What could be easier - choose a rattle for a child? But approaching this choice must be very responsible, since it is with the rattle for newborns that the learning process begins. During the first year of life, rattles help the baby in the acquisition of various skills, contribute to his psycho-emotional and physical development.
Rattles for the little ones
The first acquaintance of a newborn child with toys occurs through visual, acoustic and tactile contact. Types of rattles that parents should be guided by when choosing:
- Rattles-pendants. Rattles are suspended above the crib and pram. They can be simple or mobile based with a music module.
- Rattles-bracelets and rattles-socks. Fabric rattles on a tape with Velcro. They are worn on the handle-legs of the baby and helps the development of coordination of movements and muscle activity.
- Rattles-ring (oval, rhombus, square, triangle). Ordinary rattles in the handle of a child.
- Teething Rattles. Rattles designed in teething period. They can be made in the form of a ring or any other form, with or without cooling gel filler, a simple or textured silicone surface. The surface of the teether in contact with the baby’s gums is soft enough not to hurt the gums when pressed, and moderately hard to chew, gnaw and simply “grind” in the mouth (see teething article).
- Rattle-rattle. Soft fabric rattles with various rustling fillers in separate elements.
- Baby rattles. Slingomami often used for entertainment and distraction of a child in a sling, rattles, sling-toys, tied to a sling. A child sitting in a sling for five months or more is busy at this time not with her mother’s hair or earrings, but with a bright and pleasant “taste and touch” baby toy.
In all types of rattles, mono-materials (only plastic, fabric, silicone) or their mixing can be used, which is more interesting and informative for the child. But parents should pay attention not only to which rattle to choose, but also to how to choose the right rattle for the child.
How to choose a rattle?
When buying rattles for the first children’s games, young parents must present the following basic requirements for them:
- Environmental friendliness and safety of the product itself. Rattles should be made of a material safe for the child, not emitting harmful substances. Rattles should not have sharp corners that could injure the baby.They must be strong and withstand the impact of a child with a rattle on various surfaces or falling to the floor.
- Bright colors, various shapes and surface texture. The brighter and more varied the appearance of the rattles, the more interesting they are to a child who is just beginning his knowledge of the world in a playful way.
- Different filler, causing different sounds - crackling, ringing, crunching, rustling, etc. The acoustic effect produced by rattles with beads of various sizes or crispy filler is of great importance here.
- Possibility of cleaning, boiling or washing. The child often pulls rattles in his mouth and throws them to the floor. In this regard, the rattle should withstand almost daily washing or handling.
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At what age should rattles be given?
It is possible and necessary to give rattles to a baby almost from birth.
A newborn baby is able to concentrate attention and lead his eyes behind a bright and thundering object in his mother’s hands from two weeks of age.
Due to the developed grasping reflex, an infant of this age can also keep (but no more) a small rattle of a certain shape in the cam - usually a ring or oval with small objects suspended on it, making a sound when it hits each other.
In the first month of life, the child begins to keep the rattle still unconsciously and reflexively.
When does the child begin to keep the rattle consciously?
One of the first rattles for newborn babies are rattle pendants on a crib or stroller.
They can be either simple or mobile based with or without a music module. Pendant rattles are usually removable and made of fabric or plastic. Such rattles teach a newborn baby to focus on static and moving objects, develop his visual and auditory skills.
Two-month-old baby rattles-pendants need to be hung lower. Waving the handles and touching the rattles, the child will begin to try to reach them and grab earlier. The development of coordination and fine motor skills of the hands begins through tactile sensations.
From about three months of age, the infant begins to consciously hold the rattle-ring in his hand, pull it into his mouth and taste it.
The child begins to pay attention to literally everything - the color, the different sound of the rattle fillers or hanging bells. The child begins to appear addicted to one or another rattle, which contributes to mental and emotional development, helps the development of coordination of movements and muscle activity.
From the age of four months (the age depends on the onset of teething of the first milk teeth), the child begins to hold the teether rattle, chew it and grind it in his mouth.
A five-month-old baby is very attracted to the rustling and crunchy sounds extracted from a rattle-rustler when it comes in contact with the palm of your hand - this is the beginning of the development of causal relationships.
And a child sitting in a sling for five months and older is busy playing with an interesting and pleasant “taste and touch” rattle-baby toy.
Starting from six months of age, the child holds, swings, thunders-rings-rustles-crunches with any rattles independently.
I think rattles are important for children because at their age, sound, speech is formed, but the main thing is that they were not made of harmful plastic!
I have been looking for articles on the subject of rattles for a long time. We are raising a daughter (3 months) with my wife. But we did not know what to navigate when choosing rattles. Thank you for the article.
It seems to me that although plastic is of high quality, it is still dangerous to give such rattles to kids. On the toy there are corners with which you can hurt the gums of children. Another thing is balls on a rope.
Thanks for the info. A very useful article)))
I believe that you need to develop kids from birth! Of course, rattles are good, but musical toys are much more useful! Indeed, despite the fact that the children are still very tiny, they already hear sounds, can view pictures ... Therefore, they need to turn on the music, hang bright toys at a distance of 20-30 cm from their eyes, or put books with large pictures. Since birth, I have been playing music on my mobile with my kids when they fell asleep. We had a Chicco mobile “Magic Stars”. I liked it because the music in it was calming and relaxing. Even during the games, I just turned it on in the background so that the children could listen, because music helps the baby develop and allows you to get a lot of positive emotions))) The mobile still has a projector of the night sky, after 6 months, my daughter looked at the picture changing on the ceiling with pleasure. The toys on the mobile are removable, we still play them. By the way, I really like this mobile: it does not need to be put into a drawer after a child has grown up, but just turns from a mobile into a music projector))) very convenient! Well, the quality is excellent, however, like all Chicco toys, and we have a lot of them ...
This toy appeared in our family when the youngest son turned two months old. It is pleasant to the touch, bright and with many additional developmental functions. It immediately attracts attention. In the zebra’s tummy there is a plastic container with rattling colorful balls. It can be rotated and watch how they roll around inside. The handle-legs are made of soft plastic, which is so convenient to put into your mouth, suck and chew. This is especially true during teething. There is also a small safe mirror. The son rated it already at the age of 5 months. The suspension is fastened easily to any crib-stroller-stools. Now Vanya is already a year and eight, but he still picks up this “baby” toy. We are very happy with the purchase and recommend the Chicco rattle “Zebra” to other parents.