8 Toys You Should Buy to Boost Your Baby’s Cognitive Skills

From the day you find out that you and your spouse are going to be parents, you leave no leaf unturned to make sure everything is perfectly in place to welcome the little one. Toys, cribs, baby beds, in fact the entire décor of the room changes making it appealing and attractive for your baby! Over the course of time you start to realize that your baby needs something more than just ‘toys’ that would amuse them. Rather, you start looking for something that would enhance their senses, creativity and help them learn while they fiddle and play with the toys. There are numerous toys available at baby stores which you can pick up one at a time or all at once that is suited best to boost your baby’s cognitive skills. So here goes my list of the toys that you can pick for your baby.

Rattle Toys

This is the most common and the most favorite toy for both parents and kids. The twisting and rattling of the toy with each movement increases the baby’s hearing skills. Demonstrate the toy to your baby by shaking it. Tell your baby that it makes this typical sound when you move it. Place it on the little hands and encourage your baby doing the same. Once the baby hears the sound, while it moves it or throws it off, it would make him pick it up once again and make the movement. It’s the sound from the toy that would keep them engrossed initially and the movement of the toy helps them develop motor skills.

The caterpillar/worm rattle toy is one such toy with further add-ons to the basic rattle toy. It comes in various shapes and the body of each worm has several sections. It has a mirror included in it and few holding rings to hold on to it. The colorful beads and the mirror on it will keep your baby engaged and improve their visual skills. The movable section of the caterpillar enhances their motor skills. Watch your baby hold the toy with both hands first and then as they start exploring the toy, you would find them really enjoying twisting and turning the sections while it improves their motor skills. The rattle sound of the toy keeps the baby entertained and the various shapes and colors helps in cognitive development of recognizing more colors and shapes.Shape Toys

Now this is something any parent can vouch for! The shape sorter toy enhances the baby’s hand-eye coordination, while building their concentration. These shape sorter toys are helpful for the development of the baby as they boost your baby’s motor skills and understanding of various shapes and sizes.

Cognition Puzzle

This is a perfect toy to start your baby’s early education. Puzzles help sharpen your baby’s concentration and cognitive skills. Cognitive puzzles usually come at an affordable price, and are suited for babies above the age of 6 months. The toy consists of various flashcards with half of the image on one flash card and the remaining half on a different flash card. It also comes with a label for the image printed on the flash card which is an easy tool for parents to introduce the baby to the animal world! The colorful images on the flash card keeps your baby engaged in the activity while they learn the names of the animals in the process.

Lego

Now who does not like lego! I have always been a great fan of lego right from my growing years till date! The durable material survives your child’s abuse on the pieces and enhances your child’s creativity. You can either pick original lego set or Webby Forklift Engineering building blocks. Parental guidance however becomes imperative with this toy. You can start off by stacking one building block over another and slowly move to various shapes and sizes as per the illustration. It is durable, colorful and sturdy and can thus be moved across the room. It increases your baby’s concentration while building their creative skills. The illustration and the building blocks sharpen your baby’s concentration and hand-eye coordination.

Link Toys

Another toy that increases your baby’s observation skills, hand-eye coordination, motor skills, creativity and observation skills all in one simple toy! The kiddy star links by funskool is a useful tool to introduce your baby to numbers and counting. The colorful toy comes with several stars or shapes interlocked to each other. This makes it easy for the baby to twist, rotate and move it to make a shape they like. It not only enhances their concentration and creativity but as a parent you can start counting the shapes to introduce them to numbers. It is colorful and bright and extremely light weight which makes it ideal for your baby.

Kitchen Set

Remember the kitchen set that our mothers bought us from the local store? Well the kitchen set was in my toy box right from the childhood to the time I started going to school and undoubtedly my favorite. And why not! The various items in the set- the pots and pans, the cups and saucers all made me imitate my mother at the kitchen. There were times when I would pull my mom out of the kitchen to come to ‘my kitchen’. I would carefully place each toy plate and cup in front of her and explain what’s being served to her. Well, nowadays the same toy is available with a much interactive add-on to it. The same kitchen set is now available in a battery operated version. With a push of a button it talks and thus instantly grabs your baby’s attention. Your baby picks up the sense of shape and size automatically while stacking the pieces together. Plus it is a great toy for group play!

Push and Go toys

Vibgyor Vibes colourful Push/Bump and Go Wobble Head Friction Animal Turtle Toys enhances your baby’s sense of touch, movement, and sensory perception and learn animals and colors at the same time. The beauty of the toy is the vibrant colors it comes in and your baby moves while pushing the toy. It not just increases their motor skills and sense of touch but the toy moves when pushed thus making your baby learn to crawl.

Playmat

This perhaps is the most simple and convenient and portable piece to be included in your baby’s toy box. A good play mat comes with attractive illustrations on it. The material of the mat is extremely soft and can be used indoors and outdoors. Your baby learns various colors, animals, shapes while they sit on it and start pointing at various illustrations. It’s a great interactive toy for parents and kids. Few mats come with teethers which further enhance your baby’s motor skills and sense of touch.

Children start learning right from the initial stage through sense of touch, sound and visuals. Cognitive toys help them use their creativity while the toy boosts their dexterity and cognitive skills. Introduce your baby to toys that are bright, interactive and easy to handle and play with. Never to forget, parental support and involvement in play is equally important!