4 Best Holiday Gift Ideas for Babies

The holidays are coming and for many people it is their first time having to buy holiday gifts for babies! Many will ask what the point is in spending money on a gift for a baby that really does not ‘get’ the holidays.

Giving gifts at holiday times is something that we should enjoy doing, and you should cherish doing so for young babies who can’t tell you that you got the wrong thing…that time will come soon enough! So just what are some great ideas for holiday gifts for babies?

Decorations

Let’s start with an unusual one. There are few babies that go without a huge selection of toys over the festive period, so why not consider a special gift that they will have when they get older? Festive decorations are an excellent idea in this regard. You can often purchase something bespoke and creative, and it will always be something that the child knows is theirs every year, right up to the time that they have to start putting together their own collection of decorations!

Books

It’s never too early for children to start building their book collection, and that includes babies. Depending on how young the child is, you may choose a basic rhyming book that the parents can read at night, or you might choose a soft book that baby can also play with or even a waterproof book for the bath. Books always make for a fantastic gift, and one that will help the child develop.

Sensory Toys

Sensory toys play a vital role in our children’s development, and help them to learn about the world around them. From intricate activity centers to simple rattles, sensory toys shape how children view the world and how they understand themselves.

It is always important to be age appropriate when considering sensory toys, but their importance cannot be overstated. If in doubt, a sensory toy should be your default buy!

Stuffed Animals

Depending on the age of the baby, a stuffed animal might just be the perfect gift for them. Stuffed toys or animals can often become a baby’s best friend, and this bond is not something to be discouraged.

Stay away from toys that have anything hanging loose, including ribbons or buttons, but aside from that pick the cuddliest, most appropriately sized cuddly toy you can find!

4 Best Holiday Gift Ideas for Toddlers

Toddlers are full of energy, full of enthusiasm and full of curiosity. They will welcome any toy and give it a chance, but if it doesn’t engage with them then it will quickly be discarded!

When buying gifts for toddlers, it’s important to remember that toddlers are at an age whereby they want to push their limits. They are exploring the world around them, and exploring their own capabilities. If you cater to this need for exploration, you will never go far wrong with your holiday gifts! Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Ride Ons

A ride on toy can offer tremendous fun and rewarding playtime regardless of the stage of development of the toddler. When considering a ride on toy, you should always look for one that is well balanced and sturdy.

Consider the interests of the toddler and try and choose an appropriate style of ride on toy. If in doubt, go for something with a trailer or a space under the seat for storing other toys – these are always a hit.

Books

When considering gift ideas, no matter what age of child or what time of year, books are never a bad idea. A love of reading should be cultivated at a young age, and by offering engaging and fun stories to toddlers, you can instill within them a love of books.

Always consider whether the book you are buying is age appropriate. If it’s too simple, the child won’t be challenged. If it’s too difficult, the child will not be interested.  Most books indicate the age range most appropriate for the book.

Arts & Crafts

Toddlers are explorers, and anything that allows them to be creative is always a good idea. Arts & crafts don’t have to be expensive or particularly distinctive – a coloring book and a box of crayons would suffice.

The idea is to encourage the toddler to use their imagination and be creative with their play. Older toddlers might be able to handle more advanced toys or projects, but for young toddlers, something as simple as finger painting can be a wonderfully positive experience.

Puzzles

The world is one big puzzle to a toddler, so it’s no surprise that puzzles are a suitable holiday gift. Puzzles help children learn for themselves, and encourage various skills from critical thinking to hand eye co-ordination.

Children enjoy puzzles once they have a chance at working out the solution, so always make sure you aren’t making the task too difficult, but aside from that, the more puzzles the better!

3 Best Holiday Gift Ideas for Pre-schoolers

Pre-schoolers can sometimes be a difficult group to buy for, for one very big reason. They are at an age where many of them know what they want and they aren’t afraid to tell you what that is! While there is no doubting the benefit that a challenging puzzle game can offer a pre-schooler, there is no guarantee that such a toy will be well received, unless you know the child well!

Having said that, there are still a great number of gifts with which you can win over any stubborn pre-schooler. Let’s look at three of the most popular holiday gifts for pre-schoolers.

Musical Toys

When we refer to musical toys here, we are not talking about any old toy that lights up and blares out a number of pre-recorded tunes. We are talking about basic musical toys that can teach children about musicality.

Percussion toys are a great starting point, as are simple wind instruments like a toy harmonica. Children can learn cause and effect, and it has been shown that children who play with musical toys at a young age are more likely to take up playing an instrument in later life.

Books

Books make a fantastic gift regardless of the age of a child.  There is, however, perhaps no time when this is more relevant than for pre-schoolers. Soon, these children will be in an official learning environment and will be presented with letters and words on a daily basis. By giving these children books at a young age, an appreciation and love of reading can be developed early, making school learning all the easier.

Arts & Crafts

Pre-schoolers are at the perfect age to really be expanding their creative play.  Gifts that cultivate creative crafts are always a good idea. While this might be something as simple as a coloring book, pre-schoolers are at an age where they can be interested in more serious craft projects.

Cutlery that needs to be painted by the child so that it is distinctly theirs is a fantastic way of spending a few hours. Similarly, painting a birdhouse or making a kite can be tremendously fun activities when undertaken as a family. When considering an arts & crafts gift, consider whether it will engage the child, and whether it will challenge them. Ideally, it should do both.

4 Best Types of Baby Toys for Language Development

Learning to speak is one of the most important milestones in a child’s life. The bulk of speech that children develop during their first 3 years of life greatly influences their social, emotional, and cognitive development, and also greatly affects performance in school and critical thinking skills.

For this reason, speech-language pathologists encourage parents to expose their kids to as many words as possible and to encourage talking during this critical first 3 years in order to instill a rich vocabulary in their child. One good way of going about that is by investing in the following types of language teaching toys for babies.

1. Talking Toys

For a child to start talking and develop speech, he must first learn different words as well as their meanings. This is where talking toys come in. Available in a variety of options (e.g. Educational Insights ReMARKable Smart Talk Charts, Fisher-Price Little People Animal Sounds Farm, VTech Infant Learning Touch and Learn Storytime, Learning Resources ABC Chalk Talk Electronic Learning Chalkboard, among others), talking toys teach letters, words, sounds, and shapes, in a fun and easy way that kids really enjoy.

2. Dolls

It may surprise you but dolls have powerful speech teaching capabilities due to the fact that dolls allow kids to replicate various real-life experiences that they go through every day. These include things like bathing, dressing, feeding, naptime, and so on. These little re-enactments create opportunities for language-development as kids will not only act out the real-life experiences but also try to mimic the conversations carried out during the time.

The key to ensuring your child gets the most out of a doll is to go for options that talk or come with accessories such as little cups, strollers, combs, cradles, outfits, dollhouses, etc. Such dolls increase play options, which in turn brings about more language building opportunities.

3. Toy Sets

Toy sets can be a great option to encourage early language development. Whether it’s a kitchen, farm, fire station, or tea party set, a child will have to use words at one point or another either to make a request, exchange play ideas, make a comment about the game, ask for help, engage in role play, and so on.

Playing with toys sets of all kinds provides kids get the opportunity to use those words they have been hearing and learning functionally in a variety of ways.  With the continued use of play sets, your child will start stringing little sentences through the exchange of words that happens during playtime.

4. Musical Toys

According to research, music stimulates multiple areas of the brain (which is great for language development), breaks down words into sounds and syllables that are easier for children to process, and allows kids to hear and learn the similarities and differences between sounds. These music benefits combined make musical toys effective tools for encouraging language development.

There is a wide variety of musical toys available that range from ‘Remo Drum’ to ‘Easy Karaoke’ to ‘Melisa and Doug’s Deluxe Band Set’.  Go for options with a clever rhyme that is captivating and easy for a small child to process.

If you have a small child who is just starting to talk, any toy that falls in the above listed categories can help tremendously.  As a guideline, shop for toys with options that encourage interaction, provide flexibility during play, and get your children using their imagination and creativity.