Let’s Talk About Playing with Your Baby
When I would mention to friends and family that I was playing with my baby, I was often met with questions or even strange looks. Considering my daughter was only a few weeks old at the time, I guess this would seem strange to some.
However, one thing that remains prominent in my mind from many of my graduate level child development classes, is that development begins and progresses from birth. Babies have an amazing ability to soak up information and new experiences from as little as a few days and weeks old.
Because of this I have been very deliberate about the types of activities I do with my daughter, and have structured a play routine from very early on.
In this post, I will share why playing with your baby is so important, and some of our favourite ways to play, including researched backed types of play that promote development.
If you stay until the end, I will share some of our favourites toys and other resources I used to engage my daughter from 0-6 months.
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Why is Playing with Your Baby Important?
Playing with your baby helps to exposure them to their immediate environment and the world around them. From birth, babies learn about the world through the stimuli that they take in with their senses. That is the primary reason that play is so important from a young age.
Knowing what colours, textures, sounds, activities and toys are appropriate at their age and development can help you to develop a play routine that will stimulate and engage your baby, while helping them reach their developmental milestones.
All babies are different and will reach their milestones at different times, however, engaging them through play can help to stimulate them both cognitively and physically, which can help with different aspects of their development.
Benefits of Playing with Your Baby
Playing with your baby has numerous benefits. Some of the most noted advantages include helping them to develop both fine and gross motor skills, enhances social and cognitive skills, helps babies to understand their environment, encourages bonding with caregivers and stimulates them during the day to promote better sleep.
The 6 Key Types of Play to Exposure Your Baby To and How Playing with Your Baby Helps Them Develop
1. Tummy Time
Tummy time literally means time spent on their tummy. It can be started as early as your baby’s first few days of life.
Tummy time is essential to help babies develop head, neck, shoulder and arm strength that will eventually help them to perform activities such as holding up their heads, holding themselves up, rolling over, scooting and crawling.
During the first month of life it is recommended that you begin with about 5 minutes of tummy time per day, split into 2-3 sessions. You can do this on the floor without any aids, use a tummy time pillow to prop your baby up, or even do it on your chest, which also promotes skin-to-skin time.
As your baby grows, add 5-10 minutes per month, divided into 2-4 sessions per day. With continued exposure to tummy time, you will notice that your baby’s tolerance will grow.
Our favourite tummy time gear:
2. Floor Play
Floor play can involve tummy time, but includes any activity where the baby is on the floor and out of your arms. You should position yourself on the floor, near to them to help guide and support them. Remember, baby should always remain under your supervision.
This type of play can include time spent on their back, while looking at their surroundings or playing with toys, side lying, where your baby is placed on their side, or tummy time, as is explained above.
Floor play helps to develop motor skills and will help your baby to learn how to mobilize once they develop more strength. It encourages babies to move around freely and exercise their limbs and muscles.
Playing with your baby on the floor is essential to helping babies to develop skills needed for future activities like sitting up, crawling and walking.
Our favourite floor play gear:
3. Independent Play
Once your baby is a few months old they can begin to play independently for a short while during floor time, tummy time or even while in their crib. This does not mean that your baby should be left unsupervised. Instead, encourage them to play unassisted while you watch them.
Give them an age appropriate toy or soft book and allow them to play as they like. This helps babies to learn about their preferences and explore different items on their own. Be sure to keep a watchful eye but allow them to take the lead in terms of how they want to engage and entertain themselves.
Babies will play with tabs on soft toys, scrunch to hear sounds,
This solo exploration is recommended from around the 3 month mark. However, as every baby is different, let your baby take the lead to let you know when they are ready. When your baby begins to grab, hold and focus their attention on objects it is a good cue that they may enjoy independent play.
Our favourite independent play gear:
4. Adult-Led Play
Most of the play that your baby engages in from 0-6 months will be adult led play. This is because you are your baby’s first teacher, and they depend on you to teach them through experience.
You help them to understand the world around them by engaging them. This could mean exploring various toys and activities, or it could simply mean talking, singing and reading to them.
Some examples of great adult let activities to do with your baby include:
- Showing and reading books.
- Sitting with them while they engage with a play mat.
- Singing songs while clapping your hands.
- Talking to them while using various facial expressions and hand gestures.
- Putting on a puppet show.
- Taking them outside and explaining about nature and their surroundings.
Our favourite adult-led play gear include:
5. Sensory Play
A lot of the play that your baby will engage in from 0-6 months will be various types of sensory play. This involves them using their senses to learn about their environment.
Babies will naturally engage their senses, for example, by reaching to touch their toys, putting toys and objects in their mouth to explore them, or by observing lights and bright objects with their eyes. At this age they are slowly learning so much just be experiencing, so it is great to engage their senses as much as possible.
Check out my entire post on sensory play here.
Some great sensory activities to try with your baby include:
- Encouraging your baby to touch different fabrics, textures, toys and age appropriate objects.
- Exposing them to teething toys.
- Playing with a water filled tummy time mat, and encouraging them to splash the water.
- When baby is ready to begin trying solid foods, somewhere between 4-6 months, touching and eating those foods with their hands and mouth is an excellent form of sensory play. For more information on starting solids, check out my post.
Our favourite sensory play gear:
6. Reading
If you’ve read some of my other posts you know that I am a big advocate of reading to your baby from birth. For my full post on why this is important, check it out below.
Related Post: Reading to Your Baby: Why You Should Start from Birth
Reading helps your baby to understand communication, language and a range of vocabulary.
Exposing your child to high-contrast black and white books from 0-3 months, and then high-contrast coloured books beyond 3 months of age can help them to remain engaged, while developing their initial love for books.
As they age, further exposure to books will familiarize your baby with age appropriate books that enhance ther understanding of language, prose and other aspects of communication.
Adding reading into your nap time or bedtime routine can help your baby to wind down and get ready for bed.
Be sure to check out the reading to baby post for some of our favourite books!
A Few Points to Remember About Playing with Your Baby
You can be really creative with how you play with your baby during their first 6 months of life. The possibilities are endless, but I want to point out a few important things that will make your experience better.
- Engaging baby in play throughout the day can actually help to tire them out during their wake window, leading to more restful naps and nighttime sleep.
- Avoid overstimulation by winding down play at least one hour before your baby’s bed time.
- Avoid toys that are beyond the baby’s developmental age as this may lead to frustration or have safety implications. Always read manufacturer’s warnings for guidance, or when in doubt, consult your pediatrician.
- Always supervise your baby during play. Even during independent play, your eyes should always be on your child.
Final Thoughts
I hope that this post has given you some insight into how you can play with your baby.  Engaging your newborn or infant in appropriate age-related play within the first few months is positively associated with motor skill development and greater creativity later on.
Playing with your baby is important even from the first few days and weeks of life to develop important skills and help them to reach their developmental milestones.  As they age you can incorporate other toys and increase their exposure and time to the various activities.
Remember to consult your pediatrician if you have questions about age appropriate play or toys.
To learn about what comes next, check out my posts about play and our favourite books from 6-12 months!
I Would Love to Connect with You
Feel free to reach out to me! You can also leave a message in the comments section below. I would love to hear about your experience playing with your baby or their favourite toys at this age!
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Great list. I think reading from day one and onward is so important 🙂
Love these games! And the gear recommendations are so useful!
With both my kids play became part of our routine from day 1. I loved how it would tired them out and help them nap more soundly during the day. Songs, floor mats, books we just some of their favourite activities.
This is great. Very informative.
Thank you Bobbie!
It is so important to promote your baby’s motor skills and brain development from an early age. Engaging in activities with your baby not only helps in his/her development but strengthens the parent-baby bond. Thanks!