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Home › Articles › Guiding Baby's Development › Black, White and Fun Toys

Black, White and Fun Toys

High-contrast Toys for Baby

By Alexandria Powell

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(Bantam, 2000), and assistant professor in the department of cell biology and anatomy at the Chicago Medical School. "Beyond this, they like bold patterns like a checkerboard or bull's eye."

Are Black-and-White Toys More Stimulating?
Anything your baby enjoys looking at will stimulate her visual development – and chances are she will enjoy black-and-white patterns, especially for her first two months. So if you've found a cool black-and-white poster or a rattle with a high-contrast design, that's great.

But is your baby missing out if you don't provide lots of black-and-white infant gear? No, says Dr. Eliot. "There is nothing magical about black and white," she says. She notes that any high-contrast object, whether a toy, a face or the shadows made by crib bars, will hold your baby's attention. "Basically, if babies don't get contrast in their toys, they will find it in other, natural stimuli," Dr. Eliot adds.

"A baby isn't losing anything by not being offered specifically black-and-white toys," agrees Penny Warner, a child development instructor at Diablo Valley College in San Ramon, Calif., and the author of more than 30 books for parents and children on baby care and development, including Smart Start for Your Baby (Meadowbrook Press, 2001). "The best toy for babies is a parent's face," says Warner. "It's animated, there is contrast – that's where [your child is really] going to start working on perception."

And don't forget about bright colors! After all, says Warner, color sensitivity develops rapidly. "The more color that is continually introduced, the more rapid gains babies make with being able to contrast [colors]," she says. By around 4 months, your child will be able to see and enjoy an entire rainbow of colors.

Using Black and White

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