Disney Baby encourages creative, fun play

One of my favourite things to do with Hannah is play. Her personality shines through when she is pretending to talk into a phone (really a credit card), not colouring in the lines of her colouring book or attempting to sing Ring-A-Round the Rosie.

She really likes music. She likes to sing. She likes to dance. And she LOVES to play instruments.

We recently introduced her to the Baby Einstein: Discovering Music Activity Table and she’s a big fan. As soon as it came through the door, she was pressing the keys of the keyboard and was impatient as Chris and I got it out of the box and put the legs on (I guess a few minutes to a toddler for their dream toy feels like forever.)

She loves switching the toy from English, to French, to Spanish. There are various “areas” of the toy but her favourite remains the keyboard. (I like this area best too, it plays one of the melodies from her Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym – a toy I HAD to purchase before she was even born.) The way the keys light up keep her attention and she loves hearing the different sounds.

I’m also a big fan of the drum area, it counts up to 5, not just saying the numbers, but with beats. So the toy will say “one” and then there’s one beat, “two” and then there’s two beats, and so on. I think it’s really important at this age for Hannah to start to connect words to their meanings and this is done in a fun, musical way. She’s even started to count along with the drum, which makes for one proud mommy over here!

Hannah has chosen the Table many times as the coveted “first play of the day” over all of her other toys. I like playing at the Table with her – she can be at one station and I’ll be at another (although, she has entered the dreaded “mine” stage, so if I spin the horn, she demands I stop so she can spin).

She also really likes her new Winnie the Pooh plush characters – Pooh and Piglet. They are bright and super soft, perfect for cuddling. She likes that the ears on both crinkle, something she really enjoyed as an infant. When we play, I ask her to point out where the ears, eyes and mouth are on Piglet, and on Pooh where his tummy full of hunny is. I also ask for the colours of Piglet’s tummy, Pooh’s shirt and Pooh’s arm – I love the way she says “yellow” so I point to many of his body parts to hear it again and again. Hannah also likes shaking these characters as they jingle.

Personally, I love Winnie the Pooh. I always feel safe giving Winnie the Pooh gifts at baby showers – the toys, clothing and room décor are gender neutral so it’s a safe bet the gift will be used whether the parents know if they are having a son or daughter or if they are keeping the sex of their baby a surprise. Any newborn would enjoy playing with the Winnie the Pooh Ring Rattles.

These certainly are not the first Disney toys to come through our door and they definitely will not be the last. I can’t wait for the day when Hannah can count to 5 by herself – with or without the assistance of the drum.

This post was generously sponsored by Disney Baby, but the opinions and images are my own. For more information, visit www.disneybaby.com. 

 © 2013 YYZ Bambina. All Rights Reserved.