Toys for little babies

I try not to give plastic toys to my baby. You can read my longer posts on this, but basically plastic provides very little sensory input--it doesn't smell, taste, and provide a wide variety of weight, texture and sound. So I have been making a few little toys for Beck, who is just starting to want to play! His idea of play involves looking and tasting at this point!

One of my favorite baby toys--a crinkle taggie blanket. I use THIS tutorial.

Mine is made with minky on one side and flannel on the other and a variety of ribbons. The inside is a shredded cheese bag I washed out. I also sewed a button on each end to help hold everything in place and provide additional tactile stimuli for older babies.
For now Beck is just learning how to make his hands do what he wants. So he spends his playtime holding and bringing objects to his mouth. You can see him really staring at the ribbons in the first picture, and tasting them in the second!

This is a great toy for little babies because there are so many places to grab--they are highly successful when trying to "Hold" this toy. He hasn't really explored the "crinkly" aspect yet as he doesn't grab onto the main part of the toy, but it will be something he can grown into and will capture his interest as he grows!

I have made these before using a towel and a receiving blanket (I thrown all my fabric items in a laundry basket in the studio to be reused for projects like this!) and it turned out great, as well!!