Thinking and imagining: newborns

• email
• save PDF
• print

• Your baby’s brain develops rapidly in the first few months – and playing together stimulates this. By the time he’s one, his brain will be about two-thirds the size of an adult's.
• Your love and attention makes your baby feel more comfortable and secure.
• Experiencing different sights, sounds and sensations helps your newborn's thinking skills to develop and grow.

Even though your baby is born doing plenty of thinking and feeling, this is only part of the puzzle for a developing brain. The other part of the puzzle is put together from your baby's contact with different situations, sensations and environments.

Your baby is born not understanding who he is, where he is or what life is all about. The new and varied experiences that he comes across will help him to understand life and his part in it. New experiences help his imagination to take off, along with his brain development.

What to expect

• The world can be a pretty scary place for your new baby. Your baby doesn’t even know that he is a person yet. Nor that you will take care of him. Your baby will thrive on feeling secure and loved, and in turn this will help his brain develop. 
• At about four weeks your baby will recognise and respond to your voice. This is on top of learning and getting better at things such as breastfeeding or bottle-feeding.
• At first your newborn will be fascinated by your face and will gaze at you in wonder. He's making sense of your features and voice and storing lots of information away.
• He might gaze for ages at a bright mobile hanging above his cot or sleeping area. 
• Your baby can become exhausted easily if he is bombarded with too many people, sounds and activities. He wants to experience the world but not all at once. Sometimes too much stimulation will also make baby too tired to sleep.

Play ideas for encouraging thinking and imagining

From the moment of birth your baby's brain is working hard to understand what's going on around him. There are lots of fun ways you can provide new experiences that will stimulate your baby's thinking and imagination.

• Talk to him often, hold him and make eye contact. You can't spoil a baby of this age. Giving him lots of love and affection can bring you both closer. And that feeling can help your baby develop.
• Imitating facial expressions is a game you can play together from birth. Some newborns can stick out their tongues or make an ‘O’ with their lips in response to an adult doing the same. 
• Give him lots of different things to look at – friends or family playing in the backyard, flowers in the park, colours and shapes. You can also turn lots of ordinary things around the house into free toys to inspire him.
• New experiences help stimulate your child's imagination. Walks in the park and around neighbourhood streets and visits to different places will give your baby a wealth of stored memories and images.
• After a few weeks, your baby might like to hold on to a soft toy or rattle and see what he can do with it.
• Other sensations, such as being gently rocked or massaged, and different smells and sounds all add to the picture he builds of his world.
• Show him bright pictures in books, recite nursery rhymes or sing songs. 
• Listen to wind chimes, birds or different types of music. 
• He will be captivated by the sound of your voice and may stare fixedly at your face for several minutes, taking it in.
• Touch his toes and fingers and name them for him.

If your baby is not interested, try something else. Let him lead the way. Play is about just having fun together; the learning comes naturally as a result.

Your baby will grow at his own rate, in his own time. If you are concerned about any aspect of his development, it is a good idea to see your health professional, particularly if your baby doesn’t seem to make eye contact or interact with you.

• Rated8 ratingsRate this item
• FeedbackTell us what you think of this item