Playing is a huge part which contributes to a baby’s development. And stacking toys for babies are toys which boost their fine motor skills and improve their creativity. Babies discover ways to manipulate objects in their surroundings with these simple toys. Moreover, they learn to control their fingers and hand movements as well.
Such fine movements will be useful for them in many tasks later in life such as handwriting, reading, using scissors and just about doing anything with their hands. Give the stacking blocks or rings to your infant to hold them and get familiar with them at around six months. With time, they’ll begin to stack one piece on top of another and take pleasure in building a tower and breaking it.
In This Article
- What Are Stacking Toys?
- When Can I Introduce Stacking Toys For Babies?
- Why Are Stacking Blocks Important For Babies?
- Top 9 Developmental Benefits of Stacking Toys For Babies
- What Can be Used For Stacking Aside From Stacking Toys?
- FAQ’s
What Are Stacking Toys?
Stacking toys are simply toys that you can stack one on top of another. You may have seen or played with ABC Wooden toys or stacking rings during your childhood days. These blocks or rings are balanced on top of each other. And the reason they are still on trend and never seem to go out of date is because of their irreplaceable benefits. They act as a huge support on your baby’s journey to learn balancing, motor skills, cognitive skills and so on.
When Can I Introduce Stacking Toys For Babies?
First, you’ll need to introduce your baby to all the blocks or rings of the stacking toys. This happens at around 6 months; they learn how to grasp the pieces with their palm.
And slowly after around 12 months, they start to put one piece on top of the other. They begin to understand how the pieces behave in relation to each other, and their hands themselves.
You should guide them on how to stack toys, and once they hit nearly the 22nd month they’ll stack even more toys. And finally, your two-year-old baby will be able to stack an entire building.
Remember, babies under 12 months do not have the skill set to stack efficiently. Your baby may simply pick the pieces and throw them around. It is too early to worry that your baby is not stacking yet. Let your baby get familiar with the pieces and play with it. Let them understand the shapes and colors. You can slowly show your baby how it is done by sitting and playing with them. Slowly, when at the right age, your baby will be able to stack and surprise you with their skills.
Why Are Stacking Blocks Important For Babies?
Stacking toys for babies open the doors to learning to control their grasp. And while they balance or mount pieces on each other, their visual and spatial perception develops. This is because they are seeing what it takes to place one piece above the other – how they need to control their bodies, and how objects behave when touched by one another.
For instance, what happens if they throw an object at another and how will a piece act if touched lightly? As you can see, this is crucial for manipulating objects – handwriting, using scissors, reading, and even walking.
[Read : When Will My Baby Develop The Pincer Grasp?]
Top 9 Developmental Benefits of Stacking Toys For Babies
Stacking toys are a big hit for improving your baby’s fine motor skills, creativity, and visual and spatial perception.
Here are some of the important benefits of stacking toys for your baby.
1. Help Develop Babies’ Fine Motor Skills
Babies, with the help of stacking toys, get to know how to hold and release things using their hands, with intention. Further, their ability to move and control their fingers increases rapidly as well. At first, babies should play with larger pieces since they don’t have a finer grasp. Slowly, introduce them to small stacking toys which will challenge their grasping skills.
[Read : Baby’s Fine Motor Skill Development]
2. Help Develop Babies’ Gross Motor Skills
In order to sit balanced and stack toys one on top of another, a baby needs a strong body core and gross motor skills. As the baby is practising stacking, he or she will automatically develop the gross motor skills and coordination needed for proper stacking.
3. Enhance Their Visual And Spatial Perception
Let your baby start with nesting toys. Since they lock into each other, it’s easy to play with for younger babies. They begin to find out how things in space will act if touched hard, lightly, etc. Traditional stacking toys should be handed to them once they can grasp them with their fingers.
4. Makes Them More Creative
Work your baby’s creative muscles up by spinning the pieces on their side, rolling them, and using them as crowns, clown noses, containers, and so on. Get as creative with playing with them as possible, and this ability to be creative will start to show in various aspects of your baby’s life.
5. Improve Their Problem-Solving Skills
As your baby tries to put one stacking toy over the other, they will try to understand why it doesn’t seem to sit and seems to fall off. With practice and trial and error, they will be able to sit the pieces properly on top of each other.
6. Help Them Recognize Colors
Your baby is just understanding the concept of colors and hues. By playing with stacking toys of different colors, they will slowly learn to identify and differentiate them.
[Read : When Do Babies Start Seeing Colors?]
7. Hand-Eye Coordination
Stacking is not a simple activity. It requires multiple coordination at the same time. The baby will look at the toys, the eye will inform the brain that the toy needs to be picked up and put over another toy. All of this process needs proper hand-eye coordination and with practice your baby will master this coordination.
8. Help Them Identify Shapes
Giving your baby stackers of different shapes to play with will help them that there can be many different shapes. You can slowly teach them different shapes.
9. Language Skills
This is a good time to help your baby improve their language skills by saying small phrases such as “blue cup on red cup”, “pick the blue cup”, etc. Though babies may not initially understand, they will slowly get there and this will help their language skills later on.
What Can Be Used For Stacking Aside From Stacking Toys?
Once your baby has figured out how to build a tower using the block or rings, it’s time that they move on to more unique things. Everyday items like pillows or cushions, small toys, plastic containers, cups, etc. can also be used for stacking. Keeping the activity fresh will engage them in it, and they’ll get to reap the amazing benefits.
Stacking toys for babies as well as for parents offer an opportunity to bond with each other. As your baby succeeds in stacking the block or rings, give them lots of love. It’ll boost their self-esteem which will encourage them to do many things. Playing with stacking toys isn’t just a form of play for your baby, it will help with the many aspects of growth and development and make them quick learners as they grow.
FAQ’s
1. How Do You Encourage Stacking in Babies?
Stacking will be fun if it’s purposeful such as building a bridge for their toys or just crashing it. Buy age-appropriate stacking toys in bright colors and shapes. Become a baby with your little one, play with them, and express fun and joy. This will make the play pleasurable for them and they will want to keep playing.
2. What Do Babies Learn From Stacking Toys?
Stacking toys can help your baby to learn fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, early maths, shapes and colors, cause and effect and so on.
3. When Should Babies Be Stacking Things?
Babies should start to stack at least 2 blocks from the age of 10-12 months.
Read Also: Shape Sorting Toys For Babies – How it Helps in Baby’s Development
