- Hi, mums and dads.
My name is Emma.
I'm a pediatric occupational therapist
and mum to two gorgeous children.
So, today I'm gonna share with you
the toys that I think you should have for your baby
when they're three to six months of age
and you're on a budget.
(playful music)
But before we do, I just want to let you know
there's a free PDF document in the description box below,
which covers the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your baby
through their first year of life,
which you can print out and refer to at any time.
Also, if you're interested in getting some parenting tips
and tricks to make your life as parents easier
and give your baby the best start to life,
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So, what toys do I recommend from three months
to six months of age when you're on a budget?
The first toy, and again,
this is my must-have toy for babies, is a play gym,
and that's simply because your baby
is getting really, really interactive at this stage,
so at around three to six months of age
your baby will now start to reach out and grab toys,
and they'll be able to transfer toys
from one side to the other,
but initially, around three months,
they're starting to reach out and bat toys,
and around four months they can hold toys
for a longer period of time, and then five months,
they're starting to change hands when they're holding toys.
So, we've moved past that visual tracking of toys,
so just looking at a toy,
and now we're starting to interact with toys,
which is amazing.
So, the play gyms are a really, really good activity
that you can use,
so I guess a toy that you can use with your baby,
because you can put them underneath it on their back,
and they're gonna start interacting with those toys
by reaching out and hitting them,
and then maybe grabbing them for a period of time.
They also will start to kind of roll over at this stage,
so they might roll around,
and that means that the toys might motivate them to roll,
which is amazing, and then, when they're on tummy time,
the play mats often have little kind of rough parts on them,
so there may be some tags or something that makes a noise,
which kind of is engaging for your baby,
so when they're on tummy time they might start
to interact with those things.
So, play gyms are really, really colorful,
which is amazing because the kids are really
interested in those colors,
but the other thing that's really good about play gyms
is often the items that are attached to the play gyms
can come off,
so you'll see that they...
So, mine came with a mirror, which was amazing,
so I could use that instead of a soft mirror, but basically,
it comes with links so that these links
attach to the play gym,
but what we like is they're a piece,
which is a free resource,
because you've already got the play gym,
is that we can use these links
to make kind of a linked chain,
which is great because the kids can easily hold it.
At this age, at six months,
they're working on transferring toys
from one hand to the other,
so these links are really great
because they're nice and small.
They're really lightweight,
so it's not gonna hurt your baby,
but they can actually hold them,
because most toys are too heavy for your baby,
so having the links are fantastic,
and you can just link them together.
You can put heaps of toys on it as well,
but this in itself is a great
and interesting toy for your baby,
so that's something that's free.
You just pull those links off the baby gym
and make them into one of these.
The other toy I really like at this age is the Oball.
It's a really, really lightweight toy.
Again, we know that's really important
because most toys are too heavy for our babies,
so the Oball is really lightweight and it's really squishy,
which is fantastic.
The kids can put it towards their mouth.
The other thing is that, initially,
when your baby's learning to grasp a toy,
they'll use kind of this side of their hand,
and their thumb will be in,
so they'll kind of use the ulnar side of their hand,
and then they start to kind of yank the toy out
from one side to the other,
which works on that transferring or releasing skill.
So, the Oball's a really great way,
because your kid is able to hold it
because there's so many holes
they don't need a precise grip, and they can hold it,
and then they'll be able to work on that
transferring of the toy from one hand to the other.
So, this is pretty much, I would say, the baby gym,
and then this is my next toy that you really should have.
The other toy I'd use is a rattle,
so it's these kind of toys.
It's the handle, the slim handle
so that they can hold the toy, which is amazing,
and it's lightweight so they can actually
move it and rattle it,
and they'll like making lots and lots of noise.
So, I would use a rattle as my next toy.
The other thing you're gonna need at this age is
teething rings.
I do actually like Sophie.
I know she's a bit expensive,
but the thing is, again, it's lightweight,
it's easy to clean,
it has really small bits that the kids
can actually put in their mouth, which is great,
and it makes a squeaky noise,
so you're kind of engaging with the child
with the noise as well,
which they really like.
You could use it to work on tracking initially,
so if your baby's younger and you have it,
then I would just move it from side to side
and make that noise, but it's really lightweight.
They actually can get it into their mouth
and mouth on toys,
which is fantastic when those teeth are coming through.
The other thing is you could look at other teething toys
if you don't want to buy Sophie.
I would look at a teething toy that's round, so again,
that's because your baby will be able
to actually hold it and bring it up to their mouth.
If you look at any other kind of toys,
it's kind of hard to grasp.
So, a round one is easier for your baby
to put it up into their mouth.
The other toy you might want to get is a soft mirror,
and this is to work on that tummy time,
because you put it in front of your baby,
and they enjoy looking at themselves.
I would also look at your play gym,
so my play gym came with a mirror,
which I just used instead of this,
and I just propped it in front of a pillow
so that my baby could see their face
while they're up in tummy time,
and that just avoided needing to buy this,
which I got from a friend.
And the last toy I'd get at this age is just a board book,
so it's a book with thick pages,
and that's really required because your baby's
gonna rip any other kind of book.
So, a thick-paged book is amazing.
The other thing is these books are great
because they have kind of tactile parts on it
so that your baby can rub their hands on it,
so you're not expecting this.
That's not until about 10 months of age,
really 12 months of age is an accurate one.
But what you're wanting your baby
is to rub their hands along it,
and it kind of gives them...
You can talk about how it's rough, how it's smooth,
but these ones are really good
because you can just read to your baby,
and also it's got really colorful pictures,
so I do quite like these ones,
and they'll come in handy, again,
at 10 months and 12 months,
when we're wanting to work on that pointer.
So, those are the toys that I'd recommend,
so it's the baby gym, the Oball,
the rattle,
teething toy of some sort,
and the board book,
and maybe if you want that soft mirror,
but you could also use mirrors around the house,
so that would be totally fine.
Thanks so much for watching.
Remember, there's that free PDF document
in the description box below,
which you can print out and refer to
in your baby's first year of life,
covering their developmental milestones,
and also, if you've liked this video,
give me a thumbs up,
and if you want more videos on parenting tips and tricks
to make your life as parents easier
and give your baby the best start to life,
make sure you subscribe to my channel
and hit that bell button to be notified
when I release a new video every week.
Hopefully I should see you next week,
where I share more parenting tips and tricks.