Baby ball toys are deceptively simple. They seem like passive objects that are just kicked, thrown, hit, and rolled around (to kids’ great delight), but in fact, balls are key developmental toys that are engaging precisely because they’re so basic. Not only are they clutch toys to use outdoors, but balls for toddlers also teach kids the foundational skills they’ll need to master as they head to preschool and kindergarten.

“Simple ball play, when we hold a ball and move it in front of a baby’s field of vision, or roll it slowly along the floor where baby can watch, gives little ones a chance to fine-tune their visual tracking skills in the early months of life,” says Rebecca Parlakian, the senior director of programs at the early childhood research and advocacy nonprofit Zero to Three. “Visual tracking is the ability to follow a person or object with our eyes as it moves across our visual field.”

Using balls sized for little hands helps babies develop their fine motor skills, while also providing a sensory learning experience. “They learn that balls can roll, they can be grasped, they can be dropped, squeezed, or thrown. This is an important cognitive process in learning how the objects in their world work,” says Parlakian.

And ball play helps toddlers with hand-eye coordination and teaches them about timing (as they figure out when to throw or catch something), collaborative play (when kicking a ball back and forth with parents), and force (when they see how much harder they need to kick a soccer ball than a beach ball).

When choosing balls for babies, make sure they’re big enough to be held, but never small enough to be choking hazard. “I recommend choosing a variety of balls of different sizes and different textures: Fabric, bumpy, smooth, to babies a chance to explore the sensory aspects of different balls. Make sure that they can be mouthed, because this is an important way that babies play and explore an object,” says Parlakian.

For toddlers, go big, parent. You want ones sizable enough to be kicked or thrown with abandon.

The Best Baby Ball Toys

The Best Toddler Ball Toys

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This article was originally published on May 21, 2020