You are Your Baby’s First and Best Teacher

Your child will learn more from you than anyone else during his lifetime.

Babies are born ready to learn. They are learning even before they are born. Research shows that when you talk to, hold, and care for your child, the brain is stimulated and the child learns to trust. He learns that you care. He learns that the world can be a good and safe place. The foundation you are building by forming a strong bond with your baby will help his brain and body grow in the best ways possible.

Parents tend to interact differently with boys and girls. Studies show that parents tend to imitate and encourage girls to be verbal, which may be one of the reasons girls usually talk earlier than boys. Parents tend to focus on motor skills with boys. It is important for parents to stimulate verbal development as well as physical development for both boys and girls. All babies need stimulation in all the different areas of development.

How to Play

Put your baby on the floor, in an infant seat or propped up enough to see you. Get your baby's attention by making eye contact and calling her name.

Show your baby a toy. Say, “Look what I have. It's a red rattle. Listen!” Then give the rattle to your baby. As she plays, talk about what she is doing. Say, “You can make it rattle. How does it taste? Is it hard? “

Allow your baby time to play and explore what she can do with the toy. When she is bored, show her how to do something else with the toy. If it is a rattle, show her how to move it up and down. Give her the rattle to try.

Another time, try this: Hold the rattle or toy and get your baby’s attention. Move it from one side to the other, up and down, and in circles. This helps your baby learn to use both eyes well. Your baby will let you know when she is tired of playing.

It is your job to match the amount of play to your baby's needs. If your baby wants to play some more, try playing another game. If your baby is fussy and tired, it's better to stop and play again later.

Why Play?

Playing helps babies learn. They learn how to tell the difference between objects by looking, feeling, tasting, smelling, and hearing.

Play encourages your baby to explore the world. He explores by using different body motions, such as banging, mouthing, dropping, and rubbing. He will do a combination of motions and compare the differences.

Playing with your baby shows him how to play when he is alone.

First Toys

Rattles

Have three or four rattles available. A baby will play with rattles for about the next three months. See the safe playthings section for tips for picking safe rattles.

Feely Toys

Find safe, clean objects that are square, round, hard, soft, fuzzy, long, and short. Show them one at a time to your baby. Let her examine them with her hands and mouth.

Batting Practice

Your baby waves her arms and legs and enjoys batting at objects. She likes brightly colored, different-textured, lightweight objects. Use a cradle gym to help your baby practice these skills. Be sure objects are safe. Before you know it, this random batting will turn into reaching, then grasping, and then putting the objects into his mouth.