Play

With a growing baby, parents (and caregivers) must be clever when investing in toys for their little one. And an investment those toys are. Now that Baby Boy is almost 3 months old (WOW!) he has discovered his hands and has started to explore what they can do. He has become more curious, waving his hands back and forth, swinging at the small items dangling from the arch on his play mat, and grabbing my sweater whenever he can. Although I am unsure as to whether this movement is purposely done, he is quickly learning what those ten little fingers on those two tiny hands can do. I now find myself dedicating time in the day with Baby Boy not only to tracking beautiful patterns from side to side, and lying on our stomachs for tummy time, but now I dangle items in from of him, just out of reach, in hopes that he will reach out and grab it. Many of his toys are large, to best be utilized during many stages of his baby months, but I wanted to find a great small, but safe, toy (like a rattle) that would allow his little hands to grip.

I Googled 'baby' to see what kind of websites I could get that would recommend some great, safe and fun baby toys, and I landed on babyzone. From there, they had a collection of 15 top toys from 2009 that they recommend for babies. Although some of the prices are a bit high for me, I think they did a great job selecting some versatile toys that could grow with the baby. It was especially interesting for me, because (a) I don't remember what my baby toys were, (b) from what I've seen that I played with, they were fairly simple, and (c) toys have come a long way and are so unique, detailed and researched. Every toy now has a purpose, a reason to be used by a baby, whether it be to work on gross-motor skills, fine-motor skills, hand-eye-coordination or hearing. So much goes into choosing the 'right' toy for your baby and here are a few of my favorites from the Babyzone list.

Fair Indigo is a great company that makes cloth, organic, fair trade toys for babies. These little toys are a bit expensive, but they're hand-washable and they'll grow with the baby.

Fair Indigo Penguin $29.99

Munchkin makes a toy with 'endless play possibilities'. The Bobble Bee is great for the little guys learning to use their hands, and those who are older and able to manipulate the toy on their own. It twists, spins, bobbles, and rolls, makes noise and has a great suction cup on the bottom to secure it to most any surface if the child still hasn't learned to hold a toy. And since it's plastic, you can easily wash it!

Bobble Bee $6.99-19.99

Taggies, their tag-line 'Babies & Kids Love to Rub 'em', has created a line of soft toys, books, clothes and blankets. This is a fun and enjoyable blanket, not only for the baby but for the parents as well! Babies will love to cuddle with them, lie on them, and most likely chew on them. But that's okay! Throw them in the wash and their good to go again.

Peek-A-Boo Blanket $32.00 (LOVE IT!)

Have any favorites of your own? Feel free to share!