I really haven't bought anything for Dean in the way of toys. I figured, why? He has a shoe box full of toys he got from the baby shower, but that's it. He's just now beginning to pick things up on his own and shake them around. It's hard knowing what to get. When I go looking for things I see all the toys and think "that seems so excessive. Does he really need that to become a happy and developed baby?" Usually the answer is no, and I move on.
I have decided, however, that an exersaucer and/or jumperoo could be handy. While he doesn't totally hate his bumbo, he's not in love with it. He's also starting to get fed up with lying on his back. And then there's his tummy. He HATES, HATES, HATES tummy time. So I'm hoping he enjoys standing up at a little station with toys he may now (or hopefully soon) appreciate. But sheesh are baby things so danged expensive!! Thank heaven for Craigslist! Doesn't always work, but when it does, it's great! (I'm hopefully buying an exersaucer tomorrow through Craigslist as well). Also, baby items take up SO MUCH ROOM! I hope to keep my toys as minimal as possible while still keeping him entertained and happy. None of this "I-have-a-whole-room-dedicated-for-my-only-child's-toys-that-he-could-never-possibly-play-with- within-the-year" business.
I would love to get him some great books. He has about 20-30 Dr. Suess and Bernstein Bear books (Craigslist find), but I think they're still a little too advanced and long. I read to him every day, but he gets antsy before we finish those books. He seems to love the one cloth book I inherited from a friend that has one word and one picture per page and is 7 pages long. I need more of those. And more short board books. What are your favorite educational tools/books for infants?
18 comments:
I have generally tried to keep our toys to a minimum; we usually only get our kids one present for birthdays and holidays and generally don't buy them much beyond that. I look for things that can be used creatively and that will be interesting to a variety of ages (I also stay away from batteries or stuff that makes noise). As infants, it seemed like my kids liked stacking cups/boxes, soft balls, linking rings, shape sorters, stuff like that. Babies generally just play with something for a few minutes and move on to something else anyways. I also think an exersaucer or jumper is great just for something different. I bought one on craigslist, used it for about four months, and then resold it.
As far as books, we have a random collection of board books that we've received as gifts, bought on sale, etc. I've found that neither of my kids was into reading very much until at least a year old. I still had the routine of reading a little story or two before naps and bedtime, but they weren't really into it until much older. Soft cloth books or vinyl books are great for the age he's at now. One-year-olds love books that have flaps, but they get destroyed easily. We have a higher up shelf for kids books we want to keep nice (the "rippy pages" my daughter calls them) that only mommy and daddy can get down. Then we have a lower shelf with board books and other random ones that are free for the kids to access.
Addie and I like Sandra Boynton books. My 2 faves are "Moo, Baa La la la" and "The going to bed book." They are just very simple board books but I think they are quite cute. "The belly button book" is cute too but then I haven't read them all. My favorite favorite children's book of all time is the original "Skippyjon Jones" book. It's way fun to read and she will sit through it even though it's long (relatively). She has also liked the "Touch and Feel" books since she was tiny. Amazon usually has good box set deals in both the Touch and Feels and Sandra Boynton.
We never had a jumperoo but Addie loved it when she got to use her cousin's. It gives them something totally different than any other apparatus. I'm like you with toys but I think the jumperoo is a good investment and it's something you can rotate around to other family/friends with babies or resell when Dean has outgrown it.
We had an evenflo jump&go exersaucer that she sort of liked but it has to be in a doorway and there were only a couple of toys that I could attach to it. Next kid we will get a jumperoo.
My exersaucer was the best purchase I've ever made! Once Anna started crawling she got less-interested but it was invaluable before that.
We were given a bunch of toys from a friend and Anna doesn't really have a favorite. She pretty much likes anything that makes noise.
She does LOVE books...anything touchy feely or with flaps you open. I only give her board books because she eats the pages of paperbacks!! And they are better for her attention span.
We were given one book that is absolutely her favorite. It's an Usborne touch and feel book. I've done some research and found out that the company uses consultants to sell their books...like pampered chef. I'm thinking about becoming one because she loves it so much!
We've been pretty minimalist for Garrett, too. We got him 3 small toys at Christmas, but pretty much the rest that he has were gifts or hand-me-downs. We just don't have room for too many toys. And, honestly, he doesn't need too many toys. The world around him is exciting enough, apparently. :)
As for toy suggestions, here's a taste of Garrett has liked. When he was about Dean's age the only thing he played with were those linking rings. He LOVED them. Who knew something so simple could be so fascinating? For Christmas, we got him the Fisher Price stacking donut rings and the plastic linking bead things (in trains, planes, and automobile shapes, no less...pretty cool), as well as a set of 10 squeaking blocks (made by Parents mag. I think). He loves these toys as well: he could play with the donuts all day if I let him, he likes to suck on the ends of the linking beads, and he really enjoys knocking over block towers that I build.
Our philosophy with toys tends to be "go timeless and you can't go wrong." So far it's worked. Timeless, simple toys are just as entertaining for children as hyped-up electronic stuff -- and encourages more discovery and imagination in the process.
As for books, Garrett (and I) also love the Sandra Boynton books. They're fun. Especially when Blake gets way into it when reading to him. :) He's also recently taken a liking to "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak whenever I read it to him. And the Helen Oxenbury books ("I Can," "I Hear," "I Touch," "I See") where favorites among my siblings and I when we were little. My mom got all 4 board books for Garrett, and he likes to look at the pictures of the baby. There are very few words, so they don't take long to get through and can keep a babies attention.
Wow. What great suggestions! I will have to check those things out. Thanks so much!
I am so with you an the minimalist approach. We've probably purchased only five toys in Nate's lifetime because I don't think toys are really necessary. I do think the exersaucer is worth the money, though. My parents paid for half and we paid the rest. It was a great toy for him because he also hated tummy time so the exersaucer made sure he was working some of those neck muscles.
I LOVE books. Nate has a ton a books and most I inherited from my mom when I had Nate. They were the books I grew up on. It's fun to share them with my son now. Some of our favorites are The Big Hungry Bear, any thing Shel Silverstein (the poems and pics are really entertaining for Nate), Sing-a-long song books that have 6 primary songs and you push the button for the appropriate page and the melody plays while you read/sing, and Max Lucado books. I don't know if those will work for an infant (it's been awhile so I can't remember exactly when he got into the books and sat through them) but I know that anything that has buttons or makes sounds or teaches sign language was a hit at our house.
Maybe you already do this, but here is a tip for reading time with younger children. Instead of reading all the words on the page (especially if there is a lot) I just point to things in the pictures,name them, and sometimes talk about them. It keeps their attention better because it doesn't take so long to get through the book. Plus, they are still getting the benefits of reading with you! Good luck, I love your minimalist approach.
One of the best toys I have ever seen and that EVERY kid likes is the ball blower(sorry I don't know it's name, I will look for it and send it to you) by fisher price. I don't have one, but I did see one at Target. I think they are something around $20. I agree with the Sandra Boynton books...I bet your library has a good board book selection...
Ask around in your ward I bet someone has an exersaucer/bouncer that they would lend you. I just got rid of both...
http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Playskool-Busy-Ball-Popper/dp/B00007G39I/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1205171402&sr=8-1 this is the toy I was talking about. My next kid is getting it!
take three! I also saw Elmo, cookie monster and grover books in the Target $1 section...really colorful and if they get wrecked oh well.
Eliza loves to play with the crinkly babywipes packaging. She also loves curled curling ribbon (like for gift wrapping). Plastic measuring spoons are always a hit. Linking rings are cheap and fun. Small soft plastic duckies (for the bath)are awesome for teething. She really loves a few of the baby toys we have, too. The exersaucer is a must, in my opinion. She loves it. I got mine brand new on ebay for $25 total. I got really lucky on that find, esp. to have local pick-up. Might try Criag's list or borrowing one.
As for books--I LOVE good kid books. Look at Ross or Marshalls for good deals, even clearance, and collect over time. Sandra Boynton has some must-haves, in my opinion:
Barnyard Dance
Belly Button Book
Snuggle Puppy
Pajama Time
My kids also love
It's Not Easy Being Big (a Sesame Street book)
Go Dog Go!
The Nose Book
Wocket in my Pocket
Are you my mother?
C is for Cookie
Stop Train Stop! (Thomas the Train)
the DK Animal board book is always a favorite.
If anything, I'd start with Sandra Boynton.
PS The Hasbro toy Julie is talking about we got the kids for Christmas. It is a HIT! Very fun.
One more suggestion with toys...rotate them. Put them away for a few months, and when they resurface it's like they got all new toys. I do it with the big girls, too, and it works wonders.
Jacqui-
Thanks so much for the rotation comment (and all the great recommendations). It's a great idea!
We also enjoy Sandra Boynton books and I'm not sure the author, but "Is your mama a llama" is another book I've really liked. There are tons of good ones out there. Find out when your libraries have their book sales and you can get stacks of great books for $5 total, DI and other thrift stores have good cheap books and since their cheap I don't feel as worried about them being used without supervision.
I'm so glad I asked. I've never heard of Boynton, but with all the great reviews it will be my next book set purchase! Too bad we don't have DI here. But we do have a library, so I'll have to do a little investigating.
I LOVE the DK First series, especially the touch and feel books. They are prefect for babies about 6-12 months, but Lily still likes them. I put them away because I was sick of reading them. I found a good lot of the DK board books on eBay. You might want to try that.
I don't think babies need too many fancy toys. they are happy with measuring spoons,etc. like Jacqui said. BUT I did love my exersaucer for the times when I couldn't watch my crawling babies--like cooking, cleaning, showering (i put it outside my shower everyday for most of my babies), or taking care of other kids.
We were minimalists when our first few kids were babies, but for bigger kids, there is just no substitute for a big arsenal of toys that can be rotated. we never buy toys except at birthdays or christmas, but after a while they all add up! so we now have a gazillion Legos, bionicles, imaginext, pollys, ello, dress-ups, and endless craft supplies. Once you need your kids to entertain themselves, you have to have lots of stuff to keep them engaged. That might not apply to you now, but in 10 years you will laugh if you thought toys were unnecessary.
I'm mostly saying that babies don't need a room full of expensive toys that they're not really aware of or care about. I LOVE Jacqui's idea of rotating toys for all ages.
When you have multiple kids, there's more need and call for multiple toys and designated play rooms.
I've just babysat kids who are only children and have tons and tons and tons of toys that they rarely (if ever) play with. No need to buy toys if your kids don't play with them more than 10 min. a year.
oh, i just remembered my babies' all-time favorite toy when they were about 4 months old--those little baby gyms with the toys hanging down. i never even really had a fancy one, but they all went crazy batting at the hanging toys from about 4-5 months old. my SIL also used to attach a little ball to a string and then tie the string to a hook in the ceiling and place her babies under it. these suggestions aren't too helpful for encouraging tummy time though.
another thing to remember when buying baby toys is to look at the size, weight, and structure of the toy and see if it is something that the baby could easily grasp and lift. i noticed that a lot of toys that were really fancy looking (marketed to parents) were too heavy for babies, or the ring they were supposed to hold onto was too big.
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