How to Play With Your Baby

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

13 Jul 2006 10:30 AM

This may seem like an odd topic, but there's not a lot of information out there that tells first time parents how to play with their babies. As we discussed in Play Dates - Not Just For Your Toddler - play time is vital in the development of your infant and toddler. It is your son or daughter's time to learn and explore while also sharpening their cognitive and motor skills. As mommy or daddy, you are the playmate of choice for your baby and they will want to play with you from the get go.

In the beginning, that play time might just be watching your changing expressions and listening to the intonations in your voice. Nearly everything you do is going to be fascinating and whether you can carry a tune in a bucket with the lid welded on or not - your baby will love to hear you talk or sing whether it's a fun lullaby and nursery rhyme or it's pages out of the telephone book.

Some of their Favorite Things

Of all the things you will do, you doing them will be your baby's favorite. When she was ten months old, my daughter's favorite morning and evening activity was to be set up in her high chair in the kitchen while I straightened up and cooked. She would sit there and babble away, delighted by hearing and watching me wash dishes, load the dishwasher, unload the dishwasher, prepare food and more. As long as I was doing it in the kitchen, this could hold her rapt attention for an hour or so.

It was habitual for nearly six months to begin every morning in the kitchen and end every afternoon in there while I fixed breakfast or dinner. It always seemed to last just long enough until she was ready to go on and do something else. What always entertained me about these times is the intensity that she would watch me work with - she was trying to understand and she loved it when I kept up a running commentary on my actions.

Need Tips?

This sounds great, but how does this answer how you can play with your baby? Simple. There's a myriad of ways that you already play and interact with your baby. These tips are fashioned around those ideas and can help you get started in exploring how your baby or toddler likes to play.

• Help By Letting Them Do It - Your baby learns by mimicking or practicing your actions whether it is stacking blocks, talking or walking. It's important to give them the time to do it and resist the urge to just reach out and do it for them. It's important to monitor their frustration levels so that you are on hand to keep them from getting so frustrated they give up
• Don't Dictate a 'right' way - too many parents get upset when their toddler decides to play a different way with a toy that should be played a certain way - for example - games that are fun may not be what the baby wants to play. They may not want to stack blocks and build forts, but instead, create a land bridge or set up a barrier around themselves - let them play their way provided what they are doing is not hurting them
• Babies demonstrate frustration in different ways, you will learn how yours communicates that frustration and know that it is time to redirect them to a new activity before they have an outburst or give up on their endeavor altogether. My daughter always began her frustration by knocking down whatever she was playing with - this was usually the first signal that indicated she needed something else to do
• Be the Parent - You may be your baby's best play mate and playing with them can be a real treat, but your first task is to always be the parent. You need to make sure their environment is safe for them to be in - don't allow running on uneven sidewalk for example or avoid letting the baby play around the sides of the swimming pool - these may seem obvious but they are the extreme examples
• Variety is the Spice of Life - your baby's attention span will vary from five to twenty minutes when they are very young and gradually grow longer as they get older - be prepared to keep changing things up whether you are singing songs, playing patty cake or sitting with baby on the lap, then baby on the floor and then back up to the lap again
• Just as variety is to be expected - so is repetition - your baby may change their patterns and tastes every five minutes or they may just want to do the same set of things over and over and over again. That's okay - peek-a-boo played for thirty minutes can get pretty tired - so you might change it up so that you can walk into and out of the room - saying Peek-A-Boo each time you come back

How do you play with your baby?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger