When babies begin to learn cause and effect and strive to be mobile, toys that offer both entertainment and developmental activity are the right choice. Doorway jumpers allow parents to offer these qualities to their baby, along with safety, portability and space saving convenience.
What is a Doorway Jumper?
A doorway jumper is typically fashioned of a cloth baby seat, with or without a built in tray, which attaches to a door frame by three heavy fabric straps and a spring. When the baby is seated, upright in the seat, she can use her legs to push the swing upward in a bouncing motion. Side to side motions, as well as the ability to turn in 360 degree can also be achieved by a baby in the jumper swing.
The fabric seats of the jumpers are detachable and machine washable and many jumpers will have additional toys and affects for the child to explore.
What Baby Development Do Doorway Jumpers Offer?
All doorway jumpers off three basic developmental skill builders. As the baby jumps, he begins to develop gross motor skills, and leg strength that will later be used for standing and walking. Learning to push from side to side, turn and bounce will also help the baby begin to learn about cause and effect. In essence, the baby is learning that pushing with her legs will result in a certain action.
Babies can begin to use a doorway jumper as soon as they are able to hold their heads up. Therefore, they can begin to develop balance and coordination, in a safe, padded seat as they start to explore the world around them and their place in it.
Several styles of jumpers will also offer rings for attaching a child’s favorite toys, placing them at eye level. Many will also include sounds, lights, trays and other developmental toys for the baby to explore.
Styles of Doorway Jumpers Available
There are many different styles of jumper available on the market today. One of the first and most easily recognized is the Johnny Jump Up. Made by Evenflo, this jumper is extremely portable and easily moved from one area to the next. Jumpers with trays attached, such as Graco’s Bumper Jumper, have a surface for children to rest toys on, as well as a soft, rubber padded edge, to keep the jumper from marking doorways, and little hands from getting pinched. Other jumpers may have different textures, sounds and activities for babies to explore.
When choosing a jumper, be sure to take the interests of the child into consideration. Some babies may be easily distracted or over stimulated, making the simpler designs the best fit. Babies who grow bored easily and require additional stimulation, will do better with jumpers with toys and other options attached. All styles of jumpers are space saving, attaching to a door frame, and easily moved to one side, or taken down when not in use.
Babies are able to use jumper swings by themselves, freeing parents’ hands to attend to other tasks. While a baby should not be left in the jumper unattended, the ability to move the jumper to the doorway of whichever room the parent is in, allows for independent play, in a safe environment. Babies given the chance to exercise and move in a jumper will quickly begin to develop the skills and strength they will need to make their next developmental leap forward.
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