Lamaze Baby Toys

Lamaze is a company that makes great educational toys for babies. They focus on the development of your baby in six-month steps. The main goal is to offer toys that help the baby discover and explore the world. The company makes use of its own Lamaze Infant Development System. The aim of this system is to help parents choose toys for the proper age of their child. The Lamaze System has three stages of development.

The First Stage: Educational Toys for Newborns

This first stage is all about discovering colors, shapes and sounds; baby just needs things to look at, then start reaching for. The toys from this stage are bold, soft, bright colored, make noise or contain music. For understanding the world, this stage also offers a first mirror toy.

One example of a Lamaze toy at this stage are the wrist rattles and foot finders. These are soft toy rattles that are attached booties and wrist wraps. You put them on baby and it encourages him to look, feel, and try to grab them.

The Second Stage: Educational Toys for Babies Six Months and Up

The main goal of these toys are to stimulate learning and playing. They learn by playing with the toys about the world around them. You can think of toys with different shapes, different sounds and textures. The aim is on the development of motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

A great toy for this stage is the “Octivity Time.” It’s an octopus that has 10 different features to engage baby, from mirrors to rings to starfish that make a clinking noise. Since baby can now sit up, the Octivity can sit in front of him and allow baby to play.

The Third Stage: Educational Toys for Babies Nine Months and Up

Another goal is to stimulate the baby to explore. At this age, object permanence is learned. Basically the baby is learning that just because a toy is out os sight, does not mean it’s gone. The toys for this stage are toys that can be arranged and stacked. The focus is on developing motor skills even further and discover about relationships between items.

The mulit sensory soft sorter has to be one of my favorite toys for this age group. Not only is is soft, unlike other shape sorters so baby can’t get hurt, it’s actually green apple scented! Now baby is not only learning through sight and touch (and most likely taste), but his sense of smell is also engaged. Toys like this are great because the fact that the shapes can only fit one way also begins to teach baby trial and error.

Why Lamaze?

Along with their developmental aimed toys, Lamaze offers several advantages. Because of their system, it is easy for parents to choose the right toys for the age of their child. They also cater to the different things that children like. There is a “My Friend Emily,” doll that is great for a little girl’s first doll. Then there is a giraffe, an octopus, and even a firefly, to name a few. Many of the toys also have a soft book that goes along with them. These are great for infants as it introduces them to books while still accounting for the fact that the book will likely go directly into their mouths.

Another advantage of Lamaze is that they guarantee the safety of their toys. They use what they call a multi-check safety system; the toys are tested and random checks make sure that the toys are safe for babies at all stages of development.

The Lamaze toys are also incredibly affordable. The best prices I have found have been on Amazon, and they also have an excellent variety. Be warned, though; these toys are addicting, and as soon as you buy one you will want them all!