Toys given to babies and toddlers can be commercial or home-made, as long as they stimulate, says Alice Sharp
0-1 year
Once babies are old enough to show an interest in toys, encourage them to track the movements and sounds of the toys so that they have to turn their heads and bodies. The best toys to use are interesting to the eye and ear. A baby must gain first-hand experience of an object to maintain interest in it and learn about it. Toys that are manipulated easily produce wonderful responses from young children.
Introduce toys that produce unexpected sounds. Use a playmat to introduce toys with different textures. Toys that encourage babies to grab and reach will aid physical development while enabling them to interact with their environment.
Play tips
- Offer the baby a wide variety of squeaky toys and rattles. Change the selection often to expose the baby to many different shapes, colours and sounds.
- Provide playmats, cushions, rugs and pillows as they create a haven of comfort, softness and security as well as varied textures.
- Expose the baby to a variety of patterns, shapes and materials by regularly changing their mobile and activity centres and baby gym toys.
- Place a variety of unusual objects that are small but safe, such as a kaleidoscope, prism, paperweight or decorated tins, around the baby, perhaps stringing them across the pram, cot or chair.
- Allow the baby to look at and play with books to help recognise familiar objects and introduce new items.
Activities: Activity centre
- Create your own activity centre to develop and challenge a baby.
- Provide objects that offer a range of sounds, shapes and colours, for example, a metal spoon, a rattle, a baby hairbrush, a small spinning top, a soft toy, two or three cotton reels, a large key and a chewable ring.
- Attach these securely with brightly coloured ribbon or strong string to a curtain pole on the wall or to the side of a cot.
- Ensure that the baby can reach each object and is supervised and supported if needed.
Encourage the baby to grasp and reach, stretch and squeeze the objects.
Stacking rings
- There are many different stacking rings on the market, such as Fisher Price's Rock-a-Stack, to aid the development of hand-eye co-ordination and fine manipulative skills. Alternatively, use a kitchen roll holder and napkin rings, curtain rings or something similar.
- Encourage the babies to manipulate the rings. Hide them under your hands, their legs, the corner of a rug or cushion.
- Place one or two of the rings over the holder and encourage the baby to copy.
Nesting boxes
- There are various nesting boxes available in all the major toy shops or stationers. A baby playing with these will be introduced to the concept of size, pattern and sequence.
- Give the baby a set of Tupperware containers, pots or boxes and encourage him to experiment by putting on the lids, piling them high or inserting one inside another.
- Start with two boxes of different sizes and gradually increase the number of containers that are offered at any one time.
- Sets of matching boxes can be bought relatively cheaply from many shops for children to sequence.
1-2 years
Toddlers may not feel ready to share their toys at first, but your playing with a similar toy to the child's helps the child respond to you. Playing in parallel encourages imitation - the child may stop and watch you and so develop the confidence to imitate these movements when taking up his own toy.
Young children become more mobile at this stage, so introducing toys and equipment which will stimulate their interest in mobility and help them to walk is vital.
Once they are toddling a child's world becomes much wider, and you should provide new opportunities to learn and interact. Puzzles and jigsaws will improve hand-eye co-ordination and increase their understanding of size and shape.
Play tips
- Experiment with musical instruments, emphasising the different sounds with the toddlers.
- Encourage young children to make choices between the toys they want. Ask 'do you want the doll, the teddy or the ball?' Emphasise the key words.
- Extend the children's exploration of toys, introducing more bricks, harder shapes to sort or post, or more challenging jigsaws.
- Use a variety of construction toys to further develop their abilities and help them become more independent.
Activities: Box of delights
- Children love to explore and experiment with 'junk'. Place a variety of materials - string, elastic bands, plasticine, small cardboard boxes, strips of tin foil, crepe or tissue paper - inside a brightly decorated box.
- Leave the toddlers to explore the contents and to tear, stretch and squeeze the items inside.
- As an alternative, fill a box with a full and empty set of containers, such as a full and empty shampoo bottle, tube of toothpaste and cotton reel.
How does it fit?
- Young children should be provided with lots of experience of fitting and slotting toys together. Blocks such as Lego or Duplo are ideal.
- Alternatively, place a selection of wooden and plastic pegs in a small basket or plastic box. Encourage the children to attach the pegs around the side of the container. Suggest by demonstration joining the pegs together, creating a snake to place around the inside or outside of the basket.
2-3 years
At this stage, children are ready for a challenge and need to have their imaginations stimulated. Introduce new toys but also present existing toys in a more challenging way. Jigsaws and puzzles should now be complex enough to encourage problem- solving while encouraging dexterity and spatial awareness. Sorting, building and sequencing toys such as posting boxes and stacking beakers contribute to planning and problem- solving if presented in a challenging manner.
A dressing-up box and home corner toys will allow the children to engage in role play, and to develop caring, sensitive behaviour.
Play tips
- When presenting children with toys, allow them a few minutes exploratory play before making any directions or suggestions, to build confidence when using the materials and to meet the challenges set.
- Remember to gain a child's attention and establish eye contact before giving instructions.
- Reinforce and consolidate by offering a variety of toys with similar challenges which can be presented in a different way.
Activities: Water and sand play
- Fill a paddling pool with water, pots, pans, beakers, buckets and funnels.
- Let the children play in the pool, with appropriate clothing on, or sit around the edge.
- Develop children's understanding of texture, volume and capacity, and stimulate their imaginations by questioning, suggesting they try pouring, filling and siphoning.
- Place boats or fish and dolphins in the water and encourage the children to push them, to immerse them and experiment with them.
On the move
- Use wheeled toys to encourage mobility, balance and co-ordination.
- Use any opportunity during the day to point out different vehicles to the children.
- Encourage play with toy vehicles in pretend garages or along chalked roadways. Support the child in naming the transport, making the appropriate noise and re-enacting their experiences of transport.
- Allow the children to play freely with the wheeled toys outdoors, again supporting the development of appropriate vocabulary and sounds.
Hide and seek
- Use this experience to develop an understanding of where objects and toys are kept in the nursery.
- Ask the children to form a small group and ask each in turn to bring you a plate, teddy, telephone or brick.
- Discuss where they found each of the items and then ask a different child to return the objects to where they belong.
- Play hide and seek. Ask the other children to cover their eyes while one child hides an item.
- Play pass the parcel. Cover a familiar object with a few layers of paper. When the music stops, the child with the parcel guesses what is inside. At the end, unwrap the object. Who guessed correctly?