9 Simple Baby Toy Ideas For Learning

“Learning to be a responsive play observer takes thoughtfulness, restraint and practice, but once we get this down, we’ll discover more delightful moments of joy, humor and surprise than we ever thought possible.” - Janet Lansbury

A Video On Simple Toy Ideas For Learning

I’m so curious, which toys does your baby love to play with? Let's chat about the best toys that can help our babies become natural explorers & self-learners. The key is to find play objects that are open-ended, simple, and safe. The way we offer toys matters too! In this video above, I’ll demonstrate exactly how to offer a toy which gives a choice to our babies, and encourages natural motor development and confidence.

It’s a beautiful practice and I can’t wait to hear what you think!

9 Simple Toy Ideas For Learning

If you’d like more baby toy inspo, below I featured 9 of my favorite simple toy ideas for learning. They may look simple and cute (they are!), but they are also rich with possibilities for learning. They can be found around the house or on the cheap, and are a cinch to set up.

When our babies are on their backs and offered a choice with toys, we get to see our babies explore a toy in their own special way.

Try This At Playtime

When your baby is on her back, and is well rested and fed, grab a few toy ideas featured below. Show her the toy, and talk with her, and place it directly next to her so that it’s at eye level. This may mean that two toys are stacked for visibility. You may want to offer another toy on her other side as well, and say something like, “I have this soft block and a muffin cup, and I’m going to put it next to you. I wonder what you’ll do?”

Observe for a bit and be fully present. What movement did you notice? Did you see any stretching, looking, reaching, or kicking? What facial expressions did you see? Was their curiosity or frustration? What was he interested in? Sometimes it’s staring out a window or playing with hands. It’s all good!

Once we create a rhythm of offering our babies open-ended play choices and on their backs, we might notice how agile, creative, and confident they are to explore. We also might see upset or frustration too, and are there to comfort them. This is all healthy. It’s the foundation for independent play and learning.

In my free starter kit, I support you with simple tips to make playtime easier and more fun.

The more we offer these opportunities, the more we can discover (and feel that excited pitter patter!), that our babies are very capable. We do less teaching, and more appreciating. We ditch that little voice in our heads that says, “he should be…” and instead it’s more, “all is well.”

It helps us to relax and enjoy playtime even more. They can feel this too.

There will never be another time quite like this, ya know?

I’m looking forward to hearing which baby toy ideas you’d like to try in your cozy home, and what happened. I love receiving emails and read every one.

With so much respect and love,

Jesse