Play to love – love to play

Don’t let stimulating Baby become a chore for you or her. Development through play is the best way.

You obviously need to stimulate Baby from birth, but what kind of stimulation works for a baby who isn’t talking yet? Here are some ideas – choose those that fit your child’s stage of development.

4 MONTHS TUMMY TIME FUN

It’s very important for your baby to spend enough time on her tummy at this stage, but it’s not always her favourite position. Make it easier with a game: place her on a towel, and use it to gently roll her from side to side while you keep the beat by saying: “Roll, roll from side to side.” GOOD FOR strengthening tummy, back and neck muscles

RIBBON AND FOOT FUN

Tie one end of a longish ribbon to a small toy. Place Baby on her back on the ground, and place a baby-gym frame above her. Loosely tie the other end of the ribbon around her ankle, and hang the toy over the baby gym, so she can easily see it. The ribbon should be short enough that the toy moves when she moves her leg. Help her move her foot, and then leave her to do it by herself and see the impact. (Supervision necessary.) GOOD FOR stimulating visual skills, cause-and-effect understanding, problem solving and gross motor skills

5 MONTHS ROLLING RUMPUS

Place a cylindrical cushion, a large rolled-up towel or inflatable plastic cylinder (about 20cm in diameter) under Baby’s torso. Have her lie like this, with her chest elevated, on a soft carpet. See if she tries to push herself up and forward. Hold her feet, lift them slightly, and gently slide her forward, like that wheelbarrow game. GOOD FOR tummy and back muscles, gross motor skills, crawling

KNOW YOUR BODY

Put Baby on your lap, and support her with one arm. Touch the different parts of her face (and, later, her body) and say, for instance: “What’s this? It’s Zama’s nose!” Then take her hand, and get her to touch your nose while you say: “And what is this? It’s Mommy’s nose!” GOOD FOR language development and body awareness

6 MONTHS BUBBLE BODY BABBLE

Let your baby sit on the ground. Blow soap bubbles, and see if you can get them to land somewhere on her body. She will love it! Use this opportunity to name the different parts of her body. “Where’s the bubble? It’s on your hand!” You can also name furniture or other things the bubbles land on. GOOD FOR language development, body awareness, hand-eye coordination and motor skills

PUZZLE

Your baby can now comfortably sit on her own and will enjoy games she can play while sitting. Give her her first “puzzle” by getting her to pack a bunch of tennis balls into an oven pan. Show her how to do it, and then watch her doing it herself. Praise her if she succeeds. GOOD FOR fine motor and perceptual skills

7 MONTHS ROUND BOOK

Stick a bunch of pictures onto an empty paper-towel roll, and cover it with plastic wrap. Roll the cylinder, and ask her to point out pictures, as in: “Where’s the dog?” Later, you can ask more questions such as, “What does the dog say? The dog says ‘woof!’” GOOD FOR language comprehension and visual skills

BALANCE!

Sit on a couch with your baby on your lap near your knees while she’s facing you. Hold your hands next to her body without touching her (ready to catch her if she should lose her balance). Alternate your legs to the sides or lift them and lower them (start slowly, and pick up the pace as she becomes more adept), or move them in circles, and see if she can keep her balance. If she manages well, you can turn her around, so she faces away from you and does the same. GOOD FOR balance and proprioception (the brain’s ability to know in which positions different body parts are located)

8 MONTHS

TIME TO FLY!

Hold your baby’s body under her arms and ask: “Are we going to fly?” Count to three and say: “Wee!” and roll back until you’re lying flat and Baby is “flying” above you. GOOD FOR the vestibular system

BABY FOOTIE

Place an empty rubbish bin on its side, pick up your baby with your arm under her chest, and help her to kick a ball into the bin with both feet. GOOD FOR gross motor skills

9 MONTHS HAUL IT UP

Your little one will at this point enjoy throwing toys from her highchair and demanding that you pick them up. It’s a fun game, but you can make it easier by tying her toys to the top of the highchair with string. Then show her how she can haul up the toys again herself after throwing them down. GOOD FOR development of object permanence and fine motor skills

SCARF SHENANIGANS

Fill a shoe box with thin scarves or ribbons that have been tied together to form one long one, like the ones magicians often use. Make a hole in the lid of the shoe box. It should be just big enough that the scarves can easily slide through when she pulls. Let the end peek out of the box, and encourage her to pull. Talk about the different colours and patterns of the scarves, and point out the continuous surprise of another scarf – and another – appearing from the box! (Supervision necessary.) GOOD FOR curiosity and development of fine motor and language skills

10 MONTHS MAGIC BOX

Boxes can be hours of fun. Choose a shoe box with a loose lid, and show your little one how to put things inside and take them out again. Later, you can make a large-ish hole in the lid, and show her how she could throw toys into the box through the hole. She then needs to take the lid off again if she wants to take things out. Talk about what she’s throwing in: “What are you going to throw in next? The horse? And then?” You can cover each ”wall” of the inside of the box with a different texture – such as velvet, sanding paper or mesh – and ask your little one to touch the sides. Say: “This feels coarse, right?” Show her how it looks. GOOD FOR perceptual, fine motor skills and language development

STICKY SITUATION

Stick pieces of contact paper all over a hard floor, and stick toys to these. They should preferably hold quite well. Encourage your little one to crawl from toy to toy and try and pull them off. She might struggle at the beginning but will master it soon enough. GOOD FOR developing problem solving and fine motor skills

11 MONTHS WHERE’S THE MUSIC?

Hide a wind-up toy that plays music (your cellphone can work too) in a low spot somewhere in the room, and ask your little one to crawl around looking for it. (You can crawl with her!) Encourage her, and make a big deal if she finds it. Your older baby can also have a turn hiding it. GOOD FOR developing auditory and gross motor skills, and problem solving

BOX TOWER

Join forces, and build a tower of boxes of different sizes such as shoe and cereal boxes. At first, you’ll have to do the lion’s share perhaps, but ask your little one to push the tower over. She’ll do that with pleasure! Call out loud when the tower falls. After a while she’ll be keen to bring the boxes back and build together. You can play the same game with soft blocks. GOOD FOR fine motor skills and cause-and-effect comprehension

12 MONTHS MEMORY GAME

Make copies of portrait photos of various family members, and stick them on cards; you need to have two of each person. Help your baby to find the matching cards. As soon as she’s able to put the sets together, you can turn the cards around, so the pictures face down. Turn one around, find its match by turning the others around and back until you hit the right one. Then start looking for the next match. GOOD FOR memory, problem solving and perceptual skills

WHERE’S THE LIGHT?

Stick thin coloured paper over the front part of a torch. Dim the lights and shine the light around. Give your baby a chance to find the spotlight. Switch the light off, and ask: “Where’s the light?” Shine it in a different direction and say, “There it is – on the cupboard!” GOOD FOR development of visual skills. ●