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Toys for Skill Development - Hearing Skills

How Do Babies Develop Hearing Skills?

Your baby will be actively listening long before he or she appears in the world. Studies do show that baby does recognise mummy's voice and sounds that were played before birth towards mummy's tummy. Babies learn to listen – it's the foundation of conversation.

A newborn will be actively listening. It's one of the skills that is developed earlier than others. A baby will learn his mother's voice within the first week of being born and he will show preference towards that voice.

In the first weeks, baby will tolerate noises that are reminiscent of noises he heard in the womb – soft and gentle sounds are what will help soothe him and keep him calm.

What Toys are Available to Help Baby to Develop Hearing Skills?

Developing Baby's Hearing Skills - Using Music

While baby is lying on his playmat you can spend some quality time sitting close and talking to him or playing little bells near him. Initially baby will be looking to one side as his neck muscles are not fully developed but you can encourage him to learn to move his head by playing music or rattling an object near him. After about two weeks baby should be able to look straight ahead.

The Tiny Love “Play Gym” has beautiful classical music inbuilt to the mat and you can control when it plays. Similarly if baby is in his cot, use the soothing music on his cot mobile to help reassure baby.

Singing soothing lullabies or nursery rhymes will encourage baby to start to understand more about the world around them.

At around the three month mark baby will love listening to music and will be actively trying to follow what's happening around him. He will still prefer hearing the sounds from those closest to him and will be studying you closely while you speak to him.

Books

To encourage baby to listen, parents can use colourful books and talk through each page. Sassy produces some lovely nursery rhyme books that mummy and daddy can sing along to.

Taggies produce beautifully soft books for babies in association with Scholastic Books. And the Amazing Baby range of books is well worth investing in.

Mummy and Daddy soon learn that baby doesn't need to hear every written word in a book. Babies have a tendency to turn pages before you've finished the sentence! Mummy and Daddy soon learn that it's the tone of voice and the excitement of sharing that attract baby's attention.

After about four months, baby will start to turn his head to try to identify where the sound is coming from and he will imitate what he hears which results in what we call babbling.

CDs, Videos and DVDs

Mummy and daddy can start turning on the stereo and bop about to favourite 80's tunes, U2 or even Creed. The more sounds baby is exposed to now, the more they will begin to understand about their world.

Baby Einstein DVDs and videos are full of colourful characters that will stimulate baby to listen. The classical music of Mozart and Bach among other classical composers is featured on the DVDs and is very popular with babies.

Once baby is on the move, it is so great to find them dancing around to Queen or The Sugababes But there are also many specially compiled baby music CDs and DVDs available that encourage baby to find their own rhythm using songs that you will soon learn if you can't remember them from your own childhood days. Amazon stocks CDs and DVDs with specially compiled music for children.

Musical Instruments

There are many musical instruments available suitable for babies like maracas, tambourines and drums. The Great Little Trading Company and the Early Learning Centre have a range of musical baby toys suitable for all ages and rattles also have their place in encouraging baby to hear the differences between sounds.

Health visitors tend to carry out hearing checks on babies within the first few weeks so if you are at all concerned about your baby's ability to hear, speak to them or your doctor as soon as possible.

To find out more about what to look out for when choosing and buying nursery toys visit our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Different Ages section and our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Helping to Develop Different Skills.

The Laugh and Learn Fisher Price Baby Grand Piano is certainly a grand way to explore music and is imaginative fun!

To find out more about the different types of nursery toy that are available for each age group visit our Types of Nursery Toy section.

To find out more about the different online baby and nursery toy shops and stores visit our Top Sites section.

To find out more about the top brands of baby toys visit our Top Brands section

You can also find out more in our How to Play with Baby section.