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Toys for Skill Development - Motor Skills

What Type of Toys Help Babies to Develop Motor Skills?

Toys for Developing Motor Skills – Birth to Four Months

Initially look at toys that baby can grab and hold like rattles and toys that squeak when squeezed. Baby Toys like Taggies and Whoozit are excellent for newborn babies.

Taggies are beautifully soft toys that come as blankies, rattles and books. Around the outer rim, Taggies are covered in textured tags that babies love to feel with their hands and mouth.

Whoozit is a boldly coloured baby character that has lots of bits that babies love to rattle and grasp as the textures are so different.

Babies can learn about the world by lying on a play mat or play gym. Play gyms stimulate baby's senses by having lots of texture, toys and contrasting colours.

At around two months baby will start to reach for objects on his own and at four months he will begin to bring objects to his mouth. Up to that point you will be guiding him through his toy selection and sharing experiences with him. Try simple things like shaking a rattle near his body or rubbing a textured ball over his hand or feet.

Toys to Develop Motor Skills – Four to Six Months

Teething rings can be introduced around four months so baby will be able to practice picking them up to perfect the finer motor skills.

Now is about the time when you start encouraging baby to have some supervised tummy time. There are many baby toys that can help encourage baby to lift his head and interact. Baby will learn about cause and effect and because of the tummy play, and will will be further strengthening the muscles he will need to prepare for crawling.

There has been a little debate around the fact that some babies are missing out the crawling stage. Experts in the field attribute this to the highly successful campaign to encourage parents to lay babies on their back for night-time sleep. The effect of this has been that parents are nervous about putting their babies onto their fronts at all.

Experts believe that by not putting babies onto their tummies they are not developing the muscles needed for crawling and are therefore missing out this stage in their development. If you need to find out more about tummy time play speak to a health visitor or doctor who will be able to reassure you.

The Whoozit “ Water Mat” is designed to encourage baby to play when he is on hi tummy. The Whoozit “Water Mat” is easy to fill and contains brightly coloured foam pieces which respond when baby touches the mat.

The Galt “ Crawl Mat” baby toy is a vividly coloured, comfortable play mat with activities that will encourage baby to crawl across the mat.

The VTech “ Move and Crawl Ball” baby toy will prove popular with babies beginning to crawl. The “Move and Crawl” ball is covered with easy push buttons that light up and the ball interacts with baby encouraging him to learn about colours, shapes and animals. The VTech “Move and Crawl Ball” moves independently so make sure you watch where baby is going.

Toys to Develop Motor Skills – Six to Eight Months

At around six months baby is sitting up, possibly crawling, rolling over and clapping hands.

Babies are interested in banging things together so safe, soft, colourful blocks are a good addition to the toy box.

The Baby Einstein “Discover and Play Blocks” are full of fun. Each of the four blocks features an object from baby's surroundings like a picture of a duck that quacks when squeezed and a mirror that baby can play peek-a-boo in.

Babies are also looking to use their fine motor skills so a baby toy like Tiny Love's “Developlay Centre” is fun.

The Tiny Love “Developlay Centre” is a double sided baby toy with 20 different activities. One side of the toy has a big nose that when pushed plays a tinkly rendition of “Oh Susanna”. It also has levers that can be pulled or pushed, colourful spinning balls and an orchestra that baby can choose which instruments to hear.

Between six and eight months, baby is developing the pincer grip so introduce toys that require baby to stack or control beads.

The Sassy “Stacking Cups” baby toy is more colourful than the stacking cup toys you usually see. Your baby will learn to hold the cups in her hands and in time will master the art of building a stacking cup tower. Consider introducing wooden blocks like the Mischief alphabet blocks.

The Fisher Price “Classic Chorus Stacker” is a brightly coloured star that rewards baby every time a ring goes on the post. Some manufacturers state that stackers can be used from six months while others recommend nine months. Take your lead from your baby.

Baby Walkers should also be considered now as the age range varies depending on the type of baby walker you fancy.

The VTech “First Steps Baby Walker” is great for babies beginning to move around independently. The VTech “First Steps Baby Walker” follows the design of the traditional wooden baby walkers but adds in a little electronic flair. Babies will learn about letters, numbers, animals, words, colours and shapes.

Toys to Develop Motor Skills – Nine to Twelve Months

From nine to 12 months baby is developing at a fast rate so he will continue to perfect his pincer grip and will graduate onto playing with smaller toys that require good manual dexterity. Mobility is a huge milestone so baby will be cruising around the furniture or creating havoc in his baby walker.

Lego Quattro construction bricks are designed for babies. Lego Quattro bricks are four times the size of a Lego brick and are made from a much softer, scented material. Babies will enjoy picking the bricks up and learning to join them together.

Introduce balls at this stage as baby learning how to throw or kick the ball. And playing music to him will result in you having your very own little dancer in the house. Baby's legs are strengthening all the time now so anything that encourages him to use them is a good thing.

Toys to Develop Motor Skills – Twelve to Eighteen Months

When baby is aged between a year and eighteen months you may also want to buy a ride-on. This can be a traditional wooden toy trike or a Little Tikes Coupe Car.

Ride-ons encourage babies to use their leg muscles. Initially baby will move backwards but with a little frustration and patience from you they will learn to move forwards and crash into your feet.

Baby will have mastered many of the gross and fine motor skills he will require to get on with his life but it is up to the parent to continue to provide baby with stimulating fun to make sure baby keeps practicing.

You can find out more about how children develop motor skills on our Motor Skills Introduction page.

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 Brands 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.

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