Best toys for 6 to 12 months-old infants?
[mme_highlight] Good toys choices for this age group are: Cars to push and pull, Soft / Rubber Blocks, Teethers, Keys on Ring, Rattles, Puzzles, Balls, Floating toys for bath, Soft Dolls, Soft Hand Puppets, Music Box Animals, cardboard and plastic books. Infants in this age group love to insert, drop, shake, squeeze, fitting one object into other, push balls and cars. [mme_highlight]
Play is essential for children, contributing to the cognitive, physical, social development as well as for their emotional and general well-being. The importance of playing for an optimal development children is reflected in the recognition by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights of playing as a right of every child.
Parents and Educators aware and promoting the right of children to play, want to choose the right toys for every age, which can be a challenge. Knowing the main developmental milestones and features of each age may be a great help to choose the most appropriate toys. Thus, when choosing a toy, always ensure it meets the general characteristics of a good toy: safety, durability and suitability for the age group. Beware of toys containing small parts because of its inherent chocking risk.
What are the main developmental milestones between 6 and 12 months?
Between 6 and 12 months, infants start sitting alone and dominate crawling and cruising. Some start walking in this period. They develop as well the pincer grasp and can hold objects with one hand while manipulating them with the other hand. A prominent milestone at a cognitive level is the notion of object permanence, hence they like see things appearing and disappearing.
Children at this age love to explore the world around them and they like activities as bath play, pushing and pulling, opening and shutting. They start being interested in picture books as well. Parents and caretakers will notice children in this period develop stranger anxiety but also interest in social games. They love peek-a-boo and wave bye-bye. Language development is fast at this phase: infants babble and imitate sounds; they recognize their own name and are capable of pointing to named objects. Children can follow simple commands.
What kind of toys to prefer between 6 and 12 months?
Infants in this age group love to insert, drop, shake, squeeze, putting in and out and fitting one object into other. They also like a lot to push balls and cars and to operate simple machines. When choosing a toy, take these preferences into account.
Which toys to buy between 6 and 12 months?
It is exciting for parents and family members to buy toys for infants. However, it can be sometimes a bit of a challenge as the toys not only should be suitable for their infants’ age group, but they also should present specific characteristics that may help their children’s development.
- Cars to push and pull
- Soft / Rubber Blocks
- Teethers
- Keys on Ring
- Rattles
- Puzzles
- Balls
- Floating toys for bath
- Soft Dolls
- Soft Hand Puppets
- Music Box Animals, CDs
- Books
Only if they have large robust pieces
Balls should be larger than 44 mm in diameter.
prefer cardboard books or plastic books which can also be present in the bath
What toys should be avoided between birth and 6 months?
Try to avoid ride on toys and projectiles.
Which colors and shapes do infants prefer?
Jadva V et al. studied color and shape preferences in toys, in infants at ages 12, 18, and 24 months. Stimuli presented to children in the study and used to examine shape preferences were: angular triangle, squares, angular star vs. rounded triangle, circles and rounded star. As for studying color preferences, four pairs of stimuli were used.
The time spent by children looking at the different color and shape stimuli was analyzed, and statistical results (p<0.01) were found regardless of age and sex.
As shown in the box below, concerning the red/pale blue pairing, 12-month-olds looked significantly longer at red compared to 24-month-olds, suggesting a significant main effect of age in toys color preferences. For the four color stimuli combined, infants looked longer at pink/red than blue/pale blue, as presented in the table below.
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Mean proportion of time spent looking at color stimuli by infants
| Color | Proportion of time spent looking at color |
|---|---|
| Red | 55.9% |
| Blue | 44.41% |
| Pink | 44.41% |
| pale Blue | 47.9% |
(Statistically significant results (p<0.01) are shown in bold.)
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The same study revealed also that infants may prefer round shapes over angular ones.
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Mean proportion of time spent looking at shape stimuli by infants
| Shape | Proportion of time spent looking at color |
|---|---|
| Circles | 59.63% |
| Squares | 40.38% |
| Rounded star | 50.84% |
| Angular star | 49.15% |
| Rounded triangle | 57.44% |
| Triangle | 42.57% |
(Statistically significant results (p<0.01) are shown in bold.)
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[mme_databox]
Color and Shape preferences for toys in infants
- Red/pale blue pairing: 12-month-olds looking significantly longer at red compared to 24-month-olds
- Four color stimuli combined: infants looked longer at pink/red than blue/pale
- Four Shapes combined: infants looked longer at rounded than angular images
(f=94, p<0.01)
blue
(f=5.67, p<0.01)
(f =14, p<0.001)
(Values of f and p result from the analysis of variance – statistical test)
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Summary and Recommendations
- When choosing a toy, always ensure it meets the general characteristics of a good toy: safety, durability and suitability for the age group.
- Between 6 and 12 months,
- When buying a toy for your infant remember that at this age she/he to insert, drop, shake, squeeze, putting in and out , fitting one object into other, push balls and cars and to operate simple machines.
- Good toys choices for this age group are: Cars to push and pull, Soft / Rubber Blocks, Teethers, Keys on Ring, Rattles, Puzzles, Balls, Floating toys for bath, Soft Dolls, Soft Hand Puppets, Music Box Animals, cardboard and plastic books.
- Some studies shown that apparently there is a main effect of age in toys color and shape preferences: infants show a preference for red and rounded shaped toys.
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References
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Rights of the Child. General Assembly Resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989.
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Goodson B, Bronson . Which Toy for Which Child: A Consumer’s Guide for Selecting Suitable Toys.
- Jadva V, Hines M, Golombok S. Infants’ preferences for toys, colors, and shapes: sex differences and similarities. Arch Sex Behav. 2010 Dec;39(6):1261-73.
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