Toys For Your Baby

At six to nine months your baby will begin to become much more active and play will become much more intense than in previous stages. She will be picking up things and banging all sorts of objects, making noise and generally causing a ruckus. She will pick up two toys and bang them together just to see the sound that they make. She will be rambunctious, but at the same time will be beginning to develop the fine motor skills necessary for more precise play in addition to ruckus causing roughhousing. The toys your child has should reflect this stage of her development.

She is becoming aware that objects are still there even when she can no longer see or touch them. She will miss a favorite stuffed animal if she can't see it and if you hide it from her while she is looking she will seek it out. It also means you can begin playing hide-and-seek games with objects.

This is the age at which most babies become mobile, and with that in mind, the following toys can help her hone and explore her newly developing senses.

• Activity board: These are similar to the “play gyms” listed above. Many babies love the activity boards that can be attached to a cot rail. They come with parts that move and spin and twirl and twist, giving your baby a place to practice her hand-eye coordination. She is also becoming aware that you can make things happen to objects — so poking, twisting, shaking, squeezing, dropping, and opening things will all fascinate her.
  
• Plush toys: Soft and cuddly plush toys are a childhood favorite and many children will begin to develop attachments to their little stuffed friends at right about this age. Stuffed animals are particularly interesting at this point in your baby’s development , as are comforters. You will still want to avoid toys that have parts that can come off (like sewn on button eyes) or wire portions that could poke your baby. As a rule, avoid any toy that has any part that baby could yank off and stuff into his mouth. Read labels that pertain to recommended ages.
  
• Balls: Baby will love to play with balls of all sizes. One fun game is to sit on the floor together and roll the ball back and forth between you.
  
• Wood or soft plastic blocks: Show your baby how to stack a few blocks and then knock them down. You two could spend an entire afternoon playing “build it up and knock it down”. Pile blocks into containers for her — and then dump them out, she'll get the idea. Stacking blocks, and filling and dumping games, are very popular for this age bracket.
  
• Books: This is the age at which reading becomes more interactive and fun for both of you. Cloth or board books work well now. You can read the book to your baby and then she can play with it when you are done. She will mimic your motions and “read” the book to you just like you did for her.

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