Baby Steps: A Guide to Baby's First Year of Play

Play is the way for baby to learn and grow each day. The right toys can help babies develop physical, social and emotional skills, engage sensory awareness and promote cognitive learning. Here is an easy-to-follow guide to baby's first year of play from Fundamentally Toys in Houston, Texas

0-3 months:
Just home from the hospital, a newborn's vision is fuzzy. Baby's gaze will fix on objects 8-15 inches away. She is naturally drawn to the human face, but it will take about a month for her to recognize yours. 

During these first three months, baby will be visually captivated by bright colors and high-contrast patterns - especially objects that move slowly. Her little ears will appreciate soothing sounds, gentle music and lullabies.

Suggested Toys for 0-3 months:

• Wimmer-Ferguson Infant Stim-Mobile, Mind-Shapes and Car Seat Gallery
• cloud b soothers and sleep aids such as Twinkling Firefly Frog, Lullaby to Go Turtle or Ladybug and Glow Cuddles Bunny
• Jellycat soft cloth books: Are You are My Mommy and I Love My Daddy

3-6 Months:
Little fists begin to unclench as baby discovers how much fun hands are! Tactile sensation becomes important at this point.Tiny fingers can reach for objects and fine motor skills start to develop.Baby can grasp, rotate and move objects from hand to hand. Rattles make a delightful noise and after a little exploration objects usually go into the mouth!

As baby starts to push up and begins to sit up, physical development comes into play. There is so much more to see and hear and interact with!

Suggested Toys for 3-6 months:

• Sassy Development Playmat
• Lamaze Sit Up and See Gym
• Oball Twist-O-Round or Clickety Twist
• Sassy Flip & Grip or Rings Around Rattles
• Baby Paper (crinkly paper toy)
• Sassy Sensory Ball Set

6-9 Months:
Baby's play is becoming much more vigorous. As she masters new fine motor skills, her movements are more precise and her fingers more dexterous.Teeth are starting to come in, so teethers and toys to soothe the gums provide relief.

At this stage, babies often  develop an attachment to a favorite toy or blanket. Pediatricians encourage this connection because familiar objects comfort and soothe and can help little ones deal with future changes and transitions.

Suggested Toys for 6-9 months:

• Earlyears Stack N Nest Cups, Sweet Baby Blocks and Baby Driver
• Baby Cheeks Puppy or Cow Loveys from Mary Meyer
• Cora Doll Snugglers or Sshlumpies from Douglas Cuddle Toys
• Freezies Terry Teethers by Sassy

9-12 Months:
At 9-10 months baby is creeping and crawling around the room, maybe even trying to stand up while holding on to furniture. He's well on his way to walking soon.

Starting to close in on the one-year mark, baby is able to understand words and recognize the names of familiar objects. Problem-solving skills begin to kick in as she or he takes things apart and starts figuring out relationships between objects.

Suggested Toys for 9-12 months: 

To encourage crawling, standing and walking -

• Little Autos by Hape
• Press 'N Go Worm from International Playthings
• Fisher-Price Activity Walker
• Walker Wagon from Radio Flyer

To encourage cognitive learning -

• Boppin' Activity Bugs by Fisher-Price
• Shape Sorter by Green Toys
• Ophelie and Her Chicks by Haba

Tips:

Keep a variety of toys coming during baby's first year.
If you're not sure what is best or age appropriate, get advice from specialty toy store experts such as Fundamentally Toys. 
Introduce new toys one at a time.
Never overwhelm a baby with too many choices.

Rotate toys every few days to keep interest fresh
Strive for diversity in toys and activities to stimulate all senses.
Remember that play is not just about fun. It's a very important way for babies to develop physically, mentally and emotionally and learn cognitively.

We're here for your early years!  
Fundamentally Toys

Love Letters: National Scrabble Day, April 13, 2014

National Scrabble Day, celebrated each April 13, is a day to acknowledge Alfred Mosher Butts for giving us one of the most popular games ever invented. His love of crossword puzzles and chess led him to create an unusual word game that uniquely combined knowledge and strategic thinking.

If Mosher had not lost his job at an architectural firm during The Great Depression, Scrabble may not have been invented. Well, maybe someone eventually would have dreamed it up, but not likely in the same way as Butts. The architect studied the New York Times and put serious analysis into how often each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet got used. He mathematically apportioned the letters out among the tiles. He then assigned a point value to each letter and designed the board which also played into scoring. It was a pretty complicated case of cryptography!

Scrabble was not a slam-dunk success. Game companies weren't interested in producing Butts' creation. So he and his partner James Brunot painstakingly produced tiles and boards themselves by hand in an old Connecticut schoolhouse. The game slowly gained mild popularity, but it was years later in 1952 that it caught a big break. The president of Macy's saw the game being played while vacationing at a resort and ordered it for the store. Scrabble's popularity soared and the rest is history, as they say.

Today, Scrabble is played all over the world in over 121 countries and in 29 languages. While most of us think of Scrabble as a leisurely family game played around the dining room table, there is a surprisingly large contingent of people that play competitively in the U.S. and internationally.

Take Down Under wonder Nigel Richards of New Zealand. He is the 2013 winner of both the National and World Scrabble Championships. In the U.S. he's been the championship winner for the past four years. Having played well over 2,000 competitive games, Richards wins 75 percent of the time with an average score of 460. I might add that he gets some decent monetary compensation for doing it, too!

While the rest of us Scrabble lovers will never make money playing the game or have scores approaching 460, our brains will certainly become rich for the playing of it. All ages benefit from playing Scrabble and, in particular, it has proven to be a very effective teaching tool for children. The educational benefits of Scrabble are:

• Expansion of vocabulary
• Learning to spell
• Use of addition and multiplication in keeping score
• Development of strategic thinking and planning skills

As a toy store owner, I love games that both entertain and teach. I personally have fond memories of growing up with Scrabble as part of our household stash of games. During holidays and on rainy Sundays, we'd often get a game going. I enjoy the leisurely pace and patiently waiting for everyone to take all the time they need to make a move. At the same time, I like watching the board for opportunities to score big - especially when the luck of the draw yields high-point letters. But most of all, I love the fact that Scrabble brings people together and that the game still has bonding power generation after generation.

So as we celebrate National Scrabble Day, pull your Scrabble game out of the closet and dust off the cover - or stop by Fundamentally Toys and buy a brand new one!