Developmental Toys, ages 3-6 months

Ah, it is the age of 'enlightenment,' where your baby is learning about their body and its abilities. This is such a fun stage!!! Mobile, sitting up, it is a age to encourage them to discover new things and use their bodies in new ways.

Please note I suggest soft knit rattles and animals in my 0-3 month post, but they also serve this age group as well! Now that your baby can see better you don't have to get such visually contrasting faces. Here are some of my favorites for older babies: 

Teethers. 

It is that age as well! The painful teeth. I have yet to try all these teethers, but through research these seem to be the top rated. Again, I try not to go for gimmicks but for simple items. Bonus if they can be used as grasping toys. 

Wood Teethers are simple, easy to hold, and beautiful!
Grimm's Wooden Teether

Wooden tweeter with "bunny ears," add a wonderful companion to the wood by providing soft cotton to help chew. You can wet the material and freeze to soothe aching gums. I included a Amazon link, but Etsy has amazing ones too
Bunny Ear Teether

Natural rubber Calmies will help soothe gums and this style helps baby grasp.
Natural Teether

Wood rattle toys:

Baby is learning to control toys, and these wooden toys provide a gentle rattle that make them fun to shake. Later you can use them for display, imaginative okay, and in music baskets!
Llama
Endangered Animals

Baby Paper:

Such a simple gift with a huge impact! Babies love the crinkle of this "paper," and it is easy to grab with many different visually stimulating prints. Play peek a boo, hide toys, and simply enjoy the crinkle! 

Sensory balls:

So much fun! They say the ball is the world most perfect toy, and I agree! 

Soft knit balls are fun to toss, clutch, roll around and provide visual stimulation. You will easily find toe two year old still playing with these.
Gund Rattle Ball
Grimm's Organic Ball

Knub balls are perfect for tactile sensory play. Roll, toss, then gently toll the ball on babies back and stomach. These balls will last you multiple kids!
Edushape

Sensory ball packs are a great simple addition. Easy to put in a basket for play, they have a variety of textures and materials that will provide stimulation for months to come.
Infantino Balls
Sassy Development Balls

Simple board books

While babies loved to be read to right away, now is a good time to buy their 'own' books to investigate. Simple pictures and plot lines will have baby interested and develop a love of reading.
Dear Zoo
Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Also, we love board books with touch and feel aspects
First Words
Baby Animals

Melissa and Doug Bug Jug

This has been the biggest hit with every kid I know. Object permanence is still not a 'thing' at this age so they get a huge hit discovering they can pull toys in/out. The animals also crinkle or rattle adding another dimension. This is a toy that developmentally is lasting well into over one. 

Stay tuned for 6-9 month category! 

Developmental Toys, Ages 0-3 months

It is that time of year! You are wondering what to get your little ones for Christmas. For there is one shortage in the world, it is not toys. Everywhere you look there are different toys for this, that and the other! It can be very overwhelming.

In our house, I like to examine each toy we bring into our house. What purpose does it serve? Is it visually appealing? How long will it last? 

That is how I constructed my list of toys. They must serve a defined purpose; such as fine motor skills, object permanence, ect. They must be visually pleasing to both my child and I. And they must serve a wide range of uses because nobody wants to spend money on a toy that won't last a month. 

First list is what to get littles 0-3 months. You will notice most of these toys also serve a larger age range (again, we want that!) but would be best bought around this specific age group to get the most of your money. Since babies are more keen to play with you at this age, this is the shortest of the lists and includes more "gear" than toys. 

First up: Land of Nod Play Gym

No longer will you have to suffer at those bright, overly busy play gyms. This was my number one pick when we were pregnant with baby #2. First, it is extremely pleasing to the eye for both child and parent. It is sturdy wood and will easily last a few babies. And it is easy to hang different toys and objects from the gym. We bought the animal set that Land of Nod also offers and we are also in love with the quality, appearance, and use of them as well. But the biggest hit was the  Octopus.  It's a great size for both the gym and play on its own, the tentacles provide tactile stimulation, and has a lovely gentle chime when shook. You can use a silver bell to hang, Montessori style, or black and white cards. I also hang teething necklaces. 

*I feel adding a mobile is too redundant as the gym works in the same ways. However a simply Montessori style mobile is a great visual toy. Stay away from overly busy, bulky mobiles. Die cut shapes that are easily seen and 'float' rather than move are much better for baby.*

Babies vision out of the womb is not very good, and they can only see black and white high contrast images. While your smiling face is the most important visual tool at this age, Black and White Cards are also fun. The art work is modern and adorable, and you will be surprised how your new baby will concentrate on them! Bonus that you can use them as wall art, and identifying cards when they are older. There are a few to chose from on Amazon, many of them with different themes!

Wool/Sheepskin Rug

No, this isn't a toy. But it's been a huge hit in this house. A investment piece, we loved cradling our newborn in the sheep skin for its softness and temperature regulating, and now at three months it makes a comfy play mar under the gym. Quality is important, you do not want a high pile (suffocation risk, especially during tummy time), and one that uses a lot of chemicals. Eco wool is naturally tanned in the sun using no chemicals, the perfect pile height, and luxuriously soft. 

High contrast and/or soft rattles and animals

Again, since babies vision is poor, you want to go with something that will be clearly visual to your little. 

Although there are some plastic high contrast rattles that are very good additions such as:

Rattlin Ring
Spin and Shine

However, I prefer knit rattles/animals. First, have you ever seen a 3 month old with good coordination? Plastic toys can be heavy and discouraging for use when a baby accident toy hits them self with it. Knit raptors are soft, light, and easy to manipulate. They will continue to be used as lovies, teethers, and knit animal friends later in life. So already they have more use than the plastic versions. I find them, in my opinion, much more visually pleasing as well. Not all knit rattles are as high contrast but it is easy to find simple rattles that will be easy for your baby to see. Here are some of my favorites: 

Panda Knit
Tiger Knit
Pebble Bunny
Under the Nile Organic Animals
Lion Rattle
I have this and it is a huge hit: Sheep Rattle
I also have this and adore its large size: Panda Rattle
And this may not be as high contrast as I normally like, but I think I have to have it!!! Gnome Rattle

Wood clutching toys 

I debated putting this on 0-3 months or 3-6 months, as baby will be around 3 months before these become played with. I decided to add them here because it's always best to buy ahead of development than behind! Clutching toys are the beginning  of strengthening hands for fine motor skills and coordination. There is a large variety of toys, the most popular being Haba Magica or the similar Grimm's Grasper, and Manhattan Skwish. They are still easy and light enough for small babies to paw at and will be very useful for the following year. I find my two year old still playing with both from time to time! I would recommend a trio of this set including the Magica, Skwish, and one other of the many  grasping toys such as the Haba Triangles, Kringelings, or Color Whorl. There are many options but three is company and you will find any more will just be repetitive. These three vary enough to justify buying them all and will keep your little busy for at least a year. 

Unbreakable mirror/wall mirror. 

Who doesn't like to look at themselves in a mirror? Babies love it! There are many unbreakable mirrors on the market but we have been enjoying these beveled edge mirrors we got from Lowe's: Mirror

We glued them to the wall with liquid  nails. Not only does baby get a reflection to play with, but for our toddler it expands her block play with reflective patterns and mirrors images! 

A Wind Chime.

I know what your thinking. Really Myia? What hippie BS is this? But go to your local store and pick up a cheap chime. Hang it in babies view and blow on it gently. You will see why I say wind chime. It is both visually and auditory pleasing and fascinating for baby.  

If you are into beautiful chimes, this wind chime on my list this year. It is made of rainbow glass and is so visually appealing I can't stand it! It is super affordable as well. I plan on hanging it in the window of my playroom, so the sun will shine through the glass cascading the colors, and when a breeze enters the window (or I have my ceiling fan on) it will gently chime. 

That concludes my best toys for ages 0-3 months! I hope you enjoyed it and it has given you ideas! 

Magnetic Blocks reviews: Magna-tiles, Magformers, Smart Max and Tegu Blocks

For Tegan's second birthday, I finally decided to invest in magnetic blocks, and I honestly wish I would have sooner! I chose to buy three small sets of three brands, Magna Tiles, Magformers, Smart Max,and Tegu Blocks. I wasn't sure which ones would suit us as all three sets really do different things. I'll be doing a in depth review of each on separate posts as the review might get lengthy. First up, Magna-Tiles! 

Magna-Tiles-$75 for 48 piece DX set (includes some "special" pieces like a door and car)

So Magna-Tiles hold the title of the king of all magnetic building blocks, and it is true. Magna-Tiles are thick, sturdy, and the magnets are powerful. The price reflects this; however I would consider these a "heirloom" quality toy-as heirloom as plastic can get! These will easily last multiple kids, and because they can serve such a large age range it is SUCH a good investment. We had a one year old friend play with these intently, as well as us adults!

I took these photos JUST this morning as she was playing with them!

What does Magna-Tiles work best for? Building structures! And large, fun ones at that. You can't find a better set to build structures, because of the powerful magnets it is easy for a young toddler to build houses. You can let your imagination roam and build castles, forts, you name it. That is what makes these tiles so great for many ages is the ability to make simple or complex designs. As you will see in my next reviews of the Tegu Blocks and Magformers, these are the best and maybe only blocks to build such structures. They are not good for building things such as 3D images, such as animals, flowers, ect.

Even if you don't have a light table, they look beautiful in sunlight!

However, some people will ask if they should just invest in Magna Tiles before wood blocks and the answer is NO! There is one plus/minus and that it is easy to build with. If you start your child off with these, they might get frustrated with traditional blocks. Traditional wooden blocks provide much needed motor skills, as well as patience, and above all, deep problems solving, "Why did my tower fall over?" While magnetic blocks can also foster this, they don't replace wooden ones. Also, they don't replace Mega Blocks (large "baby" legos) or Legos themselves. It is important to understand that really they all foster specific and different skills!

 You will need a large set. These 48 pieces were not enough, I also suggest getting a classic set rather then the DX set for your starter. An "Ideal" collection would probably have 200 pieces, but you can easily start off slow and build your collection. We are planning on buying her another larger set for Christmas. The tiles ARE large though. Bigger than you might think!

Easy to build

Don't forget they have a "Ice" and "Black" set that although not as cost efficient as buying a large set, are a fun addition to the collection. Frozen lovers will love to build castles with the Ice set!

They also have a "Solid Color" set that tends to run $10 cheaper than the transparent set. We chose the transparent set because we plan on using them on the light table, but if that isn't a worry for you go ahead and save the $10!


I have had some people ask me about Picasso Tiles, and for $40 cheaper they will catch your eye. However, they are not worth long term investment. If you are on a really tight budget, only have one or two children, these will work. But if you are like me and have young kids with more in the future and want a set that truly last through the years, it will be better to invest in Magna-Tiles. I also had a few crack on me. The magnets are not as strong as Magna-Tiles and larger structures are harder to build, as well as younger kids will get frustrated they don't "connect" as easily.

I was also recently told about Play Mags with a positive review. Not as strong or as thick as Magna-Tiles, but much better than Picasso Tiles. If I get my hands on a set, I'll update the review, or if you have a set let me know what you think!

I think any STEM focused family, or a family that simply enjoys building, Magna-Tiles are a MUST in your toy bin. If you had to chose ONE magnetic block to buy, I would also suggest Magna-Tiles due to the versatility in age range, quality, and building ability.

Let me know what you think of Magna-Tiles!

Egg Splat Painting

First off, let me tell you the hardest thing about this activity was carefully cracking the eggs! Talk about a pain in the butt and my scrambled eggs had shells in them for days...

But it was fun! I simply cracked the tops of eggs, used the yolk, and washed out. Once I had a dozen I filled them with paint. I used recycled shipping paper as our work place. 

Tegan was pretty confused about it at first, she wanted to "Dump" the paint out. And when she did throw them, she wasn't quite strong enough to break them

But nevertheless, she had fun.

She realized there was more paint inside them after she poured them out, so she tore them apart which was actually pretty fun for her to do because it made it all slippery. 

After she had cracked them all, I let her put water in the paint bottles that had only residue left in and she "painted" with those.

Overall, this is better suited for children strong enough to throw the eggs hard. Or, climb a small ladder or slide and "Drop" the eggs, which is what I think we should have done! For the work of trying to delicately crack the eggs, I wouldn't do this again haha!

Thanks for reading!

Shaving Cream Art

 This is a simple, easy, and  easy to clean up activity. From 18 months and on, developmentally motor skills are soaring. Tegan has been perfecting her use of pipets over this time period. Water color activities help strengthen her dexterity and focus!

This is a two part activity: first we set up primary water color (using liquid water colors diluted in water) to "paint" a scene into the shaving cream set in a container.

Droppers are perfect for this "painting," as you can see Tegan has a Learning Resources dropper (The bigger one, which is easier to hold and squeeze), and more adult droppers that require more skill. The Learning Resources droppers are great for beginners and as they improve their skills you can move on. If you child is having difficulty using the droppers, I suggest putting a tiny amount of colors into small containers and letting them "dump" the colors onto the cream.

This was also our first time using liquid watercolor concentrate instead of food coloring or washable markers for "diy" watercolor. I am impressed! The colors were much more vibrant, and no staining of the hands!

Now after they finish, you simply take a thicker piece of paper and put it on top of the cream. You have to squish it down and move a bit. I then "scrape" the cream off using the side of the pan.

Here are our prints!

Afterwards, I put water beads into the shaving cream because it is one of the most interesting tactile activities! So really, we go three types of play out of this activity, using a $1 can of shaving cream!

Sudsy Goop

Here in Arizona, it can simply be too hot to play outside. Even at 7am, it can already be in the 90's. However, I try to encourage Tegan to get out even if it is a little bit and she happily obligates, especially if water fun is involved.

Sudsy Goop is a fun activity using only four ingredients, cornstarch, kool aid, soap, and water. I used a bottle of dollar store baby shampoo for this particular time. Kool aid is for color and smell.

When you add water slowly to cornstarch, it creates a slime that can be solid in your fist and then "melts." Adding soap makes the goop a little more runny, and when you swish it dissolves and creates long lasting bubbles.

The best part is I love it when Tegan "Decorates" our patio. Kool aid and Cornstarch is a easy way to make chalk! So when she poured/flung the goop, it will actually dry like chalk.

I have left it out all day, and she has come back to it several times

This is from this afternoon:

It was easy, cheap, and a really fun activity that cleaned up well. And I am loving the dried art created from it! 

Exploring Oil and Paint

We did this activity a few days ago, but I promised myself I would start updating my blog again! So I want to review one of our favorite activities from this week.

I like to allow art everyday; I keep supplies always open and available to Tegan. Let art happen naturally through drawing and paint. Sometimes since she is so young (2) she does need invitations to create and encouragement from myself as well.

I decided to take a little guidance with our art this day by exploring density. While she was too young to understand ( I think, you never know!) I explained that the oil in the bag was reacting to the tempura paint differently because the liquids were different in density.

We simply used one bottle of canola oil (use different oils, such as coconut, baby oil, ect for more experimenting!)

Tempura paints

2 ziplock bags-You might want to add tape to the top if you have a especially strong toddler.

We first poked, prodded, and squished the bags. Then Tegan took to vigorously shaking them! What was interesting is the lighter color bag mixed differently than the darker colors. For older children it would be a interesting lesson to research on why!

I ended up not being able to take photos, but we then poured the oil and paint into containers and panting with them. The oil saturated our plain paper pretty badly, next time I will use card stock so we can keep our creations!

We continued our "Oil" lesson with density by combining baby oil, glitter, and ice. The oil and glitter create and amazing glistening look while getting the ice "Slick." As the ice melts, the density of the water and oil repel each other, and the glitter stayed with the oil. Fascinating! We made ours into a "arctic" scene.

One of the biggest benefits of this lesson was to really use a different texture of oil. We have not done too many art or bin activities with oil. I am really interested in using oil and water beads in our next "oil" activity! Stayed tune for updates :)