Educational toys for children from 6 months old should perform not only an entertaining, but also an educational function, because a six-month-old baby is actively growing and strives to learn about the world around him. He can already sit well, look at the surrounding objects and pick them up, touch and taste them. He enjoys toys with which he can perform actions - stack on top of each other, press buttons or push objects into holes.
In the article we will look at several educational toys for children from 6 months to 1 year, reviews about their quality from parents. We will tell you how such products contribute to the development of the baby. You will learn how to choose the right toy so that it is of high quality and safe for the child, because children often take objects into their mouths and throw them on the floor.
Basically, games for babies are intended for children of any gender, but if you are looking for educational toys for children from 6 months to 1 year for boys, pay attention to brightly colored cars of large sizes. They can be rolled on the floor, wheels can be turned, and doors can be opened. You can sit on a large machine and, moving your feet on the floor, move around the room, which your baby will definitely like.
Features of the development of children from 6 months to one year
In the second half of the first year of life, the baby already begins to sit, then learns to crawl and tries to stand on his feet. He is interested in the world around him, examines objects and tries to perform simple actions with them. The baby shakes them, pushes them, grabs them with his hands and throws them, takes them in his mouth and hits them with another object, pushes them into holes and relates them to each other. During this period of active exploration, parents should be sure to offer educational toys for children from 6 months of age to explore, so that the baby can satisfy his desire for knowledge.
By this age, the baby begins to sit and tries to reach objects, transfers a toy or its part from hand to hand, holding it with his entire palm. He loves to play “hide and seek”, when an adult hides an object and asks him to find it. The child watches with interest the movement of objects with his eyes. During this period, toys with music or sound accompaniment are needed. When choosing educational toys for children from 6 months to 1 year, you must check their quality and safety so that the baby does not get injured or poisoned. Since the child pulls all objects into his mouth, they should consist only of large parts. The cost of good toys is quite high, so try to choose options with several tasks that can captivate your little fidget for a long time.
Development of motor skills
At six months, your baby's sense of touch begins to fully develop and he begins to reach and grasp objects. Hanging rattles and cell phones are ideal toys for this stage. By the time your baby is six months old, he is ready for a whole host of new toys. They will discover cause and effect, learning that their actions produce results. So they will be entertained by simple toys, anything that makes noise when poked, prodded or prodded. Maracas or toy drums may drive parents crazy, but they will keep kids captivated and help their development.
Pyramid
According to reviews from experienced parents, the very first educational toy for children aged 6 months and older is considered a pyramid. It consists of several bright rings of different diameters, which are strung on a central rod. In addition to classic pyramids, you can now see toys with interesting “filling”. Manufacturers install a music button, and make one of the rings transparent and fill the inside with small plastic balls of different colors.
A child can play with such a toy for quite a long time. Be sure to take part in your child’s games, name the colors and sizes of the rings. The pyramid develops hand motor skills, coordination of movements, and spatial orientation in the baby. The ring is perfect for biting during teething. There is not a single sharp corner in such an object, so the baby cannot get hurt.
What's good about a rattle?
The rattle will be with the baby throughout the first year of his life. Many mothers think that it is only needed to calm and entertain the baby. But the rattle comprehensively develops the baby and improves fine motor skills. You can put it in your baby's hand, stimulating his tactile perception. Of course, for this, the rattle should be light, comfortable and not too bulky. Until 3 months, the baby does not play with her on his own - he learns this gradually.
But then the rattle develops the coordination of the baby’s eyes and hands, teaches him to make purposeful movements: the baby begins to consciously place the toy in his field of vision in order to see it better.
A simple exercise for coordinating eye movements: show the child a bright rattle, waiting for his gaze to fixate on it, and move it in different directions, ensuring that the baby follows the toy with his eyes.
Dynamic pyramid
Perfectly balanced balls with jagged edges are painted in different colors. They are made of durable plastic and rubber, so they are tightly attached to each other. The child can disassemble and assemble the structure, trying on the ball of the required size. This educational toy for children 6-7 months old helps strengthen hand motor skills and coordination.
The special surface of the balls holds them together well, preventing them from falling, so the child can lay them at any angle. According to parents' reviews, children play with this toy even after the first year of life, it is bright and dynamic, the kids really like it, and attracts their attention for a long time. The balls can be rolled on the floor, one can be knocked on the other. Subsequently, they can be used to study colors and shades.
Musical toy
A musical toy with a surprise will bring many joyful moments. By pressing a button of a certain color, you can see the head of an animal appear with musical accompaniment. This always surprises the little ones and makes them want to press the buttons themselves.
In addition to training motor skills and coordination of movements, such an educational toy for children from 6 months allows you to understand cause-and-effect relationships and develops the baby’s thinking. The buttons for pressing are made differently. So, you need to press the blue one with a click down, and turn the yellow one to the side, like a key in a door. All the details have different colors and geometric shapes, so the game also contributes to the development of the child’s sensory sensations. Numbers are written on the covers covering the animals, so older children can also play this game, at the same time remembering the numbers from 1 to 4.
Cup inserts
This educational toy for children 5-6 months old is very similar to a pyramid, because you need to assemble the parts in the order of their increase. But cup inserts have a much wider range of learning tasks, as noted by many parents in reviews. The child can build a tower by inserting bowls one into the other or placing them bottom up. You can put other objects in each cup - balls, toys, rattles.
All details have bright colors, which promotes sensory education for babies. In addition, a number from 1 to 8 or 10 is written on the bottom of each cup, depending on the option. Therefore, it is profitable to buy such a toy, because you can play with it for a long time, and you can also learn numbers and colors at the same time.
How to entertain a 4-5 month old baby?
At 4-5 months, the baby learns to roll over, so it is important to stimulate and reinforce the new skill. What toys are needed for this? You can use ones your baby already loves - place them to the right and left of him so that the baby turns over and takes the object.
Often at this age, teeth begin to cut and there is a need to constantly keep something in the mouth. Chewing toys will help relieve discomfort:
- teethers, rodents - products of various shapes made of rubber or with water inside (they can be cooled in the refrigerator) that can be chewed with the gums;
- teether rattle - a plastic rattle with a straight handle in the shape of a flower that you can hold, rattle, chew rubber petals, or play with rustling elements.
Cubes with a three-dimensional pattern
You can buy cubes as educational toys for children 6-8 months old. On sale there are soft options made of fabric with padding polyester filling, there are regular plastic ones or with paper stickers. However, for kids it is best to choose an option made of thick plastic with an embossed pattern on each edge. The baby will be able to take such a toy into his mouth, examine it from all sides, and feel the design with his fingers. This is useful for the development of motor skills.
You can place the cubes closer and further from yourself, to the left and to the right. These actions develop the child's spatial understanding. You can build a tower from the parts, line them up in one row, throw them at other toys, or knock on each other. In short, the child will never be bored.
All these actions are useful for the baby, and children always play with cubes with pleasure. According to experienced parents, such a toy will definitely interest the child, and the child will be constructing various structures for a long time. Various animals, insects and numbers, geometric shapes and lines are drawn on the sides of the cubes, so you can play a lot of educational games to get to know the world around you.
Toys that develop logical thinking
Logical thinking is the ability to compare, analyze and draw conclusions. It seems that these are too serious categories for babies of six months. In fact, a child of this age easily masters the basics of logical thinking. While playing, he becomes familiar with concepts such as shape and size, learns to compare them and draw conclusions. List of helpers in this difficult task.
- Pyramids - it is important to choose not very large, bright and light pyramids consisting of 4 elements. You need to study together with your child. Although at first he may not be able to string the links on his own, he will feed them and over time learn to distinguish them by size and color.
- Sorters are toys for developing logic and abstract thinking, where you need to sort and place objects of different shapes in the right places. They come in the form of cubes, houses, cars, “dress-ups” (the figure must be put on a base of the appropriate shape). Children really like these bright, multifunctional toys.
- Cubes, which can be made of wood, plastic or paper. By the age of six months, children cannot yet assemble pictures from them, but they are happy to master the construction and dismantling of towers. The main thing is that the cubes do not have sharp edges that can cause injury.
It is important not to give several toys at once - variety distracts and tires six-month-old babies, without bringing much benefit.
Climbing pipe
When telling friends about the successes of their baby, parents most often highlight his achievements. Once a child learns to crawl, he cannot be stopped. He learns more confidently about the world around him, covering long distances. At the same time, the muscles of the legs, arms, back and abdomen develop, which is necessary for mastering walking. A sliding pipe, as in the photo below, will help improve the ability to crawl and develop the locomotor system.
It is easy to fold and hide behind a closet; it takes up minimal space when assembled. But how many joyful moments will such useful entertainment bring to a baby who can crawl! It is imperative that mom or dad look out at the end of the pipe so that the baby is not afraid of closed spaces and rushes to a loved one.
The toy is useful and useless
The world of games and toys is truly limitless. Each parent decides for himself how many toys his child should have. The main thing is that they are safe and not completely useless. First of all, remember that the baby develops when he learns to independently solve assigned problems.
Sometimes parents think that by giving their child the right to choose a toy in a store, they are encouraging the child’s independence, the ability to regulate his impulses, make thoughtful decisions (within age-appropriate limits) and develop a sense of taste. And sometimes they want to exhaust their pedagogical influence with this. However, in the first years of life a child does not have the experience and adequate assessment criteria to successfully cope with such a task. Therefore, the responsibility in choosing a toy still lies with the adult.
When choosing a toy, do not forget about its main function - educational. The child uses his imagination, comes up with a scenario for including a new object in his play space, and pushes the boundaries of his imagination. A toy that does not contain a rich developmental component affects the quality of play, impoverishing it and limiting the child’s capabilities. You can fill a room with a huge number of bright toys and still not give your baby any material for learning and development.
A useful game has the opportunity to grow with the child, to be included in various story scenarios as a character (men, animals) or a substitute object (ball, cube). Therefore, when deciding to buy another toy, think about its developmental potential and pedagogical usefulness: what function it will perform, and whether it is capable of awakening children's activity and stimulating development, and not satisfying superficial interest only in the first five minutes after meeting it.
Table with toys
A table with toys is a lightweight and portable, exciting object for which the baby will try to stand on his own legs. After all, a lot of entertainment awaits him from above. He will be able to turn the steering wheel of the car, roll the car back and forth, press on the animal figurine to hear them talk, spin the hands of the clock and the balls on the butterfly.
The keys of the musical toy are painted in different colors and produce beautiful melodic sounds. All this will definitely attract the baby’s attention and will undoubtedly contribute to sensory education and the development of motor skills, cause-and-effect relationships and spatial concepts.
Montessori toy
All over the world, children play with toys invented by the Italian doctor and teacher Maria Montessori. All of them contribute to the development of sensory, motor skills and thinking in children. For games with children from 6 months old, you can purchase such a large cube. All its facets are separate games. The child must put geometric shapes into one, lift insects along broken lines into the other, the third has gear mechanisms that can be rotated in different directions, and the fourth is a clock with moving hands.
The upper part of the cube is removed from the inside and placed on top of the stand. It has curved wires through which you need to push the wooden pieces from one end to the other. As you may have guessed, such a toy is not only entertaining, but also educational.
DIY educational toys for children from 6 months
If you have a sewing machine and sewing skills, then from the remaining scraps you can sew your child an educational rug with a bright applique. This stimulates the baby's cognitive interest and makes him crawl and sit, looking at bright pictures.
As you can see, you need to choose toys wisely so that they are useful for the child’s development. Be sure to monitor the quality of the material from which they are made so that your baby is safe.
To develop feelings
Ideal for budding young chefs, this toy includes three pots and pans with rattling peas and colorful carrots. The rolling pot comes with a jingling ball and the mirror inside the pan allows baby to see his reflection. The potties stack easily, are perfect for baby's hand-eye coordination, and make cleaning up after your baby a chore.
The Sassy Wonder Wheel is a colorful toy that has several different movements, keeping your child happy for a long time. The wheel rotates and the base rotates. A strong suction cup keeps it safe and grounded. Improving your baby's vision will help him see bright colors. This toy was nominated for the Mother&Baby award in 2021 and received rave reviews from parents.
Soft books are the perfect toy for a 6 month old baby. It's packed with features that will appeal to baby's wide range of senses, including flaps, mirrors and beepers. The bright colors are seductive and the fabric is machine washable.
