Your Guide for the Best Toys for Brain Development
Baby Brain Development: A Guide to the BEST Toys for Brain Development
Your baby’s a hard worker. If they were older, think MVP, employee of the month, biggest promotion ever status. Putting in the work all day and all night. What’s your baby spending all their time working on? Growing and developing one of the most important body parts: their brain.
From when your sweet little one enters the world until age five, their brain will grow and develop faster than at any other time in their life. [1] Baby brain development will occur naturally. It’s what all average babies do. But as a parent, you don’t want your baby to be average. You can give your baby’s brain development a boost. Help them reach their maximum potential and stand out in the crowd.
Baby Brain Development
Brain development starts from day one. What your baby’s exposed to will have a lasting impact on their life. When you prioritize your baby’s brain development, you’re setting them up for future success.
What does baby brain development look like? When your baby was born, they already had everything they needed inside their brain – all the nuts and bolts. But nuts and bolts floating around in a shell won’t do them much good.
What’s important is the connections between brain cells – how those nuts and bolts get put together to build something incredible. And in this early stage of life, your baby’s brain builds more connections than at any other time.
Brain connections are important because they give your baby the foundation for everything else in life. Walking, talking, thinking – yup, everything. The stronger the connection between brain cells, the higher functioning your child will be.
Sure, these brain connections will connect on their own. But would you rather cross a bridge made with metal wires or dental floss? No contest, right? As a parent, it’s your job to make sure your baby’s brain development has the strongest connections possible. It’s a big job, but it’ll make all the difference in the world.
And - what’s even better – building brain connections can be fun! You can build a solid foundation for your babe through play. Brain development toys are easy to find. And they’ll make more of a difference in your baby’s brain development than you could ever imagine.
Age Appropriate Brain Development Toys
Give your baby the best developmental experience by giving them age-appropriate toys.[2] Brain development toys build on the brain connections that already exist. Using toys in the right order strengthens existing connections while building new ones – leading to a lifetime of learning.
Brain development toys for 0-3 months
Your baby’s still a newbie. Senses are still developing. Sensitivity to lights, sounds, and textures. Everything’s new. Even though it doesn’t feel like they can do much, play is a necessary part of the newborn stage.
Newborns need toys with high contrast like black and white. Soft sounds to explore. And various textures like smooth, soft, slick, and fuzzy.
Brain development toys for 3-6 months
After the newborn stage, babies are ready to use their senses for more exploration. They start to recognize faces and facial expressions. Play with their developing senses through sensory toys.
Remember, tummy time is an important part of this age. Make the most of it with fun, age-appropriate toys.
- Soft sounds like rattles and bells encourage sound-tracking.
- Use a mirror to let your babe find their sweet face.
- Squishy nesting toys lay the foundation for cause and effect.
- Rubber teethers keep your baby’s mouth safe while they explore through mouthing.
- Textured books let your baby’s sense of touch have a field day.
Brain development toys for 6-9 months
Now it’s time to ramp up the learning and crank up the FUN!
Your baby will practice rolling, sitting up, and scooting. You’ll hear some coos coming out of their mouths… for the few seconds they aren’t mouthing anything they can get their hands on.
You’ll notice your babe’s natural sense of curiosity come out at this age. They’ll explore how things work and what happens when they do something. It’s important to practice fine and gross motor skills, dexterity, and coordination. Also, begin to play with memory development.
- Extend gross motor skills by stacking blocks.
- Build fine motor skills with spinning objects.
- Introduce baby’s first puzzle and watch as they build coordination.
- Balls are a fun toy for babies at this age – let them explore balls rolling in different areas.
Brain development toys for 10-12 months
As your baby grows, it’ll become more and more fun to introduce learning toys. Babies in this age range are ready to use their bodies to explore tons of different concepts. They’ll have fun testing gravity, balance, and hand-eye coordination. You’ll love watching your little one pretend, developing a creative imagination.
Let your curious babe’s imagination run wild with:
- Dolls, stuffed animals, and other characters.
- Jars with lids.
- Child-safe beads and string.
- Heavy and light objects.
- Puzzle boards.
Introducing your baby to brain development toys is fun and engaging for all ages. You may be tempted to give your little one toys from a high age range – your little Einstein is ready, right?!
But you wouldn’t build a house without first laying the foundation, would you? Building brain connections is important at each level. Start with the most basic toys first and build your babe’s foundation over time. The stronger the foundation, the more grand the creation you can build on top.
Best Brain Development Toys
Get the best and forget about the rest.
You want your babe to have the best foundation possible.
Here’s a guide to the best toys for brain development.
Stacking Toys
Let your little one develop hand-eye coordination with stacking toys. Look for stackers that offer more bang for your buck – colors, shapes, and numbers. You want ones that can withstand the throws, drops, and – of course – chews.
Stäk is the stacking toy your baby needs. Developmentally appropriate to help your baby’s brain build important, early connections.
Blocks
Build it up. Knock it down. Repeat.
Let your babe explore balance, gravity, and cause and effect with blocks.
Want blocks that do more for your babe? You need Blöx. This creative puzzle lets your baby stack and tumble, build and design, create and reason. Boost brain development for years to come with a toy that develops with your baby.
Shape Sorters[3]
Build fine motor and problem-solving skills as your baby works to find the correct placement. As they grow older, build in vocabulary knowledge as well.
Play Mats
Give your baby a safe place to play during tummy time. Even better – find a safe place with high-contrast images that work to develop brain connections.
Mülti works for you to help your baby’s brain develop from the very beginning.
Musical Toys[4]
Music benefits babies’ brains even in the prenatal stages. Introduce musical toys to activate both sides of the brain. This builds a strong foundation for attention, concentration, and organization.
Puzzles
Puzzles benefit brain development from a very early age. From simple, one-piece puzzles to complex pieces that fit together, puzzles are the way to go. Boost your babe’s short-term memory and problem-solving skills with puzzles
Blöx is so much more than a puzzle. Design. Build. Solve. Create.
Books
Exposing your baby to language is the *MOST* foundational part of building communication. Build brain connections through books that include words, pictures, and sensory experiences.
Sensory Toys
From textured balls to fuzzy cubes to slippery tubes. Sensory toys offer your baby the chance to learn through touch. Help your babe’s brain development and make connections that strengthen motor control.
Pretend Play Sets
Break out the dolls, kitchen sets, and construction gear. Bring on allll the dress-up clothes. Building your child’s imagination through pretend play is the greatest gift you can ever give. Give your baby the chance to explore, create, and learn to think critically. All while having the time of their life.
Kudos to you for wanting to give your baby the best start possible. Help your baby’s brain development skyrocket through the joy of play. Use these awesome toys for brain development and watch as your baby learns more and more every day.