Encourage imagination and learning with a time-honored and tested baby toy. Some of the better choices include a Fisher Price Animal Sounds Farm, wooden ABC blocks, jack-in-the-box, shape sorter or an activity gym. Go to a toy store to find the largest assortment of classic baby toys.

Every year, buy the baby a collectible bear from a specialty teddy bear store. These are high quality crafted items that will be cherished for generations. They can also be found at your nearest gift store, or your favorite online shopping spot.

The entire Baby Einstein collection is loved by parents and babies, too. The theory behind Baby Einstein is to teach a baby basic ideas and concepts. Select from their award-winning videos, DVDs, books and music. Baby Einstein products can be ordered online or picked up at your favorite toy or department store.

With the push of a button, a baby can compose and arrange musical scores and develop their creative mind. Your local toy store should carry several different types of music cubes, and of course many options can be found online as well.

I am sure you have seen how a child's face can lit up the first time he sees a remote control toy move. The memory is priceless. His face is full of amazement and thrill. Suddenly, he can control how a toy moves, just like his Dad, or just like in the movies. A whole new world has just revealed itself.

Toys serve several purposes. They obviously are play things, but more than that, they expose children to a small version of the world. The remote toys today are so intricate and detailed; they are almost an exact match of the real thing.

Although they do not realize it, their depth perception is also being developed. This is such an important skill to have - whether in sports or in one's daily routine activities. For example, if you want your child to learn how to play basketball, it would be to his advantage to know how high to throw the ball to get it into the basket. That is depth perception.

Internet has really changed the way we live. Through the internet, you can look for a specific remote toy or you can find a person who can do it for you - also through the internet. In addition, payments are so easy to transact. The best part about doing your research this way is that you can do it in the comfort of your home - in secrecy or not.

The first year of development is pretty much the most important year of anyone's life. Yeah, you might have learned calculus and how to fix a car when you were seventeen, but when you were just a few days old, you learned to see, you learned to hear, to breath, to feel, to eat, to smell, and to go number one and number two.

In learning basic motor functions, how your body works, and how to interact with the world around you, playing is one of the most important ingredients to proper development.

When you're shopping for toys for infants and newborns, bear in mind what the baby is learning and developing at this early stage. This would include the five senses, but babies should also get a little bit of exercise and physical activity into their schedules, and remember that infants are always chewing on things to assist in the teething process.

As long as the stuffed animal doesn't have a lot of buttons and plastic eyes that can pop off, the colours, the shape, the feel of a stuffed animal can do a lot for a baby's sensory development.

Interactive Toys

Things like little dials you can turn to make them click, those crazy Fisher Price toys that make ping pong balls bounce around inside of a plastic dome, anything where the baby can see their own actions have an effect on their environment can help a baby learn how to interact with the world around them.

Teething Toys

Anything with a soft plastic or rubber surface, like teething rings and similar toys. These can help to reduce the aches and pains of teething.