How long should babies be expected to play with one toy?

[yellow rose]

I have noticed that my 10 1/2 month old son will play with a toy for literally seconds and then go to a new one and then a new one and so on.  Being a teacher, this is worrying me because I am automatically thinking he has problems focusing.    Is this normal?  Are other boys/babies his age playing the same way?  He will sit and read books with us forever, but toys just don't seem to hold his interest.

[Katet]

Well my 3yo will look at a  expensive toy for not very long, but play with a box (as a train) for ages... my 18mo will also sit & look at books turning the pages for a long time, & some toys do hold his interest (like trains he can push along) but generally not so much interest in many toys.
To be honest, I think so many toys are over rated, we feel we have to have them but for 100's if not 1000's of years children survived with much less & if he can concentrate on books then honestly I think he is just bored with the toys... have you tried giving him some plastic cups to try & stack or just a container with things to pull out of ... I remember my elder son, who didn't crawl until 10.5mo used to sit with 2 baskets of toys & take things look at them breifly (not play though) & move them to the other basket...At the same age he sat looking at the same picture book (on his own for 40mins) & now he will sit & concentrate on things that interest him for a reasonable amount of time so I think it is more about the interest he has in the toys - just cos they are supposed to be exciting for children doesn't mean they are going to be KWIM See what he does with a plastic bowl & spoon etc

[KathrynK]

My 11mth old dd has some toys that are all-singing, all-dancing electronic things with lights and sounds,etc etc- these she will play with for about 10 seconds, then ignore. But! give her a set of stacking cups, some clothes pegs, some maracas or some books and she is entertained for ages. The stacking cups were from the Early Learning Centre (UK) and that was the best £6 I have ever spent! She will sit and bang them together, or use the maracas to bang them, or put the clothes pegs in them and them tip them out again, and is happy as can be. She also seems to have worked out at last that books are not for eating and will happily turn the pages over and over. It's funny how it's the simple things that seem to work best 

[Lana]

Depends on the day here.  Sometimes B will play with something for ages and other times he moves on within seconds .  I always thought it was normal

[macsmum]

my ds is exactly the same, he spends his longest time playing with his whale bath thermometer, so much so its in the front room now  so i had to get a new one so i dont have tosearchfor it each day

[yellow rose]

Thanks for making me feel better.  It's nice to hear about other kids his age.  I won't worry so much - yeah, right!

[hawkeye1315]

My 8.5 month LO is the same.  He can play with his fish stuffy for as little as 10 seconds to as long as 40 min.  It all depends on what interests him that day.  I find rotating his toys keeps him interested and allows him to practice different types of play.