When you’re a new parent, buying toys for your new baby can be quite a challenge.  With so many more new toys available, it can feel quite overwhelming to stand in a toy shop.  Many of these toys never even existed when we were children and everything seems exciting and educational for baby.

Yet, as my cousin discovered when she first started shopping for her daughter - what she likes and what her daughter likes are at two ends of a spectrum.  Even the hubby confessed today that he can’t fathom what toys would be interesting to a child.  When the mother of our god daughter picked out a toy for her to play at the store, the hubby initially thought she would not enjoy the toy.  Much to his surprise, she found the toy completely fascinating.

The other difficulty in picking out toys is in determining what is age-appropriate for your infant.  Although some manufacturers print labels suggesting what age group their toys are suitable for, it appears that these labels are not always the best indicator. 

For instance, the LeapFrog LittleTouch™ LeapPad® Learning System (see picture below) is indicated for ages 6 months up to 36 months.  Eager to instill a natural love for books and to cultivate a good habit for reading in Gavin, the hubby and I bought it for him when he was one month old.  By the time he was 6 months, I took it out of the box so he could play with it.  If I had hoped for some appropriate activity, I was in for a big disappointment.  He seemed only interested in rustling the pages - for which the plus point was that the pages of the book is tearproof.  I couldn’t even sit him down long enough to read the story for him, let alone, play any of the puzzles.

After consulting a couple of other Mummy friends, we discovered that this toy is probably better suited for children ages 3 to 5 years old since the older friends and cousins of our children from that age group appear to be mesmerised by this toy while our infants seem only interested in pulling the book off its hinge.  I guess it’s back to the cupboard for this toy until Gavin is older for now, but the good news is that at least the toy will come in handy when he’s older.

What I have learned about picking out toys from Gavin:

1. Never go toy shopping without him because only he knows what he likes.
2. Show him the toy to gauge his response before deciding whether to get it for him.  This used to work really well when he was younger because he would smile and get excited if he liked a particular toy and there would be little or no reaction for the toys that didn’t interest him.  This stopped working when he learned how to hold things because after that, he wanted everthing that we held in front of him.
3. Toys that he can manipulate with his hands generally hold his interest for longer, while toys with lights and sounds are great for distracting him when I need to change his clothes and diaper.
4. He loves balls and anything round - that includes anything from balloons to mandarin oranges, and includes my fitball which probably seemed to him like the mother of all balls.  The way he looked at my fitball was like the way that cartoon squirrel looked at the giant acorn.
5. He loves anything that dangles, like mobiles and wind chimes.
6. Like a kitten, he’s tickled by strings - ribbons, twine and, unfortunately, power cables, too.
7. Toys that go in the bath - this is by virtue of the fact that he loves water and baths, so I guess this goes without saying.
8. Books and paper - but not in a nice way.  He likes to shred them whenever possible.  But he also likes his cloth and board books so perhaps there’s hope for him yet.

As for the rest of his toys?  Well, Mummy likes to play with them, too, so I guess they haven’t all gone to waste.

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