertain
and soothe your little one especially when you are making long
trips.
Lamaze Octotunes: As
the name suggests, this is a sweet-scented musical Octopus whose
eight limbs emits eight different melodious tunes when squeezed
or pulled. Music as we know is good for the baby and this
educational piece introduces the baby to some good music
lessons! Either the parents can make those musical sounds or
little older kids can make their own compositions. This makes an
ideal gift piece for babies aged 6 months and above.
Elmo’s Musical Peek-a-Boo Gym:
This toy has features like overhead activities for
little babies and sit-up play for little older kids. Moreover,
there are about 40 popular songs, phrases and different sounds.
This has detachable parts and runs on 4AA batteries.
Talk & Touch Barn Activity Toy:
This toy is a great way to introduce your baby to the
vast animal kingdom. This portable game features a colorful
barnyard scene with five friendly farm animals that pop out from
behind the door when your child pushes the big button. The names
and sounds of these animals are introduced in three different
languages-English, French and Spanish! This toy is suitable for
babies aged 9 months and older.
Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color
Blocks: This is a wonderful baby gift which can
be introduced to your baby immediately after birth. This toy
helps your baby to make its first acquaintance with colors with
4 soft textured blocks. Each block contains some real-life
photos, developmental features and various objects from the
baby’s world. The game has features like a duck that quacks when
pressed, a peek-a-boo flap that hides baby-safe mirror.
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Alphabet
Pal – the toy from Leap Frog: This beautiful toy
contains a caterpillar and when your kid presses any one of its
26 feet, this Alphabet Pal says the letter, makes the sound and
mentions the color that is printed on that foot. It is great fun
for your baby to learn alphabets and colors from this
caterpillar Alphabet Pal. Moreover, this can also act a
pull-toy. Alphabet Pal is a mentally nutritious learning game
that encourages your child’s exploration and creativity and also
teaches development skills like reasoning skills, motor skills,
perceptual skills and language. Its features include 3 function
modes – light-up antennae, ABC songs and a fun wobbly
caterpillar walk.
Developmental toys:
The Play & Learn toys that are available with all the leading
toy manufacturers today are not only for fun. They are ideal
educational tools to develop the baby’s sense of sight, sound
and touch. These products actually help to cultivate a child’s
social, motor and cognitive skills along with eye-hand
coordination. |
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Alphablock
Sorter: Alphabet Sorter is a development toy. This
set is just the ideal gift for building the child’s critical skills
like learning to count, hand-eye coordination, teaching alphabet and
object recognition. The features are - 3 textured teethers for the
baby to chew, 3 shake-and-rattles in see-through cylinders and 2
foamy blocks. This piece is suitable for infants from 6 months and
above.
Cognitive development:
Cognitive development focuses on how children learn and process
information. It is the development of the thinking and organizing
systems of the mind i.e. language, thinking, reasoning, mental
imagery, problem solving and memory development. Remember, a child
is not born with all these qualities and hence they need to be
taught. Games like Alphablock Sorter (discussed above) and Starlinks
contribute to the development of these qualities.
Starlinks:
This is a 20 piece set that introduces the tiny tot
to the world of stars. You can help your baby in developing his or
her cognitive skills by enhancing the thought process. Your baby
will surely love linking the colorful shapes together. This toy is
meant for babies for 6 months and above.
Fine-Motor skills: The
small muscle developments like the finger movements and coordination
with the eyes can b defined as fine motor skills. These skills
cannot be taught overnight and requires lot of patience and
understanding. All the fine motor activities are built on four
skills – grasping of objects, reaching out to objects, letting go of
objects purposely and turning the wrist in various directions.
Developing these skills need time and practice.
Linking
Musical Shakers: This is a great toy to develop your
child’s fine-motor skills. It is a unique musical game in which 4
colorful shakers can be locked together to form a big tambourine or
taken apart and be used as 4 separate toys. This locking and taking
them apart is a stimulating activity that helps in the development
of fine motor skills. It is suitable for babies from 9 months and
has features like 4 colorful shakers that include tambourine, jingle
bells, maraca and click clack sounds; stimulating sounds and colors,
easy to lock and take apart and easy to grab handles.
Gross Motor skills:
Development of the larger muscles of the body like those in the
arms, legs and torso are called gross motor skills. Activities like
kicking, running, throwing, walking, lifting etc fall in the
category of gross motor activities. This skill also enhances body
awareness, reaction speed, balance and strength. Development of the
gross motor gives the child the ability to move in various ways, the
ability to control the body and boost his or her self esteem.
Baby Farm Friends Bowling:
This set is ideal for the development of your baby’s gross
motor skills. There are 6 baby barnyard pins that can be knocked
down with the help of a jingling bowling ball. Your little one can
either knock these Baby Farm Friends or play with these animal pins
individually. The bowling helps in the baby’s hand-eye coordination,
promotes social skills and also develops the motor skills. The set
is suitable for babies above 1 year.
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