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Black, White and Fun Toys
High-contrast Toys for Baby
By Alexandria Powell
Karen Spring's twin boys had a favorite black-and-white toy. Spring, of Deptford, N.J., remembers her sons' fascination with a set of plastic cards on a key ring. "It had different patterns in black and white on it, and both my sons loved holding it, shaking it and looking at the patterns," she says.
You can use the natural appeal of high-contrast patterns to encourage your baby to play. Warner advises using small toys, such as rattles, to help develop visual acuity. "Use a toy that is about the size of a palm, so that it doesn't go out of your baby's range of vision ... hold it about 10 inches away, and move it," says Warner. "This will help promote your child's ability to start tracking, start looking around."
In addition, mobiles are also great for very young infants. Warner advises making sure the mobile's designs are large enough for your baby to see and are pointed in the right direction.
And remember, there's no toy out there that can compete with a loving caregiver. "Best of all are real people who look deeply into [babies'] eyes and talk or coo or sing to them, providing a mixture of visual, auditory, language and social stimulation," says Dr. Eliot.
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