Selecting Toys for Your Infant or Toddler

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2016

Selecting Toys for Your Infant or Toddler

Infants and toddlers are active "seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, moving" explorers of their world. During this stage, it is important to provide children with safe environments and play materials that they can experience with all their senses.

Here are 5 things to consider when selecting toys for your infant or toddler.

Is it developmentally appropriate? Choose items that align with your child's interests and abilities. Select some that challenge their current abilities, but are not so advanced that they are frustrating. Encourage independence by placing play items on low shelves and in small baskets where your child can access their choice.

Does it encourage participation? Infants and toddlers need toys that they can manipulate. Toys that allow a child to try, fail, explore and try again provide cause-and-effect experiences that will help them develop a more in-depth understanding of their world.

Opt for open-ended. Choose play materials that do not have a predetermined purpose. Items such as cardboard tubes, boxes, paper, blocks and leaves encourage children to pursue possibilities, which in turn stimulates and enhances brain development.

Is it neutral and unbiased? Boys don't only have to play with cars and girls don't only have to play with dolls. Having toys from other cultures, books the incorporate words from other languages and dolls of different ethnic backgrounds reinforces equity and acceptance.

Vary the mix. Provide toys, like balls, that teach gross motor skills and dramatic play objects, such as toy telephones and play kitchens, that mimic daily life. Keep in mind that too many options can be overwhelming for children. Offer a few different items at a time and add in and take away items from time to time to keep things interesting.

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Q. My child doesn't play with his toys, all he does is chew on them. Is he really learning anything?

A. Children from birth to age two are in the sensorimotor stage. During this stage, children learn by using all of their senses to explore and understand their world. When your child chews on something, he is using his mouth and hands to feel and explore. Offering a wide variety of items to feel and taste is exactly what he needs.

Do you have a question or a topic you'd like us to explore? Contact Parent Services at PSstaff@ndchildcare.org or call 800-997-8515

More Resources to Explore

Visit the Child Care Aware® website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to learn more play materials that enhance your child's learning and development at any age.

Child Care Aware® of North Dakota | www.ndchildcare.org