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Help! Our baby is bored! Can anyone recommend some good toys for us to get? We are on a tight budget, so we can't really afford $50-$100 super gizmos. Thanks!
just get some of those soft blocks, or musical baby toys. there are so many i could hardly name them all. walmart has a good selection of them and even getting a few would not cost you $50
For a nine month old should be easy but whatever you get should NOT be made in china due to the lead paint issues. If you're looking to get sit up activity centers, that's what will cost you more $$. You can also seek out some flea markets or yard sales and then thoroughly clean them with a bleach-water mix + some anti-bacterial hand soap. That's what my wife does because we have 13 grandkids and some are toddlers. Good luck.
Help! Our baby is bored! Can anyone recommend some good toys for us to get? We are on a tight budget, so we can't really afford $50-$100 super gizmos. Thanks!
Your baby is not bored
Your baby is 9 months old. The attention span of an infant is close to miniscule, especially as they move into the older months.
Right now, your child is starting to grasp the concept of things & since the mind is still developing, there is only so much he/she can concentrate on for so long before they move on to the next thing. They get overstimulated & have no idea how to handle it, so they cry or whine or have a reaction that makes mom & dad take note. So, what appears as "boredom" is just their way of telling you they are done with what they are doing & need either some down time or time with you or just something different.
Toys are not the solution and even if you bought your child every toy in the store, he/she would appear bored in a matter of hours.
Our #1 had no attention span at that age. Our #2 (who is almost 9 months) appears to be more engaged in "playing" and has a longer attention span but we believe that is b/c he sees what his brother is doing & wants to join in, etc.
As for toys, our sons ADORE the Little People line by Fisher Price. Not that expensive & just really encourages imagination & development.
I learned this trick from a day care provider: take some toys & out them away for awhile. After a few months, reintroduce them. Your child will find it very "new". Also, change how the toys are set up. If you have a play area, rearrange the area every few months. This is like a whole new world to the child.
So, while you can go out & buy your child a new toy, remember that their attention span is just there & while it may be "new" for them for a few hours or days, it is going to wear off at this age.
They want attention & interaction at 9 months. Good luck
Around here we have these big twice-a-year consignment sales. I got a ton of stuff for very little money there, and I go every time.
Around that age my daughter started to really like little balls. We had a toy where you put the ball in a track at the top and it rolls down the track all around in a circle and then comes out the bottom for baby to pick up again. That one was a big hit and it encouraged her to crawl to go get the balls. (She wasn't really crawling before that)
I also agree with the above poster that you have to switch up the toys to keep them "new", and of course personal attention and interaction is crucial!
you have a treasure trove of 'toys' already in your house and may not realize it...stuff lke measuring spoons, old keys on a key ring, plastic containers,..pretty much anything the baby can't swallow or get lodged in his mouth..use your imagination!
Board books are always good. Both my girls really enjoyed being read to starting around 9 months. My younger one, who is 14 months, also really enjoyed/enjoys playing with random household objects. She does like toys, but she really gets into exploring the kitchen cabinets, leafing through and ripping catalogs, emptying and filling containers. That kind of thing
I am with crazyma on this one. When I was getting my bachelor's in child development we made almost everything we used in our center. It was a lot of fun and amazing to see how the children responded to things!
We always used a toilet paper roll and if something could fit in that, it is a choking hazard. Just be sure not to use anything to small! Good luck and you sound like a wonderful parent!
Have you seen the Mr. Whoozit? It is one ugly toy but all of my kids have loved them! There are also those activity push toys that can fold down into a compact toy and then grow with the child into the walker.
My kids have always loved rolling balls back and forth to us. Then they will chase them and just crack up.
Your baby is 9 months old. The attention span of an infant is close to miniscule, especially as they move into the older months.
Right now, your child is starting to grasp the concept of things & since the mind is still developing, there is only so much he/she can concentrate on for so long before they move on to the next thing. They get overstimulated & have no idea how to handle it, so they cry or whine or have a reaction that makes mom & dad take note. So, what appears as "boredom" is just their way of telling you they are done with what they are doing & need either some down time or time with you or just something different.
Toys are not the solution and even if you bought your child every toy in the store, he/she would appear bored in a matter of hours.
Our #1 had no attention span at that age. Our #2 (who is almost 9 months) appears to be more engaged in "playing" and has a longer attention span but we believe that is b/c he sees what his brother is doing & wants to join in, etc.
As for toys, our sons ADORE the Little People line by Fisher Price. Not that expensive & just really encourages imagination & development.
I learned this trick from a day care provider: take some toys & out them away for awhile. After a few months, reintroduce them. Your child will find it very "new". Also, change how the toys are set up. If you have a play area, rearrange the area every few months. This is like a whole new world to the child.
So, while you can go out & buy your child a new toy, remember that their attention span is just there & while it may be "new" for them for a few hours or days, it is going to wear off at this age.
They want attention & interaction at 9 months. Good luck
I've certainly noticed this with our 4 mo. old twins. One has more concentration than the other, but 10-15 min. of any activity is about all they'll take. I read to them already once in a while, and usually they're attentive and like it. Then there's tummy time, that "baby gym" with music and lights, rattles, bouncy seats, rockers, rides in the stroller, just talkint to them, and if they're fed, changed, and still whiny, it's probably nap time!
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