Baby Toys or Learning Tool

Well, I finally caved and purchased my daughter a few “toys”, she about three and a half months and I didn’t think these kind of things would be necessary.

The first item I bought was a booster chair.  Its great now because she’s able to sit up supported and she can hold her head all on her own.  The booster chair is one that reclines and will grow with her as her needs change, so from bottle feeding to eating solid food.  The chair also came with some nice visual place mats, alphabet, numbers, all associated with food and also one with some animals.  She seems to stare at it and good for visual stimulation.  Also, now that she can hold her head up if we’re eating she can “sit” at the table with us and I have her in the chair for most of her feedings.  She loves it; up high with everyone else!

Do you remember those silly fuzzy dice that people used to buy, and apparently some still do, to hang in their rear view mirror of their car?  Well I found ones like that but for babies called "Dice Dice Baby".  Its got different textures, a plastic mirror, one dice has a rattle in it, and some bits for gnawing on.  My baby girl loves these, they keep her well entertained for the mean time.  As parents we all know that baby's don't have very long attention spans but for what its worth its pretty long for a baby (at least in my experience).

My most recent purchase was an exersaucer.  I didn’t think I would get one because a lot of them that I’ve seen have too many toys attached to it and seemed like it would be over-stimulating for her.  Yes, there are some that do have excess toys attached to it but I think you need to go with what you feel will be best for your child and what you think would be appropriate.  For me, I don’t like the idea of EXCESS toys but I do like it when children can self entertain, I feel its a great learning process.  Also, I’m a firm believer in “less is more”.  There are so many options out there for the exersaucers so do your research!  Some grow with your child, which I love but it comes with a big price tag.  Others hang, and some have LOTS of toys to keep your little one entertained.  All the ones that I looked at had removable toys or that you could change the location of that toy; I don’t think there are any that aren’t removable.  Some of things that hang from them.  But all will bounce, which will help with strengthening of your little ones legs which is great for when the time comes for walking (or running).  I went with something that was within my budget, so yes I shopped around for price via the Internet, and something that didn't have excess toys around it; I didn’t want too many toys because we have other things around the house for learning development (or in my baby’s mind playtime). 

I did wait to purchase this until I felt my daughter was ready for it, she was three and a half months when I purchased it but for her she probably could’ve been in one from about two months.  Every baby is different but from what friends have told me their child loved it! She’s had the exersaucer for about a week and she loves it.  She can sit in there for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time and after that she’s tired or over-stimulated.  All-in-all, I’m happy that we picked this up for her because she loves it and its a great learning tool. 

What have been some toys or learning tools that you bought for your little one? do they love it or hate it? There are definitely pros and cons to those bigger ticket items and its definitely a trail and error moment to see if they’ll love it or hate it.