Best toys for a 4mo old?

I wouldn't bother buying more just yet.Two reasons.

1. Christmas is coming and you are bound to be swamped with toys for your child.

2. My son is the same age and like most babies will play with anything, including his muslin square spit cloth. Basic safe household objects are fine.

Last week my mum gave my son two different coloured plastic spoons and carefully showed him how to bang them together - it was a great game for both of them, she would hold his hands and tap the spoons together several times then enthusiastically ask him to do it. You could see him concentrating and eventually he would manage it, then it was mum's turn again. They kept it up for at least 30 minutes.

She's also got a set of colourful plastic measuring spoons on a ring - easy for him to grip but you have to watch out when he gets them swinging if you don't want to get knocked on the head :)

When they are a little older and able to sit on their own a wooden spoon and your saucepans makes a great if very noisy toy. Different textures/materials are better than all smooth plastic items and anything which can make a noise are good for little ones to explore for their development.

Bare in mind that even their favorite toys can become boring if the child if left to play with them on their own - playtime with mum or dad talking to the child too is much better and it's so rewarding when you get that gummy smile and giggles.

My daughter is 2 now, and its so hard to remember what she was doing at that age! But, I remember she had everything she possibly could, and the main thing that entertained her was the play mat. The little mat they lay on their bock and roll and theirs toys hanging above them.. she loved that.. and it helped develop her motor skills. I went on fisherprice.com for you and they have this thing where you can select what toys a good for a baby with different age ranges, I'm not sure if you knew that but I figured I'd share just in case. =) For 0-6 months, it has:

Activity Toys

Cot Toys

Fisher-Price® Classics

Push & Pull Toys

Put & Take Toys

Rattles

Shape Sorters

Take-Along Toys

Go, Baby, Go

High Chair, Stroller, & Car Seat-attaching

Miracles & Milestones

Music & Movement

So from that, I would say yes, you can move past the rattles.. get him something a little more involving. This will help him as he goes through the different stages of his development. Keep the other toys around too, though, just so he has something hes comfortable with and you don't push him but simply provide him with the opportunity to learn new things. With our daughter we always got her a toy that was a little advanced for her, just to see how she would react to it and what she could do with it. Shes doing great now, full vocabulary and she has very independent thinking for her age. Oh! I just remembered something that might work! Baby Einstein has these photo cards, kind of like flash cards, but they are wonderful to entertain your baby and at the same time make them more familiar with the world. They are called 'Discovery Cards' you can go to http://babyeinstein.com/ and they have some wonderful things for babys. My daughter still at 2 loves baby einstein.

Hope this helped!

At 4mo, toys aren't going to keep entertained much. The usual rattles you have will be sufficient, but you're going to have to play with him almost all the time to keep him entertained.

Try an exersaucer or a jumperoo for an alternative.

My son was the same. I got him a fabric book that made crunchy noises and had squeaky bits on it, he loved that. Also I got picture books with really large simple images and he would stare at those for ages. I propped him up always so he could see what was going on in a room and I talked to him pretty much constantly! It worked though, he could say loads by the age of 1, and loves a conversation now.

The baby einstein range is quite good, and babies also loves mirrors and flashy noisy things!

my daughter always seems to want to play with toys that are out of her age range.

When she was 4 months she was playing with 6month+ toys and now shes 6 and a half months shes playing with things that are designed for up to 12 month babies.

I think its because she gets bored with teddies and things and looks for more stimulation through harder toys!

Something to encourage him to spend time on his tummy is a good bet.

Anything with flashing lights and sounds that encourages interactive play will also help him to develop his hand/eye co-ordination and a sense of being able to make things happen.

Fisher Price do some really good baby toys, check out their website. They have different categories according to age.

http://www.fisher-price.com/uk/toys/toysbyage/defa...

Fisher Price carries some really nice toys for a child this age...ones that will help them with their motor skills...etc. Look on the front of the toys..they will tell you what age group they are appropriate for.

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Toys with mirrors, lights, music - all this will start attracting his attention. You could get an activity center with this stuff, and let him bang away on it while sitting in your lap (until he is sitting on his own.)

When my daughter was that age... she began to enjoy the Baby Einstein DVD's with music and great learning tools.