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How to Choose and Buy Baby Toys for Helping to Develop Different Skills

Skills-based baby toy buying should be fun. So many baby toys today are designed to help develop your baby's skills.

What Skills Should Your Baby Be Developing?

From the moment your baby is born to the time he starts school he will be absorbing information easily like an organic sea sponge. It's your responsibility – not the child minder's or the nanny's or the nursery's - to make sure that he has all the time in the world to learn while enjoying himself.

There are certain skills that baby will learn in the first few years that will equip him to start at school knowing certain things about the world.

He should be able to socialise and play with other children – certainly to understand the concept of sharing. He should also be able to create certain things with hand and eye coordination and he should have an imagination that rocks.

Some children are fairly advanced in their language skills by the time they reach school while others are better at art or problem solving. Some children will listen and observe more while others just jump in and get on with life.

Children show their creativity in different ways so it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure that baby has had the chance in their early years to explore books, music, art and in this day and age the electronic world too.

At one point in time all nannies round the world were probably groaning when the first baby laptops appeared. But that's no bad thing as baby will be using electronic communication at school. Electronic toys do have their place in early baby play as do wooden toys, books and dolls.

We've outlined the kind of skills you will see over the early years and you can click through for suggestions of what kind of toys will help develop these.

• Building Confidence
• Creativity
• Encouraging baby to communicate
• Encouraging baby's first words
• Hand to eye co-ordination
• Hearing Skills
• Learning to read
• Learning to talk
• Listening Skills
• Mathematics
• Music Appreciation
• Physical Development
• Social Skills
• Stimulating Senses
• Thinking and Problem Solving.

How Can Toys Help Your Baby to Develop Skills?

From around three-years-old children start expanding their horizons. They have a natural curiosity and an urge to understand their world.

Toys that satisfy their natural curiosity and engage their attention encourage children to find out more. They enable children to discover new animals, people, places and countries.

Discovering the world as a fascinating place is a key basis for intellectual development, and enjoyable and successful school years.

Choosing a Toy to Help to Develop Your Baby's Skills

You've probably spent a lot of time researching what kind of toys you need to buy for your new baby. Or you're a grandparent looking for the right kind of baby toy to welcome the new arrival. Or it's birthday time and you're trying to keep up with the latest toys.

You could be a mum or dad with a massively curious toddler who's looking for a baby toy to get to grips with and has rejected most toys after dad or sometimes mum has spent the whole night putting together a car or tractor toy.

Whatever you're looking for in a baby toy, this site should help shape your ideas and send you to a good selection of toy stores that offer baby toys to match your needs.

Choosing a Skills-Based Baby Toy – Brands and Types

You'll soon see that there are some major brands in the baby toy market and they all have their own level of baby expertise. Some push the educational benefits of their toys while others talk about the natural learning curve that babies and toddlers enjoy as they learn to interact and play with their toys and also play with other children.

The main brands you'll see in the online stores are: Amazing Baby, Baby Einstein, Chad Valley, Chicco, Disney, Early Learning Centre, Fisher-Price, Lamaze, Heros, LeapFrog, Lego, Little Tikes, Mamas and Papas, Mischief, Playmobil, Sassy, Tiny Love, Tomy, VTech, and Whoozit.

There are a huge number of baby toys available now that help with baby's dexterity, memory, imagination and physical development. There are musical toys, interactive and electronic toys and wooden toys.

Skills-Based Baby Toy – The Right Toy for the Right Age

It is important that you select a toy that is at the right stage of development for your child.

What's also interesting is that toys that baby played with as a young baby suddenly become interesting again as baby moves on in the development stages. So it's better to keep a toy for a while even if baby has stopped playing with it – baby may come back to it a few months down the road.

It is tempting to buy a toy recommended for a 12 month old when baby is six months old but they're really not going to get a lot out of it at that age – unless it's a present to be used at the right age.

Baby toys are usually categorised as suitable for newborn to 3 months; 3 months to 6 months; 6 months to 9 months and 9 months to 12 months. And then you're into pre-school and toddler toys.

There's so much written about creating the perfect nursery for baby but not a lot is written on selecting the best baby toy for your baby according to age. You tend to wander around the stores and something colourful catches your eye. You think “hey, baby will love that” and you take it home, baby looks at it and then finds your magazine more interesting.

Choosing a Skills Developing Baby Toy – Other Hints and Tips

There's a lot to be said about getting to know your baby and understanding what makes them laugh. It's also sometimes interesting to observe a baby boy and a baby girl playing with toys. Sometimes girls observe more than boys and boys rush in to investigate something new. But all are different when it comes to baby toy preferences – you are the best toy adviser for your child so make sure that when relatives and friends want to spoil your baby, they find out from you first what you think baby will like and if you're a grandparent or relative ask first because baby might be lucky enough to already have the toy you are thinking of gifting!

These early years can be daunting as you will be providing an environment that will help shape your little girl or boy in the future. Babies do not need to be lavished with so many toys that you cannot walk into your sitting room. Babies most of all need interaction with you or their main carer – they need to be fed, loved and played with so choosing baby toys that will provide them with challenge, fun and interaction with you is key.

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.

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 see what different nursery toy manufacturers offer visit our Brands section.

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