The best toys for 8 to 11-month-old babies
What are the best toys for 8 to 11-month-old babies?
Much of the play during this period focuses on developing motor skills and become increasingly mobile. They can crawl forward and backward, pull themselves into a standing position, walk with support (for example, along furniture), stand momentarily without support, and complete a couple of unassisted steps.
They also begin to climb. Be careful about what they can have access to by climbing. These children explore objects in many different ways such as through grasping, shaking, squeezing, throwing, dropping, passing from hand to hand, and banging. They begin to develop a pincer grasp, which is used to pick up small objects between the thumb and fingers.
When a toy is hidden or not within view, these children know the toy still exists and did not simply disappear. Infants of this age can understand simple words related to their immediate context, and need repetition and reinforcement of the words they hear like they would start reacting to word NO.
Many of them begin to use items in typical relational patterns; for example, dumping items out of a container, putting them back in, and then repeating the process. They repeat pleasurable actions often, and start to show an interest in marking on paper.
Sensory toys are highly appealing because these children are beginning to understand simple cause-and-effect relationships. Bright colors, especially yellows and reds, continue their appeal for this age group, as do high contrasts and complex patterns. Pictures that represent familiar objects are also highly appealing. Suitable toys are soft, sturdy, have rounded edges, and are easily grasped or manipulated by the child.
Once they can crawl, “cruise” (walk while holding furniture) and walk, they enjoy things that move along with them like Push and pull toys.
What to Avoid:
- Toys that have batteries or loose magnets (can be swallowed)
- Stuffed animals with loosely sewn-on parts that can be easily removed
- Sharp-edged toys
It’s so important to avoid the items with small parts and sharp edges! Luckily there is such a great amount of wonderful toys for little ones. My baby is just over 8 months old, and he’s getting one of those Wiggimal plush toys from Fisher Price; it’s round and soft and animal shaped (his is a chicken) and when you press its head it wiggles and clucks. It’s so funny! I can hardly wait for him to open it.
Hi Dara,
I’m happy you bought such an amazing toy, I don’t know about it’s color but the rest is perfect for his age. He will love it. You can also get engaged with his play and for example put it behind you and make it clucks he will look for it. It tons of fun. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Cheers
Great info, it’s good to see the best things to avoid for kids. I’ve heard that kids find black and white patterns stimulating, do you know if there’s any truth in this.
Thanks
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment. I can explain it in easy way. Colors that provide the most contrast are the most appealing to babies. Black and white, of course, afford the greatest contrast. What’s so terrific about contrast? It has to do with the development of your newborn’s eyes. The rods and cones – cells within the retina that perceive color and intensity of light– have not matured enough for him to perceive the values and intensities of red, blue, pink, yellow, purple, and green. Black and white are the easiest for him to perceive and his interest in these starkly contrasting colors continues until he is six to nine month old.
I hope it’s answers your question.
Cheers
This has literally been one of the best sites that I have found that offers so much useful information and ideas on gift ideas for babies because it’s just simply straight forward information with detailed facts that is not trying to push me to buy a bunch of junk I don’t need…So I thank you for putting your heart and your soul into helping others, like myself, who need a boost when it comes to gift ideas for children and babies!
So I have a question for you…You mentioned above to “avoid stuffed animals with loosely sewn parts” but yet it seems like the quality of stuffed animals everywhere I go, has gone down the toilet…it’s like every stuffed toy you see these days looks cheap and like it would fall apart in a week. So in your opinion, where is the best place or manufacturer to buy stuffed toys from that specializes in toys for this age group?
All The Best,
Jeremy David Wilson
Hi Jeremy,
You made my day again with your comment. I do know when it comes to gift idea I’m as clueless as a zig-zag lane. So I was hoping here in this particular case I can offer some help and that seems to be working, Thanks for this wonderful feedback.
Well tearing apart is not the issue (if it is cheap as you said) the problem is after that they have access to whats inside the toy. That’s the danger, they will explore it with their mouth and start eating it.
So we have to be careful about this age and what quality of toy we are buying for them. I will work on this to provide you with the best products out there.
Cheers