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As an occupational therapist, when Gavin was born, I knew a lot about developmental baby toys. However, those of us that have kids know no matter how much reading you do, even if your job prior to having children involved working with kids in some capacity, babies don’t come with instruction manuals and nothing can prepare you enough for being responsible for another human being. Gavin spent several days after he was born in the nursery receiving phototherapy, sleeping under ultraviolet lights, due to a blood type incompatibility that caused jaundice. Let’s just say my October baby was as orange as the pumpkins outside at the time. Amidst the craziness I was never instructed how to give him a bath and received a crash course in swaddling. Fortunately we were pretty good on the breast feeding routine by then and given his lengthier stay in the hospital those nurses got him on a great schedule right way.

I’ve worked a lot with families with children, especially multiples, who were born prematurely and with kids who had medical issues and developmental delays because of prematurity. Aside from trying to figure out how to feed, diaper, and soothe an infant, even under fairly “normal circumstances,” as I can attest, it’s so overwhelming to learn how to care for our babies, learning to play with them and expose them developmentally to new toys and experiences, is something that’s completely overwhelming. I will admit, I’d get so wrapped up in surviving our routine that days would go by and I’d remember we never did any play time or tummy time. But, what if I didn’t even know I was supposed to do that at all?

The NogginStik Rattle is an infant toy, designed by Marcia Haut, a developmental educator, with experience working with young children for 25 years. This lightweight infant rattle has a lot of features you’ll find in similar rattles in the toy aisles. Features of this toy include a rattle noise when the toy is shaken, a mirror at the bottom for babies to look at their reflexion, a thin textured handle that’s easy for babies to hold in the palms of their hands, and a unique feature that the rattle lights up when the top is touched or banged on a surface. The light rotates colors that include red, blue, and green. If you have 2 Smart Noggin Rattles, with an older 6-8 month old child who likes to bang things down or together, it’s actually pretty cool to bang two together.

Developmental principles were taken into the design of this toy, given that we know babies learn to focus and track with their eyes using black/white contrast colors and smiling faces. One feature I love about this rattle is that it doesn’t have musical sound. So many baby rattles have loud tunes from the push of a button, and though the NogginStik rattle appeals to many senses, I don’t find it to be overstimulating as some other toys can be for some children, making it a great purchase for premature babies.

It’s easy to clean with a wipe when babies spit up on it, while plush toys often need to be sent through the washing machine. You might be able to find this in some specialty toy stores, but the best way to get it is buying direct through the company.  It retails for $22.99. The price tag is high, especially if you scour the toy aisles, you might find plush toys and other teething toys that retail for half the price. However, the value in this rattle isn’t just in the toy, it’s in the developmental pamphlet that arrives with it that teaches parents multiple ways to engage with their babies when playing using simple activities and great illustrations. On most rattles available at retail, I often see  a few bullets on the sides of the packaging that use words most parents don’t understand. I don’t know many or any commercially available toys that arrive with this type of detailed help and easy to complete activities. Both the rattle and the activities can be slipped into a diaper bag and travel well for play dates and family day trips. Besides, who doesn’t need an extra light inside their black hole of a diaper bag when looking for long-lost items anyway?

Here’ s your chance to get one for yourself, or to hold onto as a gift for an expecting parent. If you want to go ahead and purchase your own on the NogginStik website use the code toyqueen at checkout for 30% off until April 15th, 2013.

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Smart Noggin provided 2 rattles for the purpose of this review. Any opinions provided are my own.