Rattle
Baby rattles should be one of baby's first toys. Newborns are still getting accustomed to the sights and sounds. It's all you need to entertain your baby in their waking moments, which may not be much in the beginning.
Stuffed toy
A toy in high-contrasting colors will help to stimulate baby's visual development in the second month. Although there are many bright-colored toys available in the market, the highest contrast of black, white and red are the best visual option for babies.
Mirror
Babies are fascinated with mirrors. While looking at the mirror, you can point to different parts of her body. My baby loves to look at herself in the mirror and will giggle every single time. Mirrors are fun toys to have for babies from 3 months onwards.
Teething toy
Chill these teething toys in the refrigerator and provide some relief for babies' growing teeth in the fourth month. My baby loves her see-through tortoise-shaped teething toy. She chews at them or shakes them to make gurgling sounds from the water inside.
Blocks
Blocks are important for babies to develop her motor skills such as grasping and lifting, even throwing with their tiny fingers. It's a great toy for babies at 5 months when they can sit up straight. When introduced earlier, babies learn to pass blocks from one hand to the other. Blocks can also be used for older babies to develop hand-eye coordination to stack blocks upright.
Rubber ducky
At 6 months, babies learn to squeeze their toys to initiate different responses. Squeaky toys such as rubber duckies are excellent toys to play for babies during bath time or otherwise.
Spoons, pots and pans
Babies at 7 months begin to develop an appreciation for music, especially ones they create on their own. Give them spoons, pots and pans to play with. Although they create a din, they keep babies occupied while mummy makes dinner.
Stacking rings
Babies at 8 months will begin to learn to stack and sort items. A simple stacking ring is a great way for babies to develop and practice hand-eye coordination and learn different colors too. Start with 3 or 4 rings in the beginning and progress to more rings later.
Press button toys
Babies at 9 months love to press buttons to make sounds. Toys with 2 simple buttons, one to switch on the song and the other to stop it would teach babies 2 different responses to their actions.
Toy cars
Toy cars are great toys for babies at 10 months. My daughter loves to see me run the cars over the floor, the couch or even over her. She is also fascinated with turning the wheels with her tiny fingers.
Board books
Board books are great to introduce to babies at 11 months as they will appreciate the pictures and stories behind it. They will also be able to turn the pages on their own. Besides story books, picture books with real pictures (rather than cartoons) also fascinates babies. Babies at this stage would have started babbling, the first step in their speech development.
Puzzles
Babies at the age of 12 months will begin to learn spatial and logical skills. Playing with a simple puzzle depicting different vehicles is a great way to develop language skills as well as manipulative skills. Babies learn to use three fingers (thumb and 2 other fingers) to grasp knobs; this is the first step in using a pencil later on.
The simple toys mentioned in this article are inexpensive and easily available at the toy stores. Babies need to be exposed to toys which teach them a particular skill such as eye-hand coordination, grasping, pressing, stacking and so on. The important things is that your baby is having fun with the toys.
