You registered for the cutest little activity gym you could find and your heart may have even skipped a beat when you found one that coordinated with your nursery theme.
Most baby activity gyms aren't a great match for a newborn's visual development.
You just need to tweak yours a bit for these first few weeks!
In the first weeks of life, your newborn's vision is limited but developing. Babies are born color-blind and near-sighted. Your little one is best able to see simple, high contrast images located within 6 to 18 inches from their face.
Nearly ALL of the time, the toys that come with a baby activity gym (while ADORABLE), are actually tough for your little squish to see...which is sort of the whole point of an activity gym for a newborn.
And this particular froggy friend is ahead of many of his activity gym friends because he's got high contrast eyeballs and stripey legs.
For the first 6-8 weeks, remove the toys from your baby's gym and tape or hang simple black and white picture cards in various positions to encourage visual exploration and head turning.
And because I know you have your hands full with a new baby at home or on the way, I'll make it really simple and share the black and white picture cards I made for my babies with you - for free. And with the printable download, I'll include other play ideas for them!
Look at my little guy at 3 weeks old visually focused on those pictures!
One of my favorite activity gym / play mats for baby The Play Gym from Lovevery includes black and white cards because they know the developmental benefits!
I've created a free email course just for you! If you're not quite sure how to play with a baby, if you feel guilty that you're not "doing enough" for your little one's development or if you just feel really motivated and excited to give your baby the best start possible...this is your guide. I'll share the my three biggest tips (my "secret ingredients") for playing with your baby in ways that support development.