When your baby is very young, he will spend most of the time laying down in the crib. He can either sleep, or just look around while being in there.
His eyes will get used to the light, will be able to tell the differences between black and white, then different colors, shapes and faces.
Don’t just let him stare at the white ceiling. Research from the likes of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, amongst others, has shown that in the first few months of life, a newborn baby can see primarily in shades of black, grey and white. Those colors send strong visual signals to a baby's brain, which means brain growth and visual development.
The older your baby gets, the more colors and shapes he can recognize. If you keep introducing more new things for him, the faster and the more he can learn.
Crib safe toys can play a great role in boosting baby development by introducing colors and shapes for babies at a young age. You can either buy or create some crib safe toys yourself.
In this article, we are going to review some of the best crib safe toys for babies, from newborn to toddler and introduce some of the toys you can make yourself.
Crib toys must be safe for babies
Let me cut it to the chase. Getting crib toys for your baby can be very dangerous if your baby is too young and can't turn himself back.
At that time, all soft items, including pillows, soft toys, blankets and crib bumper are a big no no. Instead, you want to be there and hold the toys, or at least supervise the toys all the time.
But when your baby passes this phase, you can start introducing crib safe toys for him.
Toys help build imagination, creativity, and are a source of fun and entertainment. Some toys have musicals and melodies to soothe your baby to sleep.
Crib safe toys for infant
Newborn babies take some time to tell the differences between day and night. They cannot recognize colors yet. Your baby can see the high contrast toys better than normal toys.
Besides from some high contrast toys, you can also introduce some music or sounds to him.
Researches have shown that music is good for babies even when they are in the womb. Babies develop their listening skills before they are born. Therefore, for infants, you should not give them any soft toys or put toys on their cribs. The best thing you can do for them is to get them some white noise machines.
Not only does white noise calm babies down, but it also eliminates other sounds from the environment which can wake up babies.
Pure Enrichment Baby Cloud Portable Sound Machine and Color-Changing Night Light
This Pure Enrichment Baby white noise machine offers 15 soothing sleep sounds, with different colors so that you can create a light that is most suitable for your baby.
What’s more, it has a short velcro strap so that you can attach it anywhere to the crib.
What we like
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MyBaby Soundspa On-The-Go - Portable White Noise Machine
Another affordable white noise machine, it solely focuses on the white noise. It has 4 different soothing sleep sounds with adjustable volume.
The adjustable clip attaches to strollers, diaper bags, car seats, and more, and it’s small and lightweight enough to slip into a purse. The auto-off timer can be set to 15, 30, or 45 minutes, making it perfect for naptime!
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Tiny Love Classic Mobile
Good things can come in two. This Tiny Love Classic Mobile has high contrast fabric colors to develop your baby’s eyes while play calming melodies to put your baby to sleep.
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This is not an old fashioned crib toy. It’s a high-tech and class crib safe toys for mobile. It comes with toys, night light and soothing pictures that can help to provide comfort for your little one.
It’s remote-controlled, with 20-, 40- and 60-minute timer options to customize the songs, melodies, instrumental tunes and nature sounds to baby’s sleep needs.
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Tiny Love Meadow Days Take Along Mobile
This crib toy comes in a several color options for your choice. It can be used on cribs, strollers, bassinets and more. The spinning toys visually stimulate and delight baby while 30 minutes of uninterrupted music entertains and introduces language skill for your baby.
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Crib safe toys- hanging
VX-star Baby Travel Play Arch
This is a great crib toy for babies as they are good to use with cribs, or strollers and bouncers. It helps to develop the ability of the baby's tactile senses and hand-eye coordination naturally.
It is worth the money. The animals are designed differently as a squeaky toy, a rattling ball and rattling toy with teethers. This versatile activity toy is also ideal for encouraging baby to reach, pull and squeeze, which helps strengthen developing muscles.
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Every day is sunny with this plush, toy-filled baby crib toy. The soft spiral effortlessly wraps around any crib railing, which comes in handy when parents have no extra hands. Four soft toys offer different delights for the baby’s budding senses.
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Crib safe toys - others
Manhattan Toy Winkel Rattle & Sensory Teether Toy
This mesmerizing maze of safe, soft, continuous tubes is a perfect baby teething toy. It doesn’t only promote clutching and two-handed play, but also contain a pleasing rattle sound.
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Make some Montessori crib toys for your baby
If you are tight on the budget but you still want your baby to benefit from early education, you can create crib safe toys for your baby.
There are many education methods, it’s up to you to choose which one to go for and apply.
I used this book “Montessori for Toddler: 3 books in 1: A parent's guide to discover and understand the Montessori Method - 100+ activities for toddlers at home - How to create a Montessori toddler environment at home” to create the first crib toys for my baby.
There are plenty of books teaching how to make toys, you can follow and create your toys for your little one.
Final thought
Getting crib toys for your baby is challenging. You want it to be fun, educational and most importantly, safe.
With the suggestions above, you can either opt to buy some crib safe toys for your little one. Or even better, create one for your baby.
But you need to take action right away. Soon enough, your baby won’t use the crib anymore. Soon enough, your baby will outgrow all of these toys.
Make wise and economic choice, so that both your baby and your wallet are happy.