5 Best Toys to Play Smarter with Your Newborn
While becoming a parent is a blessing, I often find that parents’ joy soon turns to stress of how to engage their newborn. In the first few months, your baby’s brain is growing rapidly, and every experience matters. The right kind of toys can gently stimulate their senses and support early brain development. However! nobody teaches you how to play with such tiny humans. So to take this stress away, I am sharing below 5 toys that in my experience, are best to engage and play with your newborn, making sure that their brain development is on track. Read on to pick your favorites or shop ’em all!
- Books: No, its not too soon to read books to your baby. Of course, we are not expecting them to read the words, but its the black and white contrast that is good for their visual stimulation. It is an added advantage if the book has different textures, such as felt, cloth for the baby to feel and gain more experience and exposure from the book.
- Inflatable Water Mat: A good toy to engage your little one as it offers both, a good visual of the fish and tactile experience of the water. Encourage your baby to lay on the mat, use their hands to explore or simply use for tummy time or exploration.
- Flash Cards: Just as books, the idea is not to have your little one start labelling the pictures on the cards or pointing to them, thats a bit too much, even for a genius! Flash cards however, are a great source of visual stimulation. With different pictures or even patterns shown in black and white contrast, these cards are very useful for brain development.
- Play pen: A play pen doesn’t need much introduction. It is a convenient form of engaging the child where you know your little one is safe and also able to engage themselves with the hanging toys. One key point to keep in mind is that the toys should be low enough for the little one to extend and reach out.
- Checked Bedsheet: When toys become too many and yet your little one is not engaged, a simple and practical tool is your own bedsheet! Yes, a white and black bedsheet can be used for the same purpose as the books or cards: visual stimulation. Putting the sheet near your baby so that they can simply observe the contrasting patterns on sheet would also serve as good stimulation. Its definitely better than simply looking at the ceiling!
These recommendations are designed to enhance your newborn’s sensory experiences and cognitive development through simple, effective tools, that are readily available online in India. If you’re wondering which of these toys (or others) suit your baby’s current stage best, I’m just a message away. Let’s make playtime meaningful!