What to Look For When Choosing Toys For 3 Month Old Babies?
These are the key things to look for when choosing toys for 3 month old babies:
Age Appropriate
It’s really important to ensure that the toys you choose are appropriate for their age and skill level.
Before choosing toys, let’s consider what they can do at this age. At 3 months old, your little one should be able to:
- Reach for and bat toys
- Hold toys briefly
- Keep their head in the middle of their body when lying on their back
- Hold their head upright when sitting
- Roll from their side to their back
- Lift their head to 45-90 degrees when lying on their tummy
- Bring their hands to their mouth and middle of body
These skills are based on developmental milestones expected at 3 months. To see all of the expected developmental milestones from 0-12 months, click here to grab a free copy of our developmental milestones chart.
Selecting toys that are appropriate for this level of fine and gross motor development means your child will be able to use them and interact with them as intended. This means they’ll get the most benefit and enjoyment from them.
Developmentally Beneficial
Your baby is developing rapidly throughout the first year of life. Selecting toys that foster healthy fine motor development, gross motor development, as well as cognitive development is a great way to give your little one the best start possible.
Developmentally beneficial toys assist in one of more of these important aspects of your baby’s development.
Each of the toys below are developmentally beneficial for your three month old, as well as babies up to six months of age.
Safe
Safety is a really important aspect to consider when choosing toys at any age. It’s easy to assume that if a toy wasn’t safe it wouldn’t be available for sale, but sadly that isn’t always true. It’s up to us to ensure that the toys we choose are safe for a 3 month old.
Here are some key things to look for when determining if a toy is safe:
- Avoid anything will small parts that can break off or be removed
- Stick to toys that are light weight if they are something your little one may be able to hold and/or pick up. Babies will often drop things on themselves at this age, and if it’s heavy it may hurt them.
- Try to avoid hard toys, and toys with points for the reason above. If there’s a chance of them dropping it on themselves, hard toys can hurt your little one.
- Stick to materials that are baby-safe. Ensure they use non-toxic materials and paint, and are BPA free if made of plastic.
Each of the toys listed below are safe for 3 to 6 month old children.
Useable For An Extended Period of Time
The best toys for 3 month old’s, or any age at all, will ideally last as long as possible.
The toys we’ve selected in this list are all excellent for fun and healthy development for quite a long period of time, meaning you’ll get great value out of each of them as well.
1. Baby Play Gym
A baby play gym is one of my “must-have”, best toys for 3 month old babies.
At three months old your baby is getting really interactive, and they’re starting to reach out and bat toys.
Then at around four months old they’ll be able to hold toys for longer periods of time. And at around five months old they’ll begin to change hands when they’re holding toys.
Baby play gyms are versatile toys that facilitate each of these activities and help your baby develop each of these crucial skills.
By placing your baby on their back underneath the play gym they have the opportunity to bat at the hanging toys, and then progress to holding and passing toys between their tiny hands using this one versatile piece of equipment.
Your baby will also start learning to roll over at this stage, the toys attached to the play gym facilitate that by motivating them to roll, which is really helpful.
Other reasons why baby play gyms are a fantastic toy that will benefit your child’s development:
- They’re usually really colorful, which is fantastic because kids are really interested in those bright colors. They grab and hold their attention.
- Most have removable dangling toys. This means you can mix and match the toys to put the ones they like most in the most easily accessible positions, as well as removing them completely for your little one to hold.
- You can also remove the toys and use the links that attach the toys to the gym to create a chain. This is a wonderful additional toy for six month old babies because they are small, lightweight, and they can easily transfer them between hands.
2. Oball
Another toy I really like at this age is the Oball.
Oball’s are fantastic for developing your baby’s fine motor skills. Babies can hold an Oball from a very young age because there are so many small holes. This means they don’t need a precise grip to be able to grab and hold an Oball. And because they can hold it easily they’ll be able to work on the skill of transferring the toy from one hand to the other.
Babies tend to absolutely love them as well, so you can expect this to keep your little one busy for a long time.
Oballs are also lightweight, which is really important because many toys are too heavy for babies at 3-6 months to hold. It’s also important because it means if they drop it on themselves it won’t hurt.
You can also get a version of the oball with a rattle built-in, to add additional sensory stimulation for your baby.
In addition to the baby gym, this is the other toy I consider a “must-have” at 3-6 months.
3. Rattle
Another fantastic one that always makes my recommendations for best toys for babies at 3-6 months old is a rattle.
You should look for one with a slim handle that is also lightweight. This allows your baby to hold the rattle and move it around easily. Like the Oball, if they drop a rattle on themselves it’s also unlikely to hurt them if it’s nice and light.
Rattles make lots of noise, which is the main appeal for babies and what makes them a fun musical toy.
4. Teething Rings
Teething rings are a fantastic toy for babies who are cutting their first teeth. They’re a safe, gentle way to offer some relief during a painful time.
One of my favorites is Sophie The Giraffe. While she can be on the expensive side, it’s a lightweight, easy to clean teething aid. The other benefit of Sophie The Giraffe is that it has really small knobs that the kids can actually put in their mouth. Many teething rings are too large for smaller mouths which often makes them ineffective.
Sophie also makes a squeaky noise which is engaging and fun for your child, providing some entertainment as well as pain relief.
But the benefits aren’t just for children who are teething. There are many developmental benefits of mouthing. It can also be a great toy for younger children who don’t have teeth coming through yet.
Because it looks interesting and makes a noise, you can also use it to work on visual tracking in young children. To do this, when your baby is younger, simply move it from side to side and squeak the toy to get them to follow it with their eyes.
If you would like an alternative teething toy, I recommend choosing one that’s round in shape. That way your baby will be able to hold it independently and bring it up to their mouth.
5. Soft Mirror
Soft mirrors (also known as a baby safe mirror) are a fantastic attention-grabbing toy for babies, particularly when working on tummy time.
Babies love looking at their reflection. By putting a soft mirror in front of your baby while they’re lying on their tummy it will help keep them entertained and more content while in tummy time.
Play gyms often come with a soft mirror, so if you have a play gym you may already have a soft mirror as well.
If not, soft mirrors are relatively cheap and you can simply prop one against a pillow to use it as mentioned above during tummy time.
6. Board Book
Board books have large, thick pages that babies can’t damage or tear.
These books are fantastic for little ones because they contain lots of fun images with bright colors, but more importantly they have tactile parts that your baby can touch and feel. Often they also make noise when touched as well, which provides even more sensory stimulation.
When your baby is young (before 10-12 months old), you can use these books simply to read to them. Then when they’re able to grab things independently you can start to give them the book to hold and enjoy the sensory benefits.
