What Toys Are Safe For Babies? - What to Expect

Playing is fun for your little one, but it's also serious business.
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Transcript:
Playing is loads of fun for your little one, but it's also serious business. In fact, playing is your baby's work. Not only can toys keep your baby entertained, at least a few minutes at a time, baby steps on that attention span, but the best playthings can also boost your little learner's brain power, small and large motor skills, social and language development, hand-eye coordination, color and shape identification, imagination, and creativity.
Oh, and get baby moving, too! With baby sitting pretty, if propped, it's time to open up a whole new world of toys. He'll be turned on by brightly colored playthings, anything that makes music, and toys with parts that can be opened and shut, thrown, banged, and dropped.
Activity centers with lots of levers, doors, buttons, lights, and sound effects will let baby focus further on sharpening fine-motor skills, as swatting and batting turns into purposeful reaching, touching, and manipulating.
Teddy bears that are suitable for cuddling and hugging are still a favorite toy for babies this age, but don't just stop there. Have a ball with different sizes and textured balls. Smaller ones are great for squeezing and tossing.
Larger balls are perfect for rolling between you, or for motivating those flips or those first scooting attempts. Blocks are perfect for grabbing, holding, and mouthing, so provide your little one with simple cubes that are made of cloth but still can be easily stacked. The best ones have colorful pictures and make a soft, jingly sound when squeezed or shaken.
Stacking rings and cups are also classic picks. Though it will be a while before your peanut has the dexterity to stack them perfectly, baby will learn plenty from them, even now, about big and small and medium, and about size and color, all while getting practice in hand-eye coordination.
Nesting cups can make tubby time more fun, too. Show baby how to empty the smaller cups into the bigger ones.
A rubber ducky, a few fish, a fleet of ships will float your baby's boat. She can grab them, squeeze them, splash them, and kick the water and make them bob, learning cause and effect while having a blast
And don't forget, some of the toys that bring the most joy aren't really toys at all. Plastic measuring cups, metal mixing bowls, wooden spoons, cardboard boxes, and paper bags can provide hours of fun and skill-building as you turn them into musical instruments, stacking toys, and puppets for your baby's amusement.
Playtime should always be supervised time. Still, always run a safety check on toys before handing them over to your baby. The label will tell you if a toy is geared for your baby's age, both in terms of development and safety. Even if you're positive your baby's advanced enough to enjoy playing with a toy that's designed for older tots, hold off until you're sure it's safe. You can check for choking hazards by using the toilet paper tube test, anything that passes through is too small to be safe; same for small, removable parts.
Also read to be sure toys are lead, PVC, and BPA free and don't have any sharp edges or breakable parts, strings longer than 6 inches, or a too-loud volume that can harm baby's sensitive hearing. Fun always, but safety first! Here's to happy playing!