There are plenty of educational toys for babies on the market that are made with your child's cognitive development in mind
. Your baby's focus, concentration and problem solving skills will all benefit from toys that are made not only for fun, but to inspire your baby to think and finish set tasks. Building blocks, puzzles and sound recognition toys are the staples of any infant's education.
Building Blocks
Not too many of us have skirted through infancy without a set of building blocks or Lego sets in the early stages of our development. Nobody comes out of the womb as an engineer or scientist. We learn how to use our brains to see between the lines and find solutions to life's problems.
Building blocks teach your baby to start with small objects and make something large out of them. Their focus is honed by having to use their hand/eye coordination to line the blocks up in a way that they won't fall over. They are also one of the cheapest educational toys for babies that can be found on the shelves.
Puzzles
Like building blocks, puzzles train your child to use their hands and eyes to solve problems. Often you'll have to teach by example: Going over the puzzle many times with them and rewarding your baby when they put the pieces together properly. Most parents are initially shocked at how quickly their babies catch on to puzzle concepts.
Sound Recognition Toys
These educational toys for babies start your baby's early social and environmental development. While designs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, sound recognition toys will have a button with a picture of an animal or machine, and when the button is pressed the toy will make the noise associated with the animal or machine.
This type of toy will also get babies who aren't speak yet to form sounds and begin speaking. Most infants will be associating the pictures with sounds within a few short weeks. It's a great idea to have a variety of these types of toys, with several different sounds/pictures for your child to learn with.