ALL TOYS ON SALE!

Tiny Love Has Arrived At BabyThoughts.ca

The wonderful toys from Tiny Love have just arrived at BabyThoughts.ca. Tiny Love is well known for their innovative and original soft developmental toys, they are also the creators of the 7 Elements System™ which is a benchmark for the developmental milestones that are typical of the natural phases that babies go through simultaneously during their first year of life.

We are excited to be carrying a variety of their award winning toys which are very popular with babies and toddlers. From mobiles to grasping toys to activity mats to books, we have something that will captivate your child's imagination and helped in their development.

If you are in search of a mobile for your little one, look no further than Tiny Love's Symphony-In-Motion-Farmyard Animals mobile. Great features of this mobile include captivating music from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven which will help develop baby's sense of hearing. It also has 4 different types of movement and motion that will capture baby's attention and encourage them to follow along. As the child grows they will learn about cause and effect each time they press the buttons on the base of the mobile and music plays. This mobile is a beautiful addition to any nursery.


The Developlay Activity Center is another exiting toy that will be played with over and over again. The activity center has two sides with each side having age appropriate activities that are designed for different aspects of baby's development. This toy will have baby pulling, pushing, grasping, spinning, looking, listening and laughing at all the interesting things offered by the Developlay Activity Center. A great toy that will stimulate baby's senses, encourage the development of their fine motor skills and cognitive development.


For fun play on the go, the Fruity Pals are a great choice. There is Andy Apple and Anna Banana, with both having hidden surprises that will help baby develop their sensory and fine motor skills. The Fruity Pals offer a full sensory experience with their bold colours and lovable faces. Along with their fruit-like figures and human characteristics such as mouth, feet and arms they will encourage baby to be creative, imaginative and play.

Tiny Love toys are not only beautiful, extremely fun but also ecourage baby to learn and grow. To see the full line of toys that we carry, you can stop by the Tiny Love page at BabyThoughts.ca.

The Appearance of the Pearly Whites

The daughter of a good friend is starting to show signs of teething and her mother asked me if I could recommend some teething toys that would offer her some relief.

This request got me remembering our own adventure with teething and how it felt like months before the pearly whites made their appearance. My daughter started with the teething signs quite early. She would drool all the time, and put anything and everything into her mouth. I was thankful that a family member gave her as a gift what later became our favourite teething toy, the Winkel from Manhattan Toy.

When I first received the toy, I could not understand why it was so popular, it looked unusual to me and I wondered how she would find it interesting. But my daughter loved it. She would bite it, suck on it, turn it around, throw it ( many times out of her stroller), stare at it and play with it. I loved it because it was very easy to keep clean, and I could fasten it to her stroller, her car seat or just about anything and she could have easy access to it.

Other teething toys that I found very useful were the ones that you could put in the freezer or fridge. These toys were great during the summer months when it was really hot, the only problem I found with them was that they would loose their coolness quickly. It was necessary to have at least two and to use them while at home where you could put the used one back in the fridge and give them the other cooled one.

Another surprising toy that she loved to sink her mouth into was her Whoozit, she loved to suck or bite its many arms. Though it is too big to take along with you, two great alternatives would be the Baby Whoozit and for more fun the Whoozit Starz Lights & Sounds.

There are many great teething toys for little ones on the market. Something to consider though is that they will not be teething all the time, so if you are going to purchase one, see if they will also find a way to enjoy it before and/or after they have gotten their pearly whites. Though maybe like my daughter they may not be done with putting things into their months for quite some time.

Choosing a toy for your baby

For new parents, choosing a toy for your baby can be a bit confusing at first. There is a lot of choice out there and not a lot of data points on which to make your decision. I have a 19 month old daughter, and I think I have learned a couple of interesting things about choosing toys, from the time she was a newborn, until now.

First - and I think this is the most important message to other parents on this subject - the most interesting, entertaining, and positively awe inspiring toy for your baby is you! Yes, that's right, you. Think of it like this: A baby is born with limited vision and only a handful of instincts to help her get started in life. Everything else is up to you. Baby will probably start breastfeeding almost immediately after birth and will have frequent visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation from mom and dad. Baby will learn mom and dad's faces and sounds and will draw a familiar comfort from it. From then on you will find that as baby develops she will appreciate you at different levels. I remember with my little one, coming home after work when she was about 2-3 months old, and just upon seeing me and hearing me calling out she would break out in hysterical laughter, every time. Now that she's older, it's about more sophisticated games, such as dancing, reading, or playing "where's daddy's nose?" (you get the idea). But the fun she derives from me and my wife is still beyond any toy we have purchased.

But then, there are some awesome toys too.

Let me start from the 0-6 months stage. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, multi-sensory toys are staples for babies under 6 months. Toys and mobiles with high contrast shapes (such as Wimmer-Ferguson toys from Manhattan Toy) and textures, such as the Whoozit will give baby interesting stimulation. I also found that toys that can be wound up to play a soothing song for 30 seconds or so can also bring comfort and stimulation to your baby. Toys that come to mind here are Whoozit Starz Lights and Sounds from Manhattan Toy and Fisher Price's Ocean Wonders Aquarium. There are always plush toys (such as teddy bears), but I find that baby will not really really appreciate those until later on. Also, don't forget grasping toys in many different shapes and sizes that your baby will use as a toy and teether at the same time. Brands like Haba and Manhattan Toy have some great grasping toys.

As they get a bit older and they can sit and play, I have found that blocks, Legos, balls, and other toys that can be stacked, squished and thrown and have interesting colours and themes are also big winners. As they start to stand up or get more aware of their surroundings you might find that activity tables with buttons, clickers, spinners, and music are also popular.

Last but not least, for babies over 12 months, there has been a strong resurgence of wooden toys and puzzles. Toys ranging from shape sorters to alphabet blocks, and puzzles are great learning toys and visually very appealing. Brands like Melissa & Doug, Plan Toys, and Hape Toys come to mind here.

Some of these products, of course, can be seen at www.babythoughts.ca.

Happy toy hunting!
Frank

So, what is a Whoozit anyway?

I encountered a Whoozit - a soft, multi-sensory toy from Manhattan Toy - for the first time almost 2 years ago through a friend who had a young toddler. Her son had one and it was quite the curiosity the first time I saw it. At the beginning of 2006, the young boy's Whoozit would eventually be passed on to my own daughter, who was born on September 2005. This particular Whoozit has to be over 2 years old, it has lint, has been washed many many times, has absorbed copious quantities of drool, and received many hugs. I have to say though, after all that mileage, she still loves her Whoozit.



But what is it? Well, it's a Whoozit, there isn't much else to compare it too, kind of like Mr. Potato Head. It's just Mr. Potato Head! However, it can be described. At first glance, it's like a soft round cloth cushion, about 10 inches across. One side has a black and white swirl, which I assume is a nice visual for newborns. The other side has a round fleece nose, like a clown nose, and a cushioned cloth handle that doubles as a smile. A couple of eyes are sewn on to complete the awkward, happy face.

But so far, we are talking about a glorified pin cushion. The magic of the Whoozit is about what's hidden inside. Once baby inspects the sides of the Whoozit she will find 7 hidden legs that can be pulled out and tucked back into the toy, each with a textured shape such as a star, square, triangle, and circle. The legs themselves are black and white in different checkered or striped patterns, which adds to the Whoozit's silly visual appeal. The shapes at the end can be squeezed to feel a new texture or hear a sound.

All of this adds up to one thing, a tried, tested, and true multi-sensory toy that is still a fixture in my daughter's crib.

You can see the Whoozit at BabyThoughts.ca (of course I have to plug the site :) ).

Bye for now,

Frank