What can I play with my Baby?

Do you interact enough with your child(ren)? I don't think I do, so I'm trying to work on that. I've been doing research and thinking back to my days as a teacher. Just because I was a primary teacher, however, doesn't mean I knew from my daughter's birth exactly what to do to engage her!

I had almost no experience with babies, and when I brought her home from the hospital, I was kind of thinking, "ok, now what?"

The good news is there are PLENTY of ideas out there. Keep reading and maybe this hub will help you add some fun for you and your baby during the day!

I've come up with several activities that I'd like to share with you. I've broken the activities up into categories. I hope this helps you. I think writing it all out like this is going to help me!

Sensory Skills:

Sticky-tac decorations - family photos, cartoons, shapes, colors, etc on Baby's walls. Place them low to the ground so Baby can see and enjoy them. They are absorbing everything right now - even the decorations on the wall!

Get [very] small carpet remnants and attach different fabrics and other textures to it. While baby is crawling around, he or she can feel these different textures. Get creative! You can use felt, velvet, something furry, etc. There are lots of great fabrics at any local fabric store.

Use stuffed animals and put on little shows for him or her.

Reading and Literacy:

Do Storytime. It's very important that you read to your baby. You can do this more than just once a day.

Give baby time to look at his or her book, identify the objects or characters he or she [or you] points to.

Work on letter and number recognition.

Communication:

Try to teach Baby Sign Language. This is fun, helpful and helps with communication skills. Just do an on-line search to find out how to sign simple words like "diaper", "Mommy", "more", "sleep", "drink", etc.

Talk non-sense or narrate your life. Describe what you're doing to your cuddle bug. This is a great thing to do while getting those pesky chores done. You can do work AND help your son or daughter learn! How great is that?!

Walk around the house, point to all the objects that you both see and state their names.

Music:

Have dance parties and sing songs! Babies love this and it can be good for mommies too! Pandora is a website that lets you listen to songs free! I like the Disney songs channel. :o)

Nature and Surroundings:

Go on stroller walks around the block, bring a friend if you can! If it's really nice out, go to a nearby park or playground. There are lots of fun things for babies at these places!!

Gross and Fine Motor Skills:

Practice skills and milestones like rolling over, crawling, standing, walking, climbing stairs (carefully!), etc. Just observe what milestone your little one is trying to master and help her or him out any way you can (safely, obviously)

Independent Play is ok too; in fact, it's encouraged (in moderation)! You don't need to be stimulating your baby / toddler constantly... so keep that in mind too, and try to find a balance. I'm trying to do this as well.

Allow your baby to have tummy time on the floor or boppy pillow and time in a jump-a-roo or exosaucer.