Entertainment centers that encourage crawling and standing

Why your baby will enjoy this toy now:

Activity toys such as tables and walkers are easy and fun, keeping little ones busy with lots of interesting things to do. They also help them develop confidence and strength during the standing and cruising stages.

What you can do to help your baby learn more:

• The way you and your child play with this type of toy will change and develop with your child's skills. Start out using it as an activity center on the floor. Sit with baby and playfully point out the toy's interesting features, colors and surprises. Say the color names out loud as you touch each one: "This is a blue bead, this one's green and this one's purple. One, two, three beads."
• Use words and descriptive terms as much as possible in your "conversations" with your baby; children of this age enjoy listening and it encourages them to vocalize.
• By talking about things as baby makes them happen, you'll also help him understand the idea of action/reaction: "What did you just do? You spun the ball and made the fun music play! Listen … do you hear it? Let's try spinning the ball again. What sounds do you hear?"
• Exercise baby's growing muscles by encouraging him to get physically involved with the toy. That could mean pushing it, rolling it back and forth, crawling through it or, if it's an activity table, using it to pull up to a standing position. All this exercise will help strengthen your child's muscles and confidence as he approaches an even bigger challenge toward the end of his first year: learning to walk!

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Bat-at floor toys

Why your baby will enjoy this toy now:

Curiosity and thinking skills are on a roll right now; so are physical skills like reaching, grasping, and maybe even crawling. A toy that responds to baby's actions helps enhance the connections between physical and mental development.

What you can do to help your baby learn more:

• Start with an interactive game between you and baby, something as simple as rolling the toy back and forth. Set up pillow bumpers for boundaries so the toy can't roll too far astray. And take this opportunity to put words with actions by narrating as you play: "back and forth," "your turn, my turn."
• Boost baby toward crawling by picking a target and encouraging him to roll the toy to it and then retrieve it. As the toy rolls, he's likely to move toward the toy because he'll want to start the fun rolling all over again!
• If the toy makes sounds or music, here's a way to help baby learn to locate things by listening: show him the toy, then put it behind your back and activate the sounds. Do this several times to see if he'll crawl to you to find the source of the sound.

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Shape sorters with surprise sounds

Why your baby will enjoy this toy now:

Shape sorters are a great way to encourage the development of problem-solving skills. When success meets with a reward—such as a surprise sound when a shape is put in the appropriate opening—dexterity skills are refined and an understanding of cause-and-effect takes "shape."

What you can do to help your baby learn more:

• Since shape recognition and sorting are still a few months off for your baby, this is a great time to focus on the concepts of "in and out" and "on and off". Encourage your baby to put a hand or a shape inside the shape sorter toy … what will happen? If he's greeted with a funny sound or musical surprise, you can bet baby will like playing the "in and out" game time after time!
• If you progress to introducing shapes, start with just one: identify it and let baby get the hang of sorting that one shape before you move on to a new one. Be sure to identify the name of the shape as your child picks it up and tries to locate the correct space to sort it.

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Action/reaction toys

Why your baby will enjoy this toy now:

Causing a reaction in a toy—by pressing a button, ringing a bell, opening a door—gives baby's mind something new to think about. And the dawning realization that actions make something happen fosters a sense of empowerment and pride in accomplishment.

What you can do to help your baby learn more:

• Use the toy's features to introduce your baby to various colors, saying each color name clearly as you point to it. This is the time when babies are building their receptive language skills, so the more words he hears, the more words he'll become familiar with.
• Reinforce concepts behind language and words even further by using descriptive language as your baby activates a reaction from the toy: "Hear the sound the lion makes?" "Look what happened when you touched the little birdie!"

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