Stage-Based Play
Activities at 0-3 months:
Tummy time: helps core strength, starting for a few minutes at a time a few times a day.
Face to face: lay face to face with your babes. Get to know them in every way, smile at them, touch their feet, hands, and forehead to help you connect with them.
Evolving mobile with music: helps develop vision and improve listening skills.
Rattles: help improve listening skills and keep baby engaged.
Activities at 3-6 months:
Reach for it: Show baby a toy and move it towards their hand. Encourage baby to touch it. Be sure to switch sides so both hands get a chance to feel. Help baby move their fists from cloed to open.
Gentle dancing: Helps baby be calmly introduced to new sounds and words.
Toy gaze: Play with babes toys infront of them encouraging them to lift their head.
Peek a boo: Help develop play and memory skills.
Busy fingers: Place different toys in their hands helps explore their surroundings and develop hand eye coordination.
Teething time: Give baby teething toys with different textures to explore new sensory experiences.
Board Books: Helps baby develop language skills and interactive elements excite baby's senses.
Activities at 6-12 months:
Roll and Pull: Take a thick piece of yarn at least 2 feet long. Tie a small object or toy on one end. Show baby how they can pull yarn to bring the object towards them. Helps baby develop gross motor skills.
Little Explorer: Allow baby to grab and explore items within reach by giving them space to explore the environment. Stay close to supervise. Helps baby get new movement experiences.
Toy Stacking: Baby is becoming more interested in how things work. Now is a great time to introduce stacking toys, such as blocks or stackable rings. You can stack and let them knock them down or guide their hands through the motions. Helps baby develop visual skills and thinking skills.
Toy Tip: Give baby a new and different toy to play with rather than their favourite all the time. Helps expose baby to new things.
Shapes, Sizes, and More: Name textures, shapes, and sizes to help baby attach words to objects and experiences. Say things like "look at this big red ball" or "this stuffed animal is really soft." Helps baby develop language skills.
Activites for 12+ months:
Hide and Find: Hide objects under a blanket during playtime. You can also try hiding yourself and pop out from behind a piece of furniture to surprise baby. Helps teach object permanence, which helps baby to remember where objects are even if they can’t see them.
Obstacle Crawls: Try to encourage baby to crawl over, under, and through various objects at home. Take empty boxes, remove tops and bottoms, and tape them to make a long tunnel. Be sure to be at baby’s side so he doesn’t get hurt. Helps baby better understand space around them.
Tidy Up: Ask baby to pick up scattered toys and bring them over to you. Baby will like figuring out how to bend and pick up the toys. Helps baby build strong leg muscles and begin learning how to complete simple tasks with multiple steps.
Shapes and Spaces: Use a shape sorter to talk baby about how to push shapes "in" the holes and dump them "out" of the container. Baby learns best by interacting with you and hearing the words you speak. Helps baby develop communication skills.
Stacking Toys: Keep giving baby stackable toys like blocks and cups. Baby will enjoy playing with the different sized toys and creating a tall tower. Helps baby develop spatial reasoning skills by learning how different sized toys can fit together.