Child’s play.

Play and toys are essential to baby’s learning.

PLAY helps babies learn about people and the world around them. Play also stimulates babies’ development, be it physical, intellectual, social or emotional. Let’s see how we can help babies play and learn through their first year.

Things to look at: A newborn focuses best at objects held 20-25cm from his face. His hands are usually clenched in little fists that do not have much control. So his first toys would be those that he can enjoy watching, such as a mobile hung above his cot or colourful rattles that you can shake in front of him.

Sounds and music: Babies are attracted to sounds. Hence they like games with sounds and music. When baby is not hungry or sleepy, hold him on your lap and play with him. Sing, coo, talk, tease and tickle him.

In time, he will “talk” back to you by imitating your sounds. These early “conversations” help baby learn to communicate. You can also nurture baby’s interest in music by playing nursery rhymes or classical music. Musical mobiles, music boxes, squeaky toys and rattles are all-time favourites.

Here’s a game that you can play with baby to stimulate his hearing, train his attention and exercise him.

Get a pair of brightly-coloured bootees and sew a bell on each bootee. Let baby wear the bootees and lie comfortably on his back. Facing him, hold baby’s calves and make cycling motions in the air while you sing his favourite nursery rhyme to the accompaniment of the jingling bells. Baby will respond with rapt attention and glee.

Remove the bootees after playing as a safety measure.

Sitting and playing: When baby can sit unsupported, amuse him with toys that he can hold and which will not roll away. Stacking rings, drums, toy cars, soft toys and even household items like metal bowls, plastic colanders, wooden spoons, cardboard boxes and old magazines make great toys. He gets the opportunity to feel different materials, from the crispness of paper to the hardness of wood and the coldness of metal.

Moving and exploring: A crawling baby is captivated by toys that move such as a wind-up duck that waggles along or a rolling ball. These toys teach baby about motion and motivate him to crawl after them. When your baby learns to walk, he will find push-along toys like carts and trolleys, helpful for keeping his balance.

Curious toddlers find great adventure in emptying drawers and cupboards.

Offer yours a large basket or cardboard box filled with safe toys and household items that he can empty out and fill again to his heart’s content. He is learning to sort things and toys like shape sorters will be appropriate at this age.

Fun with water: Give your little one a cup of water, some plastic cups, a sieve, spoons and empty plastic bottles. He will soon be absorbed in learning to pour, scoop and fill. This trains his eye-and-hand coordination. Toddlers should only be allowed to play with water under the watchful eyes of an adult.

First words: Around nine months to a year old, babies learn to say their first words. Enhance your baby’s communication skills and vocabulary by talking to him. Point things out to your baby and name them. Sit with him in front of a mirror and use his index finger to point to his eyes, nose, mouth, ears and head, while naming each part.

Babies regard books as toys, so sturdy board books or washable rag books are more practical. First books should have little text but lots of big, colourful pictures. Sit baby on your lap and read to him. He listens to the sounds of words, learns to recognise familiar objects or animals in the books and very soon, you will be rewarded with his first words.