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Baby Play
Baby Play
Babies learn with all their senses, and in the early weeks and months you are their best play-thing. There are so many discoveries to be made as they learn what you feel like, your facial expressions and the sounds you make.
What you'll need:
- Your baby
- You
- Books and toys (optional)
- Play gym (optional)
How to do it
Tummy to tummy time
Lie or sit with your baby facing you (heart to heart). This is a lovely way to allow your baby to play with you, study your face and practise lifting and turning their head. It is another opportunity to communicate with each other through facial expressions and words or sounds.
Side by side
Lay your baby on their back on the floor and lie beside them - either on your back or on your side - and quietly talk to them. This will encourage them to turn their head. The next time you do this, you can lie on the other side, encouraging your baby to turn the other way.
Learning to focus
As your baby becomes used to lying on the floor, you can prop a toy or a black and white book to one side to encourage them to turn around a new object of interest. After a while, swap the toy to the other side - see if they track the movement of the toy across to their other side.
Play Gym
A play gym is designed to encourage your baby to reach out and touch objects, and then - as their 3D vision comes in - they discover they can grab objects. Once they have mastered reaching out and grabbing, collapse the play gym and encourage baby to search and reach for the objects that are now surrounding them.
What learning is occurring?
- Movement, cause and effect, sensory and perspective
- Interaction and communication - with you and with the world around them
- Learning to trust the world and their place in it
Tips
- Look out for signs that baby needs a break - they may turn away from you and have a wee rest or they might put their arms up to block out what is in front of them. Sometimes they will zone out or get grizzly. These are your cues for respecting their need for a rest, a cuddle or feed/sleep time
- Play time for your baby is best when they are calm and alert.