How to choose the right gift for a child

To choose the right gift for a child, you need to start from his age. Most often, toys are given to children under the age of 13.

Buying a toy for a baby is not just a child’s “I want”, but sometimes an important necessity. Through the gift, the child learns the world, gets acquainted with new shapes, colors, and sounds, and develops from different sides.

Depending on the age, the child needs to be given different toys.

From birth to three months

In the first months of the baby’s life, there is a gradual adaptation to a new world: acquaintance with parents, with a new environment, new sensations. In the first month, the baby’s hearing and vision are not fully developed yet, so there is no need to buy bright ringing rattles.

From the second and third months, you can give bright and understandable rattles for the baby’s perception. The kid will look at cute toys, pull handles to them, and gradually he will pick up the toy himself, hold it.

From three months to six months

The baby begins to learn more and more about the world through his hands: he can be given large toys that the baby can hold in his hand: softballs, large cubes.

After six months, the child can sit, begins to crawl, and usually walk for up to a year, actively learns the world through sounds and music. During this period, the child will be interested in musical toys (for example, children’s musical instruments), as well as various sound toys that can move and play. You can also give toys such as:

– toys that can be folded and moved

– soft plush toys

– large blocks and cubes

– bathing toys

– balls

– educational mats and surfaces

Do not forget that a very interesting toy for a child will be what he finds himself in the process of crawling – therefore, limit access to small, sharp, and prickly objects and carefully monitor what objects get in the way of the child. At this age, the child needs to be given more plush and soft toys. A good example would be decorative pillows in the form of cars. 

From 6 months to 1-year-old

The child can move more and more actively in the room, so it’s worth looking at toys that can be pushed and pulled (cars, large trucks and dump trucks). Toys for the formation of spatial thinking and fine motor skills (sorters, pyramids, large puzzles, and cubes of different colors) will be interesting and useful.

In the period after the year, games are based on interaction with others: ball throwing games, exchanging toys, role-playing games with dolls, animals, and cars with other children.

During this period, the child becomes a full-fledged researcher of the surrounding world. He is interested in walking, running, jumping, and dancing. For such purposes, you should purchase active toys (balls, cars on the control panel, trailers, etc.).

From 1 to 3 years old

In this period a good gift will be toys that help develop imagination and logic, as well as take part in role-playing games.

For this age, such toys will be useful:

– constructors with big details

– game scenes with figures

– toys for role-playing games (daughters, mothers, hospital, kindergarten)

– creative toys – finger paints

– cubes with numbers, shapes, or letters

– dolls that can talk, eat and drink

After 3 years old

At this age, children make their first friends, begin to communicate. It is important to purchase toys for joint games, both active and at home:

– creative toys (crayons, plasticine, paints, colored paper, etc.)

– simple board games (card games, memory games)

– toys for skits and role-playing games

– puzzles and constructors (marked 3+)

– sets for creating simple jewelry

– bicycles, running bikes

– play complexes and houses

– memo games (professions, animals, transport)

From 3 to 5 years old

Now you should connect more toys where you need to put some creative and mental effort into playing: puzzles, board games for the whole family, creative kits, Legos, and magnetic blocks.

For those who like to have fun outside, toy weapons (for example, water blasters), balls for sports games, jump ropes, and hoops will be interesting.

It is also worth stocking up on toys by season: for summer, you can look at toys for water, nature walks, in winter – toys for building snow castles, and devices for modeling snowballs.

From 5 to 10 years old

Good gifts will be large puzzles and constructors, railways, sports board games.

For walks, you can buy toys such as kites, crayons for drawing, as well as roller skates, skateboards, skates, and bicycles.

Board games will be useful: table football and hockey, monopoly and business games, card games like Solitaire, and many others.

At any age, buying a book will be useful and necessary.

For kids, it is an alternative to ordinary games (listening to fairy tales, recognizing animals in books, learning simple words from books, and correlating with animals). Older children will be interested in both fiction (fairy tales, short stories) and for study and development (encyclopedias, educational books, ABC books, books with riddles and tasks, etc.).

From 10 to 12 years old

A good gift will be something that correlates with the interests and wishes of the child. For active and athletic children, sports equipment (bicycles, skateboards, balls, hoverboard), electronics (smartwatches and trackers) will be a good gift.

After the age of 13, you can give a teenager designer pillows from the collection Gold Throw Pillows on AllAboutVibe. You can give him a custom pillow with his favorite heroes. 

Be attentive to the wishes of the child and his tastes: if a girl reaches for a typewriter instead of a doll, you should not scold her and force her to play with dolls. This way you will show your child alternative toys without following gender stereotypes.

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By giving a gift to a child, you open his heart, give him the opportunity to get acquainted with the world around him. Make gifts with love.