Baby play and learning: in a nutshell

Baby games

Try the following simple and fun ideas for playing with your baby.

• Make noise together. Gently bang pots and pans, sing a noisy song (see Baby Karaoke for some ideas), or make animal sounds (the cow goes ‘moooooo’).
• Start reading. Babies use books to chew on, play with in the bath, and discover new textures. Sometimes they even look at them! When you read together often, your baby realises that books are a lovely way to spend special time together.
• Explore safely. Create safe places in your home where your baby can explore and work on new skills. These might include sitting up, crawling, pulling up, opening cupboards, picking things up, throwing them and putting them in his mouth, and eventually walking.
• Play simple games. Games like pat-a-cake, peekaboo and ‘this little piggy went to market’ are a real laugh for a giggling baby. They can also do a lot to help her learning and movement skills. Tickle her tummy and show her how to blow raspberries. Splash around together in a shallow bath on a warm day. Fill a small juice bottle with buttons to make a rattle. The list is as long as your imagination.
• Bits and pieces. You can develop your baby’s imagination slowly by giving him odds and ends to play with. Try a box of coloured cloth bits or some empty egg cartons.

When does play start?

Play starts from birth. As your child grows and develops, play changes from you playing with your baby, to baby gradually learning how to play with objects and – eventually – other children.

Follow your baby’s instincts with play. If your baby is looking at an object or toy, you can label what she’s looking at. Show your baby what she can do with the object she’s interested in. Research tells us that this is important for language development.

How baby learns

Everything is new to babies – things we take for granted are a first time novelty for them. Let them discover and get bored at their own pace.

For example, your baby has just picked up a rattle in his tiny hand. He moves his arm. The rattle jerks and makes an interesting sound. Your baby moves his hand again. The rattle makes the sound. He moves his hand with great purpose. The rattle shakes noisily. Your baby has just made an exciting connection. He has discovered that when he shakes a rattle, he can produce a noise. He has learned that he can make something happen. He has control over some small part of his world.

Support this process by introducing toys slowly, one at a time, after your baby has tried to squeeze every use out of the one she is already playing with. This helps her develop her learning and attention skills.

Babies learn things automatically, like:

• how to fall asleep at a certain time of day (this is based on their internal body clock)
• how to get what they need (and, later, want)
• how to eat food
• how to breathe through their mouth when their noses are blocked by a cold.

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  Newsletter snippet: Baby play and learning: in a nutshell
  

   

  By Raising Children Network

  Playing with babies helps them develop a sense of themselves and their place in the world. Playtime starts from birth, when everything is new.

  • Babies learn by cause and effect – they learn that when they shakes a rattle it makes a noise.
  • Introduce new toys one at a time, to help your baby develop learning and attention skills.
  • Your job is to create a safe and stimulating environment where baby can explore and learn.

  Baby games

  • Make lots of noise together.
  • Make reading together a special time.
  • Try simple games such as pat-a-cake, peekaboo and ‘This little piggy’. Tickle your baby’s tummy or blow raspberries.
  • Build up a collection of simple but safe odds and ends for your baby to play with.

  This article is an extract only. For more information visit raisingchildren.net.au/play__learning/babies_play_learning.html

  Sourced from the Raising Children Network's comprehensive and quality-assured Australian parenting website www.raisingchildren.net.au.