Tiny Love - Musical Stack & Play™

His understanding of the world deepens and increases his desire to learn about the logic behind the things he sees, hears and feels. He turns into a real “researcher”.He holds things, shakes them, squeezes, pulls, and squashes.
He can now apply the things he’s learned previously to new situations. After he learns that pushing a button will cause some sort of result, he will know how to push a different new button, and will also expect a result.
He starts testing various actions and expects the results even before they happen, for example if you’re about to tickle him, he will start laughing even before you start.
He can now recall something that is not in front of him, that he doesn’t see, and not just recall something familiar that he recognizes. For example, he can “see” his mother’s face (in his mind’s eye), even when she is not present.

Playing with this toy

Place a ball in both of your baby's hands, and also hold a ball in each hand yourself. Strike the two balls together and encourage him to imitate you.
Drop the ball into the Musical Stack & Play™ and ask your baby, “Where's the ball?" Show him where it is, and say," Here's the ball!"
Give your baby one of the rings to explore and examine with his hands and mouth.
Let him explore and examine the elephant's head, hear the sounds it makes and touch and try to grasp its "hair."

In his effort to understand things, baby will “experiment” -- he gathers information, and analyzes the results. For example, he will drop his rattle to answer the question: will the rattle make a sound when it lands on the floor?
He remembers and learns from previous experience: for instance, if last time his way to a certain toy was blocked, he will try a different route this time.
He starts to understand the relationship between something which is done in one place, but results in something somewhere else -- like the TV remote.
While “cruising” his environment, he starts comprehending spatial relationships.
He learns to estimate distances and to understand concepts such as in front and behind (the chair is in front of or behind the couch) or up and down.
His memory pertaining to events develops, and at about one year will be able to retain the memory of incidents or events that happened for about 8 months.
His ability to imitate improves and he can imitate clapping, and will even “talk on the phone.

Playing with this toy

Place the elephant's head on the cone, without the rings. Encourage your baby to drop the balls into the elephant's head,
Place the elephant's head on the floor, with the wide opening on top. Encourage your baby to fill the elephant's head with the balls, and lift the elephant's head to show him how they scatter about.
Place the elephant's head on the floor, with the narrow opening on top. Encourage your baby to drop the balls into the elephant's head, and ask him, "Where are the balls?"
At about one year of age, encourage your baby to remove the rings from the cone, show him how to thread them on.

The toddler continues exploring and experimenting, developing his cognitive skills: he will drop the balls one by one into the elephant’s head to see what kind of feedback they will elicit (different sounds and lights).
He develops his hand-eye coordination by dropping the balls into the top opening of the cone without the elephant’s head, by threading the rings onto the cone, and by opening and closing the door at the base of the cone.

Playing with this toy

Encourage your toddler to place and remove the rings on and off the cone.
When you play with your toddler, pronounce the names of the colors as you play: "Here is the purple ball, here is the green one, etc."
Link the rings to make a chain and give it to your toddler so he can try to disconnect them.

Now is the time the toddler will start enjoying the combination of imagination and creativity: He will take the elephant apart in different ways, will drop the balls into the cone, with our without the rings on the cone, just to see if it will change the results.
He will find many different and creative ways of playing.

Playing with this toy

Show your toddler all the different ways to play with the toys and give him ample opportunity to try all its variations: with or without the rings, with the head or without, fill just the head with the balls, making a chain with the rings. This will help develop creative and flexible thinking

Musical Stack & Play™