Overview
The first weeks and months of your baby’s life are a period of amazing growth as your newborn learns important new things.
Playtime is important to your child as it develops physical agility, strength, endurance, balance, mental concentration and problem-solving skills. As a parent, the choices you make in terms of toys and educational tools will shape how your infant develops.
Toys will not only keep your baby entertained and less fretful, they are great educational tools that can help expand and refine a child’s sensory and cognitive ability.
Whilst playtime should be fun for all, it is an especially rewarding time for you as you witness your growing tot’s progress on a daily basis. Most importantly, playtime is a great opportunity for you and your family to bond together!
Safety and Your Baby
Although many of us are naturally attracted to toys that are colourful, cute, stylish and entertaining, always make sure you buy products that are safe and suitable for your baby. Consider the following aspects when choosing a toy:
Sports equipment inappropriate for your child’s age
Sharp edges, projectiles or protruding parts
Loops or nets that can strangle young children
Small, detachable parts that are choking hazards
Flammable or have heat able parts
Toys from reputable brands will usually display an age indicator that will help you choose toys appropriate to your child’s age. Even if you have friends whose toddlers seem to play with toys of a higher maturity level, there’s no need to rush your precious little one. Remember that toys are specifically designed to develop a child’s senses and intellectual abilities one baby step at a time.
As a parent, be aware of the government regulations in your country and check product packaging for indications of the relevant safety standards. For example, all Tollyjoy toys and rattles conform to internationally-accepted safety standards where applicable, and are marked with the conformity mark (MC), the industry-standard safety marking.
Playtime with Baby and You
During the first few weeks of their lives, fragile newborns begin to develop their five senses – taste, touch, scent, sound and sight.
Taste
Touch 
Scent
Sound
SightAt birth, babies' smell and taste are the strongest, with sight the least developed sense. At this point in time, your newborn can only properly distinguish strong contrasting colours and human faces at the optimum distance of 12 inches. In addition, your baby's motor skills, hand-eye coordination and logic have yet to be developed, although most babies tend to clutch anything and everything within reach.
Amazing, babies' hearing ability and hearing-related memory are much better than adults. Look out for toys that make sounds or play music to boost your baby's learning ability through sound-retention, but bear in mind not to expose these sensitive ears to loud noises that can permanently damage a young child's sensitive hearing.
As your baby's motor skills develop, he or she will begin to actively reach out and touch or grab objects from around 4 months of age. Keep your baby occupied with colourful objects hanging within grasping distance. Musical toys with pull-strings will introduce your baby to music and familiar shapes. Tollyjoy offers an adorable selection of cow, rabbit and star musical toys that play soothing melodies, keeping your precious bundle calm and contented.
In addition, rattles are a great way of providing neuro-motor sensory stimulation. A cute rattle collection will keep your baby's attention occupied and stimulate recognition of different colours, shapes, sounds and sizes.
Playtime with Baby and You
When your baby starts teething between 6 to 9 months, soothe those itchy gums with teethers filled with sterilised water that conform to relevant safety standards. Tollyjoy’s range of baby teethers are easy to hold and can assist in developing hand-eye coordination. A teether placed in the refrigerator will provide an additional cool, comforting effect on sore gums. Apart from being a practical solution for teething babies, these rattles come in irresistibly cute designs such as penguins, cars and teddy bears.
To keep your infant’s attention during playtime, look out for cute squeeze toys that make whistling or squeaking sounds and are safe to be bitten or chewed. Squeeze toys should be firm but yielding in texture to develop your baby’s tactile sense and motor skills. Investing in a range of cute animal squeeze toys with high contrast colours such as Tollyjoy’s duck, frog, dolphin and polar bear will assist your baby in learning to recognise different colours and shapes. At a later date, these toys will also come in handy as your growing tot takes on letters, words and names.
Don’t forget to pick up some colourful bath toys that will make every bath time a fun and enjoyable experience. Most babies find a gentle bath in warm water a soothing experience. Transform your baby’s bath time into fun play time with some cute bath time ‘companions’ to accompany your baby’s water-filled adventures. With Tollyjoy’s cheerfully-coloured crab, fish, octopus and starfish bath toys, engage your baby’s curiosity and imagination with tales filled with friendly marine friends! Simply depress the air in the toy and let it fill with bath water. Lightly squeeze the toy and water will squirt out, delighting your little one.
What’s more, Tollyjoy’s squeeze toys are also suitable for bath time, thus extending your child’s bath time companions beyond these marine friends!