8 Best Toys for 6-Month-Olds for Learning
By now your baby is halfway to turning a year old, oh how times flies! I love this stage because they are starting to notice the new world around them and they are excited to explore. Most babies at this age are able to sit on their own, roll on their bellies and back, and maybe start to cruise. Getting the right toys and activities can help your baby develop their problem-solving and confliction-resolution skills and lastly helps develop their fine and gross motor skills while nurturing their imagination. This is the time we want to encourage our baby to smile, coo and grow. My hopes is that the following list of best toys for a 6-month-old baby will you help you find the right toys for your little nugget.
Best Toys for a 6-Month-Olds
Educational toys and free-play toys provide many benefits for our babies, such as: problem-solving and learning; development of fine and motor gross skills; developing their imagination, they discover independence; and lastly developing their self-esteem. It’s important that we as parents buy toys that are appropriate to their age, since babies learn different skills and develop different interests through each stage of their life.
Stacking Toys
Stacking toys help boost a baby’s fine and gross motor skills. In addition, they help develop your baby’s eye-hand coordination. At this age, babies are trying very hard to stabilize their posture and sit on their own. Stacking toys help them building those muscle and helps them work on coordinating movements by using their hands to stack the toys. This is a must-have 6-month-old baby toy! Trust me, it will keep your baby busy up into the toddler stages.
Rolling Toys
Anything that rolls to encourage your baby to crawl is a must-have toy for a 6-month-old. Cars or balls that roll are key to encouraging your baby to crawl and develop those skills. Rolling helps with your baby’s core strength and overall body strength. Developing this strength will later help your baby learn how to crawl and sit up on his or her own. As a mom of two, I highly recommend investing in these types of toys.
Pull-Up Toys
Pull-up toys – such as a walker – can really help add value to a baby’s development if they just started to crawl. It helps entertain while developing muscle strength. Babies can use this type of toy to practice standing up and ultimately can use it to take their first crucial steps. Both my kids used the pull-up toys to help them walk. Definitely a staple in our home. Both kids showed interest in this toy around the time they were approximately 6 months old.
Colorful Books
Colorful board books will keep your baby entertained. At this age, it’s believed that babies start to develop better color vision. Providing them with colorful objects will keep them entertained. I always loved introducing books to both my kids when they were babies. A mom tip for you: focus on books with more pictures and colors than words.
Touch and Feel Books
Similar to colorful board books, touch and feel books are a great way to encourage your baby to use their senses. In addition, the interaction will spark their curiosity. The main benefit of touch and feel books are in helping your baby develop sensory awareness. Babies first learn to explore their world through the sensation of touching, so the importance of these type of books are crucial to add to your list of best toys for babies.
Teething Toys
Safe Chew toys are a big hit at this age. Most babies start teething at this point. Teething toys are extremely helpful because teething causes sore gums, so by chewing on safe chew toys it soothes and helps alleviate pain that your baby may be experiencing. Babies start teething at about 4 to 6 months, so teething toys should be at the top of your list during your first trimester.
Musical Toys
Music is such an important way to benefit your growing baby. It helps promote creativity, boosts cognitive skills and sensory development, develops gross and fine motor skills, and also teaches them patience and encourages their self-expression. Colorful music toys that won’t drive you crazy are key. Trust me, that is a requirement when selecting these toys that make noise. Try to find toys that you can live with having the noise on repeat. Both my kids loved playing with their musical toys at a very young age. Seeing your 6-month-old start dancing was the cutest thing ever!
Lovey
Loveys are said to be a transitional object that provides your baby comfort, soothing and self-awareness. In addition, they help boost emerging social skills. Providing your baby a small stuffed toy or blanket at this stage is a good way to introduce a “lovey” to them, as they will probably show interest. Just remember to find a stuffed toy that is no bigger than the size of your baby’s head and has no removable eyes or buttons.
The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) does not recommend that babies sleep with plush loveys until they are at least one years old. My son is almost two years old and still has the same lovey and matching blanket he had as a baby. He carries his bear everywhere and won’t sleep without him. So it’s always a good idea to buy two of the same lovey or comforting to, just in case one gets lost.
The age listed on toys is typically a sign that it is a good match to whatever interest and skills babies and children are learning at that time of their life. The list above is a good start for you as a new parent to help choose the best toys for your 6-month-old.
