I am a huge proponent of educational and learning toys; toys that help a child learn and develop.

It is one of the reasons I love V-Tech toys for my kids (and sometimes feel like my house is being overran with V-Tech toys!)

VTech® works closely with a panel of children’s learning experts on the development of its infant and preschool learning products. Insight from these experts are featured in an
that offers parents guidelines and recommendations to help them select toys based on the individual needs of children from birth to nine years old.

The categories explain different characteristics and occurrences that your child is faced with at each specific age and developmental stage, and are then followed by recommended products that the most appropriate and beneficial. The milestones are broken down by age and three categories:

o Language and Cognitive

o Social and Emotional Development

o Physical and Motor

helps continue VTech’s commitment to building on children’s knowledge, one milestone at a time!

One of six experts on the Expert Panel is, Dr. Lise Eliot, Early Childhood Mental Development Expert, who collaborated with VTech to develop the Milestones resource.

Dr. Lise Eliot is Associate Professor of Neuroscience at The Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science. A Chicago native, she received an A.B. degree from Harvard University, a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and did post-doctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In addition to more than 50 published peer-reviewed journal articles and magazine pieces on children’s brain and mental development, Dr. Eliot has authored two books.

Baby Girl is now 21 months old and is reaching some of her own developmental milestones.

While we were away for the Thanksgiving holiday, she spent a lot of time with family both young and old and I have noticed that her vocabulary has been growing!

She said snow for the first time (which may not be a big developmental milestone since she hasn’t had the opportunity to say snow in Arizona!)

On Thanksgiving she asked for turkey. Yesterday she asked for snack.

Not only is she using more words, but she is speaking clearer with these new found words.

She loves to dance and has been dancing a lot lately, but within the past month or so, she has started singing as well (it’s not completely understandable, but it’s definitely singing!)

She even cheered for a televised football game!

She really is growing before our eyes and will be 2 before I know it!

And a huge thank you to V-Tech who sent us some great new toys for her! She loves them and they are great for development and learning!

Lil’ Critters Play & Dream Musical Piano™


(Ages 0-12 months; MSRP $24.99)

* Learn and play music with animal friends! The Lil’ Critters Play & Dream Musical Piano by VTech has a variety of fun musical activities that engage your child on the floor or attached to the crib.

* This soft piano features five animal piano keys that introduce music, instruments and animals.

* The piano also includes a light-up sun that shines and flashes to the music to attract your baby’s attention.

* Choose from two modes of play for fun learning and music activities.

All 3 of my kids are musical. They love music, they love to sing, they love to listen to music. This was definitely a favorite among all 3 kids (and me too!)

Roll & Surprise Animal Train

™

(Ages 6-36 months; MSRP: $15.99)

* Your little one will enjoy peek-a-boo fun and develop fine motor skills through turn, slide and press activities.

* Animal friends introduce animal names, animal sounds and colors.

* This educational toy also rewards curiosity and teaches cause and effect with pop-up surprises and 55 songs, melodies, sounds, and phrases.

Baby Girl has a new found love of “choo choo” in the last couple of months and her favorite game since she was itty bitty has been peek-a-boo, so this one made her excited! We have been working on animal sounds and animal names as well so this has been helpful.

As her vocabulary grows, we will be able to focus more on the colors as well!

Chomp & Count Dino

™

(Ages 12-36 months; MSRP: $19.99)

* Simply place one of the eight brightly-colored play pieces in the dino’s mouth and watch as he eats and recognizes each piece.

* Play in either food or counting mode and the dino responds with rewarding sounds and phrases all while introducing colors, numbers, shapes and more.

* Press the question button and kids can answer the dino’s questions to show what they’ve learned.

* Five shape buttons help kids learn shapes and numbers, while spinning the disc on the dino’s back will play sing-along songs.

* The dino can also be pushed or pulled by a string for even more fun melodies.

Baby Girl’s favorite thing is feeding the dino! She thinks its so funny to feed him the little circles!

We use the circle pieces to go over colors, but as I mentioned earlier, we will focus on colors as her vocabulary grows.

She also loves to count “1…2…3” so with the dino having numbers – she can count with her toy!

I shared with you some of Baby Girl’s developmental milestones – what is your little one achieving? (And hey, this is a non-judgemental area. Each child develops at their own pace!)

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