Best Educational Toys For Up To 1 Year Old (2021)

The first year of a child’s life is full of discovery and is the start whereby your child starts getting familiarized with his or her surroundings and family members. It is also a time of wonder and understanding of this new world that can be very tiring for your baby with many hours left to sleep.

Interaction with your baby is always important, but it is especially important in the first months of development because it forms the foundation to their development and the ability to learn. Luckily, in today’s context there are many Development and Educational Toys that can accompany you and your baby to a healthy start in his or her development and learning.

Educational Toys and Development During The First Month

During the first month, a baby can only see objects that are up to 10 inches away. Seeing colors is not fully developed (the first color that they will start to see is Red), after which your baby will begin to use his or her senses, start developing fine and gross motor skills, begin to understand reaction and response to increase communication, and start to develop his or her own personality.

Educational Toys that can entice your baby during this month of discovery are black and white Flash Cards for your bonding, different mobiles that can attach to a variety of cribs that spin and play soothing music, soothing toys that attach to a crib that play relaxing music during sleep time, and mini play gyms with simple black and white patterns where your baby can begin to develop recognition.

Popular Educational Toys For 1 Month Old And Up

Educational Toys Entering the Second Month

As your baby begins to enter his or her second month, the world becomes filled with even more sounds for voice recognition, and beginning of social skills like smiles and excitement. This is the time when more colors can be seen for greater brain stimulation in this world of discovery.

At this age, you may want to get educational toys that not only soothe your child during sleep time with music and different sounds, but toy gyms that encourage more interactive play, as well as toy rattles. Some babies at this age may also begin teething, so teethers are great toys that are safe for your baby to put in his or her mouth.

Educational Toys Entering the Third Month

As your baby enters the third month of life, he or she will begin to develop more face and voice recognition, as well as be interested in other faces and their surroundings. Your baby can now begin lying on his or her tummy supporting his or her neck with the elbows and chest creating a whole new way of seeing the world.

More interactive gym floors with hanging toys that spin and make sounds, or include mirrors, can begin the development of increased physical movement. Reaching for objects is not fully developed, but place a teether or rattle in your baby’s hand and he or she will have fun waving it around to make exciting sounds.

As your baby continues to grow in their 3 to 6 months, you will start to notice the remarkable rate in their development and their ability to learn. During this period, your interaction becomes more receptive, with your baby being able to respond and react more to your emotions and voice. They will also begin to recognize and identify many objects with ease.

Encourage More Exploration At 3 Months

Throughout the third month, your baby will respond more to your interactive play time especially with movement and sound. He or she can’t grasp items, so you will have to place the toy in your baby’s hands and help him or her shake it to make different noises or pull at it for them to notice the movements.

More developed baby gym sets that encourage physical movement and cause and effect are best during this stage. You can encourage tummy time for more exploration, but always ensure your baby is supervised as he or she is not strong enough to hold him or herself up for a long period of time.

Popular Educational Toys For 3 Months Old And Up

Improved Hand and Eye Coordination At 4 Months

As your baby develops through his or her fourth month, you will begin to notice better coordination with eye detection and related hand movements. Your baby will now be able to reach and grasp objects, so you want to ensure the toys are just the right size for little hands, but have large pieces as your baby still loves to place objects in his or her mouth.

Stuffed animals and soft rings that are easy to grasp are all great options. Your baby is better at seeing color at this stage, as well as high-contrast patterns, so you may want to upgrade an infant play center for a more interactive model.

Increased Fine Motor Skills at 5 Months

During the fifth month, your baby’s eyesight continues to develop allowing him or her to see faces and objects much clearer than before. Shapes, different textures, and various sizes are intriguing to your baby. Grasping becomes easier and most objects still will go straight to his or her mouth as a form of identification or maybe even teething, so teethers are still a great option.

You can begin to introduce your baby to larger educational toys and increase tummy time for more muscle strength. At this age, you can also begin to sit your child up on a supported baby chair or your lap for interactive playtime. Your baby will continue to love toys with lights, sounds, and mirrors as the cause and effect, as well as face recognition continues.

Muscle Strength at 6 Months

Don’t be surprised if your six month old begins to sit up with either a little or no assistance. Your baby’s muscle strength is developing quickly at this stage and so is he or she’s need for discovery and adventure.

Large toys that make music or light up with an interactive cause and effect system will entice your six month old for hours as the sleep time during the day decreases. Buy toys with vibrant colors, but that are not too small that they fit completely in your baby’s mouth that could become a chocking hazard.

When your baby is at the stage between six and nine months old, he or she will begin to take development to the next level of wondering and discovery. He or she will be more interactive with the world that surrounds him or her, and will respond accordingly. During these months your baby will enjoy more interactive play with you in the development of creativity and imagination.

Interactive Play And Muscle Control At 6 Months

The fun has just started as both fine and gross motor skills continue to develop. Your baby starts to understand the concept of cause and reaction better, and gets lots of laughs from playing interactive games, such as “peek-a-boo”.

This is the age that you can introduce toys with lots of action (movement). Large pieces, such as toys that include a ball that is dropped at the top and spins through the entire pathway before exiting the bottom, can bring hours of fun to your 6 month old. Your baby will love toys with vibrant colors, and will even begin to increase his or her sensory skills of expressing him or herself through role playing toys.

Popular Educational Toys For 6 Months Old And Up

Toys That Encourage Gross Motor Skills And Communication At 7 Months

At 7 months old, this is the stage whereby language starts to begin for your baby. You will notice your baby cooing and starting to form words and associate word sounds to objects. This is a great time to introduce educational toys with shapes and colors for cognitive development.

As muscles get stronger, your 7 month old will enjoy toys that are made for supportive walking or toys that can be dragged when crawling. Curiosity is also great at this stage of development, so toys with buttons that make lots of sounds or play music when pressed encourage the action/reaction development.

Movement And Communication Are On A New Level At 8 Months

Although your baby may have already begun to scoot and crawl as early as six months, during the eighth month this skills becomes fine-tuned to crawling and scooting in a variety of different directions. This gross motor skill can still be encouraged by assisted walking toys that your baby can push around the home.

You will also notice your baby starts to associate words with objects. This is the time you let them play with toys that come with letter sounds or with an association of a sound to an object. Fine motor skills are developed to the point that your baby can pick up small items, so ensure his or her surroundings are safe.

Gross Motor Skills And Toys To Encourage Strength And Development At 9 Months

This is the month where your baby may begin to take his or her first steps by holding on to the side of the couch or maybe even taking a few steps on his or her own, increasing the range of discovery. As your baby’s fine and gross motor skills continue to develop, simple educational toys, such as a ball being rolled back and forth from you to your baby can be very entertaining.

Your baby will still enjoy building blocks and objects, with an addition of having more fun knocking it down and rebuilding it again. You will also want to continue the letter and sound recognition toys for language development.

The age between nine and 12 months is the stage where your baby goes through a more physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. This is a time when most babies begin to walk unassisted and explore the world at their own will. Language begins to develop and you get to enjoy a much deeper communication with your baby.

Learning And Muscle Strength Increases At 9 Months

At this stage, your baby will mimic gestures that maybe he or she saw you doing. Some babies begin to walk at this stage as leg and back muscles begin to get stronger. They start to have better balance with their bodies, and are able to reach for items without tumbling over.

With the development of deliberate and controlled movement, your baby will continue to enjoy learning letters, numbers, and shapes with toys that include lights and sounds. This is also when you would start introducing colors with decorative interactive toys where you can help your baby recognize the different colors. Blocks are also still a great option, as your baby will love building and knocking down blocks.

Understanding Of The World Increases At 10 Months

Skills are maturing quickly at 10 months and your baby will definitely show you what he or she prefers. The understanding of the mechanics of their environment increases during this time; therefore, you may want to use toys that engage curiosity. These toys include lots of busy activity with different things for your baby to learn and discover on his or her own. Your baby may also start walking at this age.

Educational toys that come with lots of color, sounds, and buttons may interest your baby more at this age. Pick toys that now teach words, as your baby’s language is also starting to develop. Your baby will also begin to understand sequence, so baby puzzles are great for this age.

Popular Educational Toys For 10 Months Old And Up

Reinforce Encouragement At 11 Months

Your baby’s learning is increasing rapidly, so this is the time to provide the encouragement and acknowledgement of things that he or she does. This reinforces their desire to keep learning. Your baby may begin walking unassisted at this time, and may no longer like the push walking toys. He or she is starving for learning, and still wants to see lights, sounds, and music happening when they do something.

Your baby will also start to understand the difference between large and small objects. Educational Toys that encourage the placement of objects into a box that are of different sizes encourage cognitive development. At this age, as role playing continues, you may also notice that your baby loves play phones with lights, rings, and maybe even talking.

A Milestone Has Been Reached At 12 Months

At the age of 12 months, your baby has reached a milestone of learning, discovery, and physical development. This is when learning takes on more discoveries and language begins to develop into much clearer words as your baby understands what you are saying.

Now that your baby is mobile, he or she will have no problem reaching for items that he or she wants. Your baby will love more detailed activity sets, such as a doll castle with figurines and moveable parts, or a farm with animals that have doors and windows that actually work. You may now introduce riding toys, such as push cars, where your baby can use his or her leg strength to move around a room.

Popular Educational Toys For 1 Year Old And Up