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There are really two different aspects of a child when it comes from newborn to the first year of age so we’ll split this up from newborn to 5 months and then 6 months to a year.

Newborn to 5 Months of Age
For the first month after birth the baby is going to be basically inactive and they aren’t mobile; however, you can still start to foster development by their 5 senses. Holding and talking to your baby will provide them with really good stimulation. The least developed sense at birth is sight. At birth they can only tell the difference between contrasting colors and a human face with the optimal focal distance of up to 12 inches. Use things with contrasting colors around your baby or the human face at a distance of 12 inches.

With those things in mind the most optimal toys for this age range are toys where they can see and hear and ones that have contrasting colors of black, white and red.

There are several things that fit this that you can buy for your child:

• Mobiles
• Rattles (hands, wrists and feet)
• Books in black and white
• Flash cards
• Black and white stuffed animals

After the first month and up until 5 months they will be starting to move, kicking, reaching out and poking at things. When your child gets to 5 months they’ll be able to roll, pull, reach and grab so any toy that allows them and has them stimulate them to have to move their body and limbs around is a good choice. It’s also a good idea to keep things in the same color range as before until the child is 3 months of age.

There are several things that fit this range:

• Play mat
• Play gym
• Rattles and mobiles are still good (make sure they can’t reach and pull the mobile down and get to its parts)

Things to watch out for are:

• Strings
• Too small of size
• Sturdiness of products
• All small parts are secure
• 6-12 Months of Age

Your child is now starting to do a lot more things. He/she will be able to sit, crawl and pickup and hold objects allowing for a lot more interaction. Your child will have a much more developed attention span and may even start to try walking. Keep talking to your child and know that he/she will love hearing your voice and will actually be able to understand things before they are actually able to communicate anything understandable to you.

The best things for this age range are things that make them take a more active role in things. Toys that they can manipulate:

• Grab
• Turn
• Poke
• Stack
• Throw
• Drop

They will also need to appeal to your child so getting things with a lot of colors is a good idea for this age. Also toys that teach cause and effect are very good for this age; such as, a toy that gets them to put a shape through the hole it fits in.