Babies use play as a way of exploring their world so toys which encourage use of their five senses are therefore good for their development.
We know that babies use play as a way to explore their world which means that sensory toys, i.e toys that encourage the use of sight, sound, touch and smell, can be a huge benefit to babies.
Sensory processing is what we do when we interpret the feelings we get from touching or tasting something and it is this sensory processing which is so good for the development of your baby. When they use their senses to discover something, a new noise or smell, they are creating a neuronal pathway in the brain.
The more they discover the more neuronal pathways they create, and the more they strengthen the ones they have already created, which is why its good for their development.
Everything that we do as humans uses at least one of our senses, and usually a combination so this whole process of developing our senses while young is important.
As a child it is messy play and paint which are the most effective sensory toys but obviously they are not so good for young babies!
Even the youngest of babies learn through play so what is it that makes a good sensory toys for young babies?
Crochet is great for baby toys because it is so tactile. By its very nature cotton crochet encourages tactile play more than the soft cuddles of more traditional soft toys as it is so touchy-feely without being rough.
Rattles are also good in baby toys. Once a baby is able to grasp toys themselves the rattle means that they are able to create noise themselves which is obviously a great thing for them! Repetition of a sound, and a sound being repeated over a long time create the best sensory experience, so keep shaking that rattle!
Although most baby toys are very bright in fact when babies are first born their vision is still quite fuzzy and they are not able to differentiate colours so they only see in black and white.
Once they are a couple of months old they will start to see colours but only as a contrast. For this reason black and white toys with a splash of colour on them are particularly effective as sensory toys. The high contrast colours makes it easy for your baby to make out the toy and by adding a rattle to the tactile crochet we have a toy which appeals to touch, sound and sight.
If you put all these things together, the tactile nature of crochet, the noise of the rattle and the black and white and bright colours all combine to make our handmade crochet toys very effective as baby sensory toys.
We are not experts but on the other hand we think our toys have all the components to be great sensory toys and we would love to hear if your child has liked any particular toy and why.
Best Years Ltd www.bestyears.co.uk
