During the first year of your baby’s life, they have a lot going on. Your baby is learning how to make sense of the colours shapes and sounds all around her, as well as the adults and older children in her life. The more you play with your baby, the more his or her self-control and social skills develop, and therefore, how your baby interacts with the world is not only crucial to their own cognitive development, but it also affects family wellness and so play becomes all-important for everyone’s wellbeing.
Playtime, including your personal interactions with your baby and the toys you help them to explore, provide your baby with the first lessons in making sense of the world. However, too much stimulation can be just as limiting to your baby’s wellness as insufficient amounts, and so you should also remember there’s a time to break from playtime when your baby turns away from you during your game or becomes fussy.
For newborns, play often means repeating activities, as your baby will often kick her feet or may become fixated on her body parts, slowly realising that she’s the one making them move. If you want to additionally stimulate your baby, secure musical toys and other objects to the sides of her cot so she has things to hit and make fun noises. You can also sing and speak to your baby during your daily routines, to develop her sense of gentle, playful interactions.
Directly playing with your baby helps to stimulate your baby’s senses, gives them an idea of the rules and norms of social interactions between people, and helps you learn your baby’s developing body language and recognise any non-verbal cues for delight, dislike and other reactions. Your baby will be ready for interpersonal play at roughly 5 weeks old, and you can tell if she is if she smiles intentionally in response to fun stimulations. Peek-a-boo is an activity you both participate in, as you help her learn the basic rhythms and give-and-take involved in conversations, and she encourages you with her smiles and squeals.
Finally, when your baby reaches 5 months, you have more opportunities for play as he can grasp and manipulate objects. At 8-9 months, your baby will be more interested in new playthings than familiar ones, as his attention span is longer, and so will take the time to explore the textures, shape and colours. At this point, your job is to introduce new objects to your baby, help him examine them and give him facial expressions and verbal responses to encourage him in exploring new things.
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