Why a Minimalist Activity Gym is Best for Your Baby's Brain

A newborn activity gym is a popular purchase, hence many of them are designed to attract the shopper's attention with loads of features, colors, and moving parts. But is that really best for the baby? Read on to learn why a simple activity gym is actually the best design for a newborn.

A baby's brain is absorbing everything in their environment, from the temperature of the room, the texture of their clothing, and of course, what they can see. Dr. Montessori called this the "absorbent mind", and it means that a newborn is storing and synthesizing their impressions, orienting themselves to the new world in which they have arrived.

A baby will begin following motion with their eyes, although their field of vision is short in the early weeks.

A simple amount of stimulation, such as one object hanging from a gym, moving the tiniest amount with the current of the air in the room, enables a baby to focus on the information offered by their observations.

Multiple toys and sounds and crinkles and music jumbled together in a playmat and gym can be information overload.

About This Wooden Activity Gym and Montessori Mobiles From Monti Kids

This stylish wooden activity gym for babies is designed to feature one tool at a time, enabling your baby to practice their concentration skills.

It comes with a series of Montessori Mobiles, each with attributes for a new layer of information for your baby, starting with black and white for the youngest newborn and advancing to a set of balls with variations of the same color, enabling a baby to begin noticing differences in the same color family. The key is to allow baby time to take all this in, without automated lights, sound, or movement.

This eco-friendly Activity Gym also comes with a few toys for batting, grasping, and kicking, designed to be used one at a time, so that baby can learn about cause and effect as they are better able to control their arms and legs to interact with the toys.

With only one item to kick at a time, your baby will quickly come to understand that the movement of the ball was caused by the way they came into contact with it.

The intentional design of this beautiful Activity Gym supports a baby's natural interest in learning about the world around them. Creating a rich, stimulating environment for a child does not necessarily mean more developmental toys, but rather selecting ones that suit baby's specific stage of learning. 

What about a play mat?

Your baby can lay on any blanket under an activity gym, or on a Topponcino, which is a simple baby-sized mat designed to help them transition between environments. 

Printed designs, such as animals or alphabet letters they can't read on the playmat may be more distracting than enriching. Think about it like this: We want to help our little ones develop their abilities to focus and concentrate, not jump around from one thing to the next. (They'll get their own mobile phones soon enough!) 

The Timeless Activity Gym

Blending in well with furniture, and offering just the right challenge to stimulate a baby's developing vision, the Monti Kids Activity Gym will last forever. 

Learn more about the Montessori mobiles that come with it, and how you'll know when to introduce each one.