Newborn gift ideas from BrightMinds to help stimulate development
When babies are born, their senses are all in place but still have some developing to do.
When it comes to choosing toys for play and development, it is worth bearing in mind that a newborn baby’s eyesight is not that good at focusing.
At birth, babies can only focus in on objects that are eight to fifteen inches away from them and they love to look at human faces.
Despite all those toys and books in beautiful pastel colours and soft baby blues and pinks, at this stage, babies love high contract toys and books, particularly in black and white.
Once they have reached around two months of age, they start to pick out reds, oranges, greens and yellows and a little later blues.
As well as faces and high contrasts, objects that move will also prove fascinating to them.
Around the age of four months, babies will see objects as well as adults can and by six months will have the strength of eyesight that will see them through their life.
A good starting place for finding age appropriate, fun and stimulating toys for babies is at BrightMinds, an online store founded in 2000 by an ex-secondary school science teacher Alison Quill.
BrightMinds have specialised in educational toys for children aged from 3 to 15 years and have now launched an exciting range of toys for newborns and babies.
Alison says “Many parents shared with me their desire to help their children’s development at even earlier age. I wanted to help parents with the learning process through products that stimulate and educate their children, whilst keeping learning fun, which is what BrightMinds’ philosophy is all about.
“It’s never too early to begin the learning process at home. These products are perfect gifts for grandparents, family and friends who are looking for something special. We hope that everyone enjoys our products as much as we’ve enjoyed developing them.”
Tried and Tested: Giggle Baby Recording Book
£9.99
http://www.brightminds.co.uk/baby-toys/baby-books/giggle-baby-recording-book.htm
It’s never too soon to start a baby off with a book. This large, hardback book with rhyming verses and big black and white photographs of baby faces is the perfect start. Bringing together all the best visual stimulation for a newborn baby, this book has the added bonus of featuring a recording chip, allowing you to record your own message or sounds for the baby to listen to.
Bristol mother Emma Hawkins tested out the Giggle Baby book with newborn baby Kai. Enma says: “To be honest, I wouldn’t have normally thought about getting a book for such a small baby, but I was really taken aback when Kai actually began to try and focus in on the photos, obviously captivated by the pictures. He was only a couple of days old. When I noticed this, I realised that actually, it was pretty important getting the right toys at the right ages.
“The photographs in the book are also really nice and I really like the bold colour illustrations and text that go with them.”
Ideal For: Second time parents unnerved by the unpredictable reaction a tempestuous little toddler may give the new baby. Introducing this book in the early days makes an ideal way of allowing the two of them to interact together. The novelty of being able to record their voice in an accessible book all about babies may help to bring down any barriers young children may build up towards their new siblings.
More great newborn gift ideas from BrightMinds!
Wimmer Fegurson toys provide great stimulation for young babies. Chopsy Baby likes this Stim Mobile (£24.99) and Crawl and Discover Mat (£29.99) both available from BrightMinds and the perfect gift for intelligent little babies.