- Prepare your child for a new toy by describing different features as you and your child explore it, hand over hand.
- Talk about the toy; what it feels/sounds like, what to do to make it work and what happens when it does.
- Tummy-time play will encourage your child to hold his head up and push on his arms; these actions help to get him ready for moving.
- To keep toys within your child's reach, try confining them in box tops, planter bases, etc.
- Try creating a new play area within an empty inflatable pool, tent, porta-crib, etc., which defines boundaries. Anchor some toys in this play area so your child becomes familiar with them, and rotate other toys frequently for variety and to keep the play fresh.
Toys/Features to Look For
- Overhead gyms
- Word-, sound- and music-makers
- Toys with realistic sounds and figures
- Toys that react to simple touch
- Mirrored toys
- Toys with high-contrast colors, patterns or lights
- Toys that magnify
- Varied textured surfaces (e.g., soft, bumpy, smooth, etc.)
- Toys with differentiated areas (e.g., dials, buttons, knobs)
Play Stages
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Experience Stage: Using senses to explore a toy
Children love mirrors! Toys with mirrors catch their visual attention as they reflect light. Besides being interested in seeing their own face looking back at them, children also notice changes in their reflection as their body, hands and face move. The high-contrast colors along the frame of this mirror will attract your child, and its dangling textured toys invite pulling and tugging to hear the musical rewards.
Click here to find out what you can do to help your child play and learn with this toy.
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Discovery Stage: The toy guides your child's play
Playing in the dark—either inside or out of the house—is great fun for young children. Pressing the tail opens the tiger's mouth to turn the light on and makes the tiger "roar"!
Click here to find out what you can do to help your child play and learn with this toy.
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Expanding Imagination Stage: Finding even more ways to play with a toy
Children love exploring what happens when they press down on the bus driver in the driver's seat: lights, sounds, and related bus and school tunes, "Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It!" Playing with Beeps the Bus™ will help children imagine what it's like to ride a real bus with their friends. Realistic features include several Little People characters plus a bus driver, a foldout stop sign and a rear ramp to help a child in a wheelchair off to school.
Click here to find out what you can do to help your child play and learn with this toy.
