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Playtime is essential for your baby’s development, learning, and overall wellbeing. Through play, your little one learns about the world around them and how to interact with it. New play experiences help parts of your baby’s brain connect and grow, while play that gets them moving builds muscle strength and motor skills.
Playing together is also a great opportunity to bond with your baby. It helps you get to know each other, and your baby learns to trust and depend on you. Here are some fun and educational playtime activities to try with your little one:
Sing, Chat, and Cuddle
Simple interactions like singing, chatting, tickling, cuddling, and blowing raspberries are best for newborns. Nursery rhymes that involve touch, like “Round and round the garden”, are great too. Sharing songs from your own culture is also wonderful for your baby. Singing and chatting with your newborn helps them learn language skills. They love the sound of your voice and the way your face moves as you speak. Tickling and cuddling build trust and attachment. Blowing raspberries on your baby’s tummy or cheek is a silly game they often find hilarious.
Make Faces and Play Peekaboo
Your baby loves watching your face. Make faces, smile, laugh, roll your eyes or poke out your tongue. Play peekaboo games by covering your face with a cloth and revealing it again. Nappy-changing is a perfect time for face-to-face play. Babies are fascinated by faces, especially yours. Making exaggerated facial expressions helps your baby learn to recognize emotions and facial features. Peekaboo games teach object permanence – the understanding that things still exist even when hidden. Nappy changes are a great time to play these games because your baby is alert and looking at you.
Explore Different Textures
Give your baby different objects to feel – soft toys, rattles or cloth books with pages of different textures are fun. Feeling various things helps your baby learn about the world. Exploring different textures stimulates your baby’s sense of touch and helps them learn about the properties of objects. Soft toys are comforting, while rattles make interesting sounds when shaken. Cloth books with crinkly pages or fuzzy patches add to the sensory experience. Let your baby feel these objects with their hands and mouth to fully explore them.
Tummy Time
Give your baby tummy time each day using a playmat or blanket on the ground. This encourages movement and rolling, gives practice holding up their head, and lets them see things from a different perspective. Always watch your baby during tummy time and put them on their back to sleep.Tummy time is important for building neck and shoulder strength to support your baby’s head. It also encourages reaching, grasping, and rolling over. Seeing the world from a different angle stimulates your baby’s senses and brain development. Always supervise tummy time and never leave your baby unattended. Remember, Babies should always sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS.
Read Together
It’s never too early to start reading with your baby. Hold the book close – newborns can see only about 20-30 cm in front of their eyes. Talking, singing, and reading support your babies bonding and development.
Reading aloud exposes your baby to language and helps them learn to focus and pay attention. Holding the book close allows your baby to see the pictures and your face as you read. Talking and singing together during reading time strengthens your bond and supports your baby’s language skills. Even if your baby is too young to understand the story, they love the sound of your voice and the interaction.
Remember to follow your baby’s cues and enjoy yourselves. Even babies with a lot of energy need downtime and might feel overwhelmed if you keep playing when they’re tired. If your baby seems startled or upset, try a quieter game a bit later.
Playing with your baby is a fun activity, a bonding moment, an educational experience, and a developmental opportunity. No matter which game you choose, your little one will love the time spent together, and you may find that playtime becomes a highlight of your day too!
