Play gyms are a firm favorite with babies and parents alike.
For babies, the bright shining lights, loud sounds and moving parts of an activity gym present the baby with a rich collection of noises and sights to see. Things they wouldn’t see in their everyday world so far, which, let’s face it probably only consists of close ups of mommy and daddy and assorted friends and family.
Loud whistles and screeching noises, animal noises, fire engine sirens and musical notes give a wonderful collection of different symphonies and sounds that are new to the baby’s ear. As a result this stimulates your young baby’s brain as he starts to get accustomed to these new sounds and noises.
The same goes for the moving parts of activity gyms. Whether they are animals with black and white spiral striped umbrellas or flashing lights that come on when something is pressed, the cause and effect motion that comes with many of these toys is all the more challenging, surprising and fun for new babies and even those who have been playing with these gyms for a few months!
The predictability element then teaches babies that whenever you press this button, the light goes on. Or whenever you press button B, it makes a sound like a farm animal. Your child will go from learning sounds that are new to being able to predict what happens next when a certain action is performed.
So, you can see that these activity gyms for babies offer so much for growing minds with their multi-sensory play opportunities. Babies love baby mobiles too and can happily spend a long time watching the baby mobiles gently spinning above their crib, listening to the musical tunes and lullabies and watchin the characters spinning around.
Many parents start playing with activity gyms for babies at around the age of 4 months. Some start earlier, even at 2 months. Although your baby cannot roll from side to side, or lift its head up at this age, the activity gym serves as a great plaything for a little baby lying on its back and having plenty to entertain him with an activity gym hanging up above him or her. This is also a good way of keeping the baby amused and entertained and gives mommy some time to herself.