The appearance of a small child in the family always poses a number of questions for young parents. What you need to buy to care for the baby? What to wear? What to choose toys for the baby? The choice of educational toys for newborns must be treated responsibly. After all, the health and successful development of the baby depend on correctly selected games. There is a huge selection of toys in stores. They are designed for different ages of the child, including toys for children up to a year. You can easily get confused in this abundance, waste money and clog the house with unnecessary things. The tips in the article will help young parents find useful toys.
Games with newborns
While mom and newborn are in the hospital, dad and other relatives are trying to prepare everything necessary in the apartment for the new man, including toys. At first, a small child mainly sleeps and eats. For a newborn baby, you can pick up developmental toys from 0 to 3 months. First of all, these are various rattles.
It is best to choose toys from materials that are easy to wash and wash. When choosing musical rattles, you should pay attention to the sounds they make. Too loud and sharp sound can frighten, and the baby will not pay attention to a quiet rattle. The color of the toy also matters, it is better to acquire developing toys for newborns in pastel, calm colors. Beautiful and harmonious objects should surround the child in order to instill good taste in the baby.
Musical mobiles and rugs
Musical mobiles - carousels - are very popular among parents. Specially designed educational toys for babies in the crib, which can be conveniently fixed and turned on for the entertainment of the child. Mobiles are mechanical. Such a toy needs to be started manually, and the music does not last long. And there are electronic ones that work on batteries, their melody has a high-quality sound, and they work much longer.
Of great interest to parents are children's educational toys for newborns - mats. They are moderately soft and warm. They are easy to wash and dry. Such rugs are made of hypoallergenic materials that are not dusty and have no odors. Toys for newborns in the form of rugs can be different, from the simplest carpets with vivid pictures to complex structures equipped with additional toys and musical rattles.
Educational toys
Sometimes it seems to parents that their child is still too small, and it is too early to educate him. This is not true. Every day, the baby grows up and gets to know the world around him with interest. Interactive educational toys are very good for elementary learning. They are suitable for a child of any age. Such games can independently ask the child questions, confirm the correct answers and sing songs for the baby.
Types of Interactive Toys
Manufacturers produce interactive toys similar to adult electronic devices, for example: mobile phones, laptops, tablets. It can also be a book, a plush animal or a doll. A game in the form of a phone or tablet will teach the child numbers and letters. In addition, the child will be pleased to have the same thing as their parents. A doll can communicate with children as a girlfriend: telling tales, singing songs and making riddles. Among the toys for children up to a year there is a very funny and funny game "Hamster - Repeater", which will make laugh not only the children but also their parents. In addition to a gift in the form of a good mood, such a hamster will teach the baby the first sounds and words.
How to choose an electronic game
The most important thing is to choose an interactive educational toy in accordance with the age of the baby. For a very young child, you can buy a game that sings songs and reads poetry, and later replace it with more complex toys. For a six-month-old child, games that make animal sounds and are asked to compare them with the image in the picture are already suitable.
Toys for children up to a year can be even more difficult, for example, studying the color scheme, items of clothing and body parts (nose, mouth, eyes, arms, legs, etc.).
Interactive tablet
A convenient and compact toy that you can take with you on the go. The children's tablet has a wide range of functions. You can learn almost anything on it. You can learn the alphabet, score and even a foreign language. In addition, you can make music, listen to songs, poems and fairy tales. Puzzles and perform various tasks. Children like these toys very much and help parents educate and develop the child’s mental abilities.
Wooden toys
Among educational toys up to a year there is a large selection of various pyramids, cubes and labyrinths made of wood. This natural material is easy to care for, such things are easy to wash and dry, in addition, games made of wooden elements are durable and difficult to break. Wooden toys have an advantage over similar ones made of plastic. The tree is always warmer and does not contain harmful chemical compounds. Children are happy to collect pyramids from ringlets and build houses of cubes. If you wish, you can independently cut out various elements from a wooden beam for the construction of a house, a fortress, and even the whole city.
Stuffed Toys
Children and adults just love tinkering with teddy bears, bunnies, cats and other soft animals and dolls. Such things create a cozy atmosphere in the room, the child falls asleep better and calms down faster if he is surrounded by warm and soft fluffies. For newborns and infants choose toys made from natural materials that can be washed, because cleanliness in the house is necessary for the health of the child. You need to choose the size of such things in accordance with the age of the baby. In no case should you leave unattended sleeping, young children surrounded by soft toys. If the toy falls on the face of a sleeping child, he may suffocate, as he himself will not be able to remove it.
Educational toys made of felt are very popular. They can be purchased at the store or made independently. Making such games is not difficult, the main thing is to have a good imagination and desire. Felt toys can be made flat, in the form of a book, rug, poster or voluminous, for example, a house. Templates for developing toys from felt are not difficult to draw for yourself, as well as to find suitable motives in children's magazines, books, etc.
Waldorf doll
Among educational toys for newborns, Waldorf dolls occupy a special place. They were invented in 1912 by the teacher Rudolf Steiner. Waldorf kindergartens and schools are nowadays distributed around the world. A distinctive feature of these dolls is that they are made manually and only from high-quality, natural materials. For each age, they make an appropriate doll or animal.
For the smallest children, you can sew a very simple doll - a butterfly, which is made of a head and a primitive body. Any mother will cope with sewing this doll, even if she does not know how to sew. It is very simple to make such an educational toy for newborns with your own hands, you do not even need a pattern.
Sewing a Waldorf Butterfly Doll
Prepare all the necessary materials and tools:
- Take two rags of soft tissue for the body measuring 40 X 20 cm.
- Knitwear flap for the head, about 15 X 15 cm.
- A triangular piece of fabric for the cap, it can be cut directly onto the fabric, the size is arbitrary.
- Sheep wool for felting, it must be used as a stuffing pupa.
- A wooden ring, it should be sewn to the cap so that you can hang the toy on the bed.
- Bell.
- Ribbon for decoration.
- Needle, thread, scissors.
How to stitch:
- Rectangles, designed for sewing the body of the pupa, grind around the perimeter, leaving room for stuffing and sewing on the head. Insert a dense ball twisted from sheep’s wool into each corner and tighten with a thread, this way you will get handles and legs.
- The flap for the head is densely stuffed with wool and form the head. Pull the thread where the neck will be.
- Stuff the body with wool, but not tightly and fasten the bells inside the body.
- Sew the head into the body, tighten the cap on the head with threads.
- Decorate the waist and neck with braid.
The first baby doll is ready. It can be washed, so it is suitable as a developmental toy for a newborn baby. If desired, the doll can embroider a face.
Waldorf doll for a baby from three months
For this age, you can sew a plush doll for the baby. For such a toy, a pattern is also not needed. You can choose any size, the main thing is that the child is comfortable sleeping and playing with such a toy. The main purpose of splyushki is to teach a child to fall asleep on time. Therefore, they sew it from materials suitable for baby sleep. The baby and his doll will look very cute, dressed in the same nightgowns or pajamas.
Sewing doll tailoring technology
For work you will need:
- A knitted fabric in the form of a stocking, children's tights made of cotton fabric can be used.
- Coloring flannel for the body.
- Sheep wool for stuffing.
- Braid and floss for decoration.
- Scissors, threads, needles.
How to sew a doll:
- Unscrew the knitted pipe from the stocking inside out and from one end gather the edge onto the thread. Unscrew the pipe on the face and tightly stuff the head with fleece. How to tie the neck with a thread. Fill the neck extension with wool and tie it too.
- To carve out a kind of nightgown from the flannel - two parts (front and back). Sew them together, leaving the neck open. Stuff the body with fleece, insert and sew in the head. Form the palms at the ends of the sleeves and secure with a thread. The body should not be tightly packed so that the doll can be bent by the handle. The bottom of the body, before stuffing, you can collect on a string and give the doll an extra volume.
- Thread a mouline thread to embroider a doll with a sleeping face. On the head, make a cap from knitted fabric. Garnish the neck and handles with lace or braid.
Doll for a child from six months to a year
The next version of the doll is an educational toy for children up to a year. Such a doll should look like a child. She has hair on her head, face, as well as arms and legs. Clothes for the doll need to be removable, but make sure that the doll does not have small parts. Dresses, panties and shirts should be done with ties, not buttons.
To sew such a doll, a pattern is needed. You can draw it or find a suitable picture in a magazine or book. The photo shows an example of such a pattern. The doll’s head needs to be made like a real head. To do this, make the workpiece blank for the head, and a cover from knitted fabric is pulled on top. The pupa should have a nose, eyes and mouth. A person can be embroidered with floss thread. As a stuffing use sheep wool for felting.
Such dolls are suitable for playing both for girls and boys. Clothes can be made in different styles. You can dress dolls in folk costumes and thus instill a child with love for his people and his country. Costumes of various specialties, for example: cook, doctor, worker, teacher, tailor. This option will help children learn about different professions. That is why Waldorf doll is so popular in the world. They are used for the upbringing and development of a child from birth to the end of elementary school.
Russian folk doll
In Ancient Russia, newborn children were also made educational toys for up to a year, and later the child was taught to make dolls on their own. In those days, the doll served as a talisman and friend for man. Created such toys from wood, the remnants of fabric and thread. Dolls-motanka are good because they do not have small parts and they are safe for small children.
To make such a toy, not even scissors are needed. Tear the fabric with your hands into squares and rectangles, and then with the help of a thread form a doll. As a filler, if necessary, you can use the remains of yarn, wool or fill the doll with fragrant, dried herbs. The dolls were not sewn, but twisted and fastened with threads, since it was believed that it was not good to prick a future friend with needles. A Russian folk doll will help develop fine motor skills and imagination in a child, teach accuracy and foster love for the motherland.