Play From Birth to Twelve Months
During the first year of life, babies have huge leaps in their development. Sometimes they change and grow from day to day or even hour to hour. From birth, most babies like to play and most experience the world through their senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.
Play activities for birth to one month
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Eye contact with baby
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Play with faces—looking at high contrast picture of faces or faces on toys
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Look in the mirror with baby
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Talking and singing to baby—vary tone and rhythm
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Dance slowing to quiet music like lullabies, holding baby close
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Read to baby—she won’t understand words, but enjoys the sound of your voice
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Move baby’s arms and legs gently to a rhythm
Play activities for one to four months
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Sing songs, read (doesn’t matter what), and dance
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Imitate sounds that baby makes
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Play simple peekaboo—cover your face with a washcloth and drop it, saying “Peekaboo!”
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Put small, safe toys in baby’s hand, encouraging him to grasp it
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Put bells securely on her socks or booties so she can make sounds when she moves around
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Look in the mirror with baby and attach an unbreakable mirror to his crib
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Walk around with baby and name objects
Play activities for four to eight months
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Read to baby, including lap reading of chunky cardboard or cloth books with big pictures
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Provide safe, simple stacking toys
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Help baby discover new (safe) textures and materials
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Play simple games like pat-a-cake, blowing kisses, or waving good-bye
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Play with brightly colored toys with buttons to push, like toy telephones, music boxes, and busy boxes
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Provide small, safe balls for babies to grasp
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Play with soft blocks
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Have fun with a baby “gym” or activity mat
Play activities for eight months to one year
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Pick up on baby’s lead when she initiates a game or communication
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Let baby make up new versions of familiar games like pat-a-cake
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Read stories about things in baby’s life; use chunky cardboard or cloth books and let baby practice turning pages
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Play games with simple instructions: “pat Daddy’s head”, “Pat baby’s head”
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Provide safe balls of several sizes, push and pull toys, toys with wheels, and roly-poly toys to encourage baby to move around
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Talk, talk, talk to baby—and make a practice of pointing out objects and saying what they are so baby learns about words
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Pour, splash, and play with safe floating toys during bath time
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Play with nontoxic bubble solutions—blow bubbles for baby to watch and touch
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Play music for baby, experimenting with new genres to see what she enjoys and help her clap to rhythms
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Play with toys that can be put together or pulled apart like large, safe pop beads, stacking toys, nesting toys, and interlocking blocks
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For older babies, play with chunky markers and crayons
Welcome
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