Essential newborn toys to add to your baby registry

You might wonder whether a brand-new baby even needs toys—especially since newborns spend most of their days sleeping and feeding. What does newborn play even look like?

In the early weeks of life, your baby will be awake and alert for brief periods. This is when you can help them take in sensory information and learn from it. The best newborn toys are designed to engage your baby’s senses in just the right way and help them focus their eyes, stretch and move their limbs, and begin to discover how their world works. Here are the newborn toy essentials to add to your baby registry that will support your baby’s development. 

1. A play gym that grows with your baby

A high-quality play gym is a must-have baby registry item for tummy time and early motor development. The award-winning Lovevery Play Gym is designed with five developmental zones to support new skills at every stage. In the Learn to Focus Zone, the High Contrast Cards and photos of adorable babies can help keep your newborn engaged during tummy time. As their motor coordination develops, your baby will love exploring the different textured tabs in the How Things Feel Zone. The newly updated Making Sounds Zone is the spot for your baby to discover cause and effect, with chimes, rattles and crinkles that sound as they press or kick the fabric squares. Around 5 months, when your baby begins to see colors more clearly, playing with the soft tabs in the Exploring Colors Zone gives them hands-on sensory experience. Starting around 7 months, the Hiding and Finding Zone helps your baby learn about object permanence. And when your toddler is ready for a secret play space of their own, the Play Space Cover transforms the frame into a play tent.

2. High-contrast playthings for vision development

Black and white images

Your newborn will be especially drawn to high-contrast images as their vision develops. The Black and White Card Set in The Looker Play Kit provides just the right amount of stimulation for your newborn’s brain. A more complex set of cards is also included to offer more visual interest as your baby grows.

Black and white mittens

Around 2 to 3 months, your baby will begin to discover that their hands are theirs and that they can move them intentionally. This is an important first step toward eventually learning to grasp objects. The high-contrast fabric of the Black and White Mittens in The Looker Play Kit will help draw your baby’s attention to their hands while preventing scratches from tiny fingernails.

3. Rattles for early sensory play 

Classic rattle

A classic baby rattle is a great way to capture your baby’s attention and help them start to track sounds. You can shake it fast, slow, loud, and soft to introduce them to the basics of music and rhythm. The Wooden Rattle from The Charmer Play Kit is designed so that your baby can grasp it when placed in their palm—a precursor skill to grasping independently.

Rolling rattle

As your newborn does tummy time, try shaking the Montessori Rolling Rattle to encourage them to lift their head. Once they learn to push up in tummy time, you can roll it in front of them to follow with their eyes. These are just two of the ways you can use this versatile plaything to build new skills.

4. Toys to encourage grasping development 

Sensory ball

At first, your baby will primarily learn about the world through their hands and mouth. A textured toy like the Sensory Ball that they can easily hold and mouth provides engaging sensory input. They can also use it to practice bringing their hands to the midline of their body, an important early developmental skill.

Montessori ball

It will be a while before your baby can play catch, but a simple Montessori Ball can be used to make tummy time or sitting in a stroller a lot more interesting. The multi-textured, indented design encourages your baby’s fine motor development because it’s easier to grasp and hold than a solid ball.  

5. Teethers for oral exploration and mouthing

Experts encourage letting babies mouth different textures in order to support their oral motor development, strengthening their muscles for speech development and eating solid foods. The Silicone Triple Teether & Organic Teething Cloth and Natural Rubber Triangle Teether from The Charmer Play Kit offer your baby a range of different shapes and textures to explore with their mouth, from soothing bamboo and cotton blend cloths to the satisfying resilience of natural rubber.

6. A mobile for visual stimulation

For the first few months, your baby will be working on strengthening their eye muscles and learning to focus. One side of The Mobile from The Looker Play Kit has a high-contrast black-and-white design that will catch your newborn’s attention and offers just the right amount of visual stimulation. As your baby’s vision matures, you can change The Mobile to the colorful side to provide a little more visual interest without overwhelming their senses.

7. Books for early language development

Board books

Talking to your baby is one of the most important things you can do to spark their brain development. Even though they can’t understand what you’re saying yet, their brain is laying the groundwork for acquiring language. But how do you keep the conversation going with someone who can’t talk back? The “Talking” book in The Charmer Play Kit offers a variety of simple prompts to help you get started. 
It’s never too early to begin reading together—even as a newborn, they will love hearing the sound of your voice and cuddling close during story time. Books like “Life Around Me,” available as an add-on to your Lovevery Play Kit subscription, engage your baby’s interest with real-life photos that you can label and describe as you read.

Wooden books

Books with realistic illustrations, like the Colorful Animals Wooden Book, are not only beautiful but support visual development with bright colors and simple images. As you introduce each animal by their name and color, you also help build language skills through sound, rhythm, color association, and new vocabulary: “The ladybug is red. The duck is yellow.”

8. On-the-go toys to keep your baby engaged and happy

Attachable toys

Distraction can be a helpful technique for keeping your baby happy in the car. Soft sensory toys that can attach to their car seat are ideal for on the go. The Sensory Links from The Looker Play Kit are not only soft, the high-contrast patterns on the fabric make them easy for a young baby to see. You can rattle, crinkle, and squeak them to keep your baby entertained. 

Sensory book 

Soft books offer your baby a chance to engage in multisensory play. With the Soft Book from The Charmer Play Kit, your baby can touch the crinkle fabric, hear the squeaker and view the interesting black and white images that you can change out of the card slot. All these sensory experiences encourage the development of new brain connections.

Learn how to gift the Lovevery Play Kits or add Lovevery to your Babylist, Target, or Amazon baby registry.