In an effort to not become cluttered with baby items I put a lot of careful consideration into my choices.  I did not register for a full size high chair, borrowed a friend’s old travel swing and bought an Infantino playmat that folds up to be stored to save on floor space.

This morning I was thinking of a way to entertain my 2 1/2 month old so that I could get a few household chores done in his presence with the use of my own two hands! So I decided to open up the First Years “Infant to Toddler Feeder Seat.” Don’t let the name fool you, he’s not ready for food for another two months or so, but he’ll get a great deal of use of this item before then, I know it! Love it already and so doesn’t Gavin.

Within two minutes it was hooked up to my dining room chair with two straps. I would suggest a towel underneath it to cover your chair for later on when food is introduced. The seat has three positions, so I reclined it all the way back.  At 2 1/2 months, Gavin is doing well developing his trunk (midesection) strength, but he does not have the ability to sit straight up just yet without my help or side (lateral) support. Being reclined, this helps him to be well positioned so he can use his hands to play.  As his strength improves he’ll progress to a more upright position. I put him in the seat with the tray and put a few of his favorite rattles in front of him.

Voila! The recline of the tray puts the items in a better perspective for him to view them and he entertained himself for a good 20 minutes banging away at the toys.  Not to mention he played so hard and so well he’s napping and you’ve got the benefit of this blog post, too!

Check out the new rattle on the tray he got for the holidays.  Sassy has just revamped their infant rattle line and this is one of the three that I purchased at Babies R Us.  Love it! It has a spinning ball on the inside that lights up when you barely hit it, which is great for teaching simple cause and effect at such a young age.  He can easily spin the ball already if I hold it up for him and the light is great in my diaper bag when looking for smaller items that may have been hidden. My friend’s 6 year old enjoyed it as well over the holidays pretending it was an airplane and a rolling car!

So don’t let the young age of your infant and the name of the tools fool you, just because it is a “Feeder Seat” doesn’t mean it can’t be used for entertainment and fun too!

Lauri Pegboard – Click to watch in HD
Using the Lauri Pegboard works on grasp and release patterns with children over the age of 18 months. These colorful pegs are placed into the foam board. The pegs stack on top of one another to work on building a tall tower, which can promote upper extremity strength, control, and coordination. This pegboard also promotes index finger isolation, which is a skill required to point and ultimately assist children with pointing to different items in the room. Many children enjoy using their index finger to poke the pegs from back to front. Older children can work on patterning, where you create a pattern and they complete it. These pegs are also great for simple math. Some children enjoy it when you fill up the entire pegboard and pretend it’s a birthday cake. Make sure to sing Happy Birthday and blow the candles out! www.toyqueen.com

Small World Toys three piece farm animal puzzle review by Toyqueen. Showing the extra benefits that include grasping techniques and more.
For children 12-18 months, these three piece puzzles from Small World Toys are great way to promote puzzles. Small World Toys makes nice beginner puzzles with only 3 pictures and there is a visual reference underneath. Children will learn the skill by matching the piece to the actual location. For younger smaller hands, they have larger handles to hold onto as it does not take as much skill to rotate the piece into the puzzle. You may need to use hand over hand assistance, where you place your hand over your child’s and teach them to guide the piece into the puzzle. This allows you the opportunity to teach the skill of how to complete a puzzle. It may be helpful if you cover over the pieces they are not working on, so they are not visually distracted and can focus on the piece you provide them. Incorporate language into puzzles by singing songs like Old McDonald Had a Farm, give them the piece, sing the song together, and assist the child with putting in the piece before you sing the next line and move onto the next pieces. This makes the puzzle interactive. Keep extra containers from around the house handy for storage of the pieces. www.toyqueen.com

http://tinyurl.com/2p9yhe

Fool proof swaddling! You can keep the top swaddled to change a diaper, or even swaddle the baby while in the swing or in the car seat! Swaddling provides nice firm input, similar to that of being in the womb, which can help your baby remain calm and focused during feeding, sleeping and interacting.

Sleep Sheep- $25.00
http://www.cloudb.com/ssandf/sheep.html

This adorable little lamb attaches to the crib and plays different selections of soothing music for baby to fall asleep with as part of their nighttime and naptime routines. Helps to promote self-calming.

I believe these are some of the smaller “hidden gems” of the Baby Registry that may tend to get overshadowed by the bigger ticket items. These suggestions are a bit more cost-effective for gift giving on a lighter budget.

Check the site regularly, every Monday during the month of August, I’ll post some of my favorites.

For the Car:

Fisher-Price Precious Planet Auto Mobile Mirror – $25.00
http://tinyurl.com/md55eq

Not only can your baby entertain themselves by seeing their reflection in the mirror while riding in the car and watching the animals dangling above them, how ingenious that it provides the parent driving the car with a clear view of their face to determine whether they are asleep, awake, or have lost their pacifier!

Infantino Tag Along Chimes – $6.49
http://tinyurl.com/n4v9ms

These adorable little guys can dangle from your car seat or attach to links on an activity mat. They are great for visual tracking and eventually they will encourage your child to advance their hand skills to try and reach out and grasp at them.

In creating my own baby registry I have found the Fisher-Price Miracles & Milestones – Animal Friends Musical Gym. It is multi-functional and incorporates a tummy time mat with an activity arch and takes up half the space other floor mats typically need. Not to mention it’s at an affordable price point of under $30, which is a perfect gift price.

Other suggestions to keep in mind with tummy time:

1. Always supervise your baby during tummy time, monitoring to make sure that items such as blankets are not in front of their face obstructing their breathing.

2. I would not recommend scheduling your tummy time right after a mealtime. Make sure your baby has had plenty of time to digest before they have their exercise session or they may vomit, which may continue to provide negative feedback regarding the activity.

3. Monitor how long your child is able to remain on their belly and gradually increase the time, aiming to end the activity when they are happy rather than crying uncontrollably.

4. Place your hand on the small of their back, near their bottom, when they are on their tummy. This provides them with support to their lower body, allowing them to focus on lifting only their heads.

5. Roll up a receiving blanket and place it underneath their shoulders for more stability.

6. Have your spouse, significant other or a sibling lie down on the floor directly in front of them to provide a more interactive form of entertainment.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics

Excellent toy for children 15 months through elementary school age is Leap Frog Fridge Phonics. The console attaches to any magnetic surface such as a door or refridgerator. Every letter of the alphabet is magnetic, when you place the letter in the console it will tell you the letter and what isolated sound the letter makes. This game is great for working on developing sounds in isolation and for those children that may have articulation disorder with developing isolated sounds. It can also be helpful for young children who are working on their standing balance as they manipulate the pieces while standing at the refrigerator. Fine motor skills are promoted to rotate the pieces into the console. Find this toy at www.leapfrog.com.

Cranium Hullabaloo

Great for children ages 2 through elementary school that like to move to learn and need sensory input on rainy and snowy days is Cranium Hullabaloo. There are 16 different play pads of different shape and color positioned all over the living space. The console will describe how to move from shape to shape by running, jumping, twirling. Great for kids that like to move to learn, crave a lot of sensory input and learning to follow multi-step directions. This educational game for kids from Hasbro can be found at www.cranium.com or www.hasbro.com.

Cranium Cariboo

An excellent game choice for kids ages 24 months through elementary school is Cranium Cariboo. This game is great for turn taking and for households with siblings who are different age ranges. Different balls are placed in the top and they will randomly hide in behind a compartment. Children pick different cards that will cue them to open a specific compartment. Skills addressed are matching, color recognition, letter recognition, and number recognition. When a ball is found, the item is placed on the side compartment, the winner is identified when the treasure chest opens. This game is also great for children who are learning to develop their grasping skills while holding the key, as this is a precursor for handwriting. Cranim Cariboo is an educational game that  can be found at www.cranium.com or www.hasbro.com