Newborn baby toys (0 to 6 months)

In the first three months a baby is learning to look. The eyes focus at roughly the distance from your elbow to your wrist, bold edges hold attention far longer than pastel colours, and a face is the most interesting thing in the room. Toys for this stage are things to look at and, from about 2 months, things to swipe at: a set of high contrast cards propped where your baby lies, a cloth book with crinkle pages for tummy time, a baby-safe mirror, and light hanging balls or a ribbon teether above the mat. Around 2 to 3 months the reflex grasp starts to relax, so a slim rattle placed in the palm becomes the first toy a baby holds on purpose.

Between 3 and 6 months the hands take over. Your baby reaches, grabs, brings everything to the mouth and, by 5 or 6 months, passes a toy from one hand to the other. Head control is strong enough for longer tummy time and rolling begins. The best toys for infants at 3 months are light enough to hold, safe to chew and rewarding to move: the rolling drum rattle in neem wood, with colourful balls inside, rolls away and asks to be chased; the egg shakers answer every shake with a sound; the banana busy beads rattle wobbles when it is pushed. Add the neem teether set from 3 months, when most babies start gnawing on whatever they hold, and the sensory texture mat, seven textures in one mat, for tummy time, back time and early sitting.

Tummy time builds the neck, shoulder and core strength a baby needs for rolling, sitting and crawling, and most babies take to it far better with something worth lifting the head for. Stand the high contrast flashcards upright in front of your baby: the set has 16 double-sided cards, 8 simple patterns for the first weeks and 8 complex ones for when the eyes are ready, plus a baby-safe mirror and a play guide. Around 2 months switch in the colourful flashcards, 10 cards in red, blue, green and dark patterns for the stage when colour vision develops. The balancing wobbler rocks when it is tapped and rewards every lift of the head, and the hand mirror gives your baby the one face they find most fascinating: their own.

A play gym is a bar or arch that holds toys above a baby lying on the back, and it earns its place between 2 and 5 months, when swiping turns into reaching and reaching turns into grabbing. What matters is what hangs from it. The hanging balls are rainbow wooden balls on a secure hanging attachment, set at graded heights so the first tap is easy and the next one asks for a bigger stretch. The rainbow ribbon teether, a beech wood ring with seven ribbons, hangs from a cot or a play gym and comes down later to be a handheld teether. Every hanging piece, with the cards and teethers that go with a gym, is in play gym attachments.

Infant brain development toys for the first six months are the simplest ones on this page. A newborn's brain is wiring up sight and touch first, so high contrast cards held 20 to 30 cm from the face, a cloth book with crinkle pages, and a wobbler or rattle that answers a bump with movement or sound do the real work. One action, one result, repeated daily, is how a baby learns that their body makes things happen. Every stage from newborn to 6 years, with the reason each toy belongs there, is laid out on our brain development toys by age page.

Educational toys for a newborn teach through the senses: contrast to look at, texture to feel, sound to turn towards, and a face in a mirror to study. The high contrast flashcards with mirror, the jungle cloth book with its neem teether ring, the egg shakers and the sensory texture mat each cover one of those senses, and the 0 to 6 months toy box puts them together with a month-by-month guidebook. Keep sessions short, a few minutes at a time while the baby is calm and alert, and stop when they look away; that is the lesson ending on its own terms.

Four checks cover almost everything. Size: a newborn toy should be big enough to stay outside the mouth and light enough for a weak grasp, which is why our rattles and teethers are small wooden pieces with smooth, rounded shapes. Material: natural neem and beech wood with a smooth finish is safe to mouth and easy to wipe clean, and cloth pieces should be washable. Contrast: for the first 3 months choose black and white over pastels, then bring in strong reds, blues and greens. One thing at a time: a baby this age learns more from one toy offered for a few minutes than from a mobile of ten, so rotate three or four pieces through the week. Stay within arm's reach during tummy time and any play with a hanging toy.

1. High Contrast Flashcards with Mirror: the first toy to buy, 16 double-sided cards that go from simple to complex as vision develops, with a baby-safe mirror and a play guide, from birth to 6 months.
2. High Contrast Jungle Cloth Book: crinkle pages in bold black and white with a natural neem teether ring attached, so looking, touching and gum relief happen in one soft piece, from birth to 12 months.
3. Hanging Balls: rainbow wooden balls at graded heights that clink when tapped, the piece that turns random swipes into aimed reaches, from 2 to 12 months.
4. Balancing Wobbler: a wooden wobbler that rocks back every time it is pushed, the simplest way to make tummy time worth the effort, from 2 to 12 months.
5. Neem Teether Set of 4: an interlocking disc, a ring, a hexagon and a classic teether in BIS approved neem wood, for sore gums and hand-to-hand passing practice, from 3 months.

For a baby shower, naming ceremony or godh bharai, the 0 to 6 Months Toy Box is one gift that covers the whole half year, built high contrast first and paired with a month-by-month guidebook, so the parents know what to bring out and when. The Reading Roots Kit puts a sensory cloth book, a board book set, flashcards with mirror and a parenting guide book in one box for a family that reads. For a smaller gift, pair the cloth book with the neem teether set. More ideas by age are in gifts for a 6 month old baby and toy boxes and kits.