You know it’s important to play with your baby—the right kind of play isn’t just fun, it’s also interesting, educational and a bonding experience. But figuring out how to interact with a scrunched-up newborn and how to happily occupy an unruly 14-month-old are their own unique challenges. That’s why we came up with this handy guide, covering activities for babies (and toddlers) from birth to age two.
Just one thing before you read: Babies develop at different rates. If your baby doesn’t seem ready for a certain activity, try it again in a month or two. Know that all babies are different. Your baby also could downright hate an activity we suggest. That’s normal! Feel free to improvise (and leave your suggestions in the comments!).
0 months: Swing time
Don't break out the baby swing just yet. (And definitely stay away from playground swings for now!) Until baby gets better head control, try folding a bedsheet in half (twin or queen-size sheets work best) and then lay it on the ground and place your baby in the middle. With an adult positioned at either end, pick up the ends of the bedsheet until baby is off the ground. Make sure baby is safely and securely resting inside and no parts of the sheet are covering her nose or mouth. “Swing the baby slowly to watch for her reaction,” says Kimberly Lyons, MEd, CMT, founder and owner of Tum e Time, a baby play center in San Francisco. “If your baby enjoys it, try singing a lullaby as she relaxes in the hammock.”
This activity can help your baby build strong bones and muscles—and just may soothe a fussy baby to sleep! Just be careful to swing gently and safely!
MORE ON THE BUMP: 10 Signs Baby Loves You
1 month: Wear your baby
Babies love skin-to-skin contact, but you can’t just sit and cuddle all day. A baby carrier, such as a ring sling or a strap-on front carrier, lets your baby snuggle in close while freeing up your hands. Wearing your baby also provides him with a wealth of stimulation. “Wearing babies allows them to see what you see and begin to make sense of the world as you wear them while you work, clean and run errands,” says Bethany Gonzalez Moreno, founder of B. EcoChic, a company that helps parents find eco-friendly baby products.
Young babies should be worn facing inward, not outward, to avoid overstimulation and so their heads have proper support. Make sure baby has plenty of room to breathe while you're carrying him.
2 months: Make a mobile
“Very young babies are attracted to contrasting colors,” says Gaby Merediz, an artist, writer and mother of two young boys. “So draw some simple shapes in black marker on white paper and hang them above your baby’s crib or on a spot on the wall near your baby’s line of sight.”
At birth, baby’s vision is limited, so she’ll have a hard time focusing on anything more than a few inches away from her face. Providing her with interesting objects in her line of sight encourages her to focus her eyes and strengthens her vision. Of course, you are her very favorite “interesting object,” so make sure she gets plenty of face time with you too!
3 months: Play ball
Babies need tummy time to strengthen their back, neck and abdominal muscles, but many babies don’t like being placed facedown on the floor. So instead, try laying baby tummy-down on top of a soccer ball or kickball. (Make sure the floor underneath is padded, for safety’s sake.) “Hold baby securely and move him around in circles, forward and backward,” Lyons says. You can even place toys close to baby to encourage him to reach for them, or set out an infant mirror so baby can see himself.
MORE ON THE BUMP: Best and Worst Things About Having a Baby
4 months: Make some noise
At four months, babies are beginning to tune in to the different sounds that make up speech, so it’s a good idea to make talking take center stage. Your baby is probably already making some distinct sounds, so pick one that she says commonly and use it throughout the day in the words you say and the songs you sing. Yes, you can totally make this up. For example, if baby’s saying "da-da-da-da!," play with a rubber ducky, look at some pictures of daddy and sing the Star Wars theme song in your best "dah dah dah DAH dum" voice. You can switch it up—maybe use a different sound (dada, baba, chacha) every day to get baby hearing a variety of sounds to imitate.
Copying your baby’s sounds encourages her to make more. And as your baby listens to you speak, she’ll begin to pick up other sounds and combinations of sounds. Before you know it, you and your baby will be babbling back and forth.
5 months: Ready for takeoff
This activity is virtually guaranteed to make your baby giggle. Bonus: You’ll get a leg workout in the process. Start by sitting on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor in front of you. Place your baby's belly on your lower legs and hold onto his torso as you lie back on the ground. Your baby will rise up into the air like an airplane!
Then you can “rock your feet back and forth, move them up and down or trace circles in the air,” Lyons says. The tummy-down position (and your baby’s desire to see your face) can strengthen his core muscles, and he’ll love playing silly games of peek-a-boo as you move him up and down.
6 months: Learn sign language
Yes, your baby can learn sign language this young! In fact, it’s an ideal time to start. Parents who have used American Sign Language with their babies say that babies as young as six months can begin to understand simple signs (although baby may not begin to sign back until she’s eight months or older).
“Weave signs into everyday activities and eventually your child will be using signs, too,” says Moreno, who used sign language with her infant daughter. “Using sign language with your baby helps children to think and express themselves symbolically, long before they can talk. We were able to teach our daughter over 350 American Sign Language signs by the time she was 17 months old. Once, when she was 12 months old, she asked me if the truck that had pulled up next to our car was an airplane.”
Not sure where to start? Many communities offer baby sign language classes. Or look for a baby sign language book or video at your local library or online.
7 months: Cause and effect
Have you noticed your baby’s tendency to fling things from the high chair? Part of the thrill of that “game” (yes, to him it’s a game, while to you it can be aggravating!) is simply getting to see what happens when a piece of food is thrown or dropped on the floor. Between six months and one year, babies are beginning to understand that their actions make things happen, and they’re studying those reactions. So why not set up your own action with a reaction? “Cut a hole in the plastic lid of a coffee can and give your baby a few smaller toys,” Merediz says. “Help him push the toys into the hole in the lid, and remove the lid to dump the toys out.” You’ll be surprised at how long you can keep baby entertained with this simple game!
MORE ON THE BUMP: "No Child of Mine Will Ever…"
8 months: Make musical instruments
Babies love to experiment with different sounds. For just one day, let your inner neat freak have the afternoon off and pull the pots, pans and plastic containers out of the kitchen cupboards. Arm your little one with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula, and show her how to pound on the containers. She’ll have fun (cause and effect, remember?), make some scientific observations (pounding harder results in a louder noise)—and she may even show some rhythm. Try turning on some music; a few babies will drum or sway right along with the beat.
You can also try putting some uncooked beans or rice in different-size plastic containers and let your child shake the containers to make different noises. Just make sure to securely close the containers so she doesn’t put things she’s not supposed to in her mouth. (Hint: duct tape works great.)
9 months: Play with dolls
Or stuffed animals. Or plastic food. The actual toy doesn’t really matter; what matters is imagination, and props such as toys, stuffed animals and play food have long been used to inspire pretend play. “Starting at around nine months, many babies will enjoy rocking a baby doll or pretending to feed it, or pretending to talk on the phone,” says Jessica McMaken, owner of Razzbelly Early Childhood Consulting Services.
You might feel kind of silly playing with dolls (maybe even more so if your child is a boy), but “old-fashioned imaginative play is critical for a child's intellectual development,” McMaken says. “While engaged in pretend play, kids are learning to solve problems, practicing crucial social skills, developing self-confidence, mastering language skills and can even practice literacy and numeracy skills.”
MORE ON THE BUMP: Shocking Confessions of New Moms
10 months: Count
It’ll be awhile before your baby will recite her 123s, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to introduce numbers. So count things—anything and everything—with your child. Count cars. Balls. Babies. Apples. Stairs. What you count isn’t important. What's important is that your child will be learning a very important mathematical concept called one-to-one correspondence.
“One-to-one correspondence is the concept of matching one number to one object,” explains Laura Laing, author of Math for Grownups. “Kids aren’t born with the idea that the first car corresponds to one, and that the fifth car corresponds to five. It sounds ridiculous to us as adults, because we make the connection automatically. But it’s a pretty big deal to a little kid.”
11 months: Do the laundry
You might think that laundry is a drag, but your baby begs to differ. For some reason, babies are endlessly fascinated by anything in laundry baskets or hampers. So use that interest to your advantage. Bring up a big basket of clean laundry. “Let your baby pull up on the side of the basket and explore the clothes inside,” says Brandi Fisher, a former early childhood educator. Pulling up helps your baby strengthen his legs and refine his gross motor skills, and touching and feeling the clothes inside stimulates your baby’s tactile senses.
Want to have even more fun? Try balling up a sock and playing “catch” with baby. Or place him in the laundry basket and zoom him around the room on the floor. You can even play hide-and-seek with the empty laundry basket and a pile of clean clothes.
12 months: Put together a puzzle
“Simple wooden puzzles are great for children starting at one year of age, and they help to develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness,” Moreno says.
Start with puzzles with just a few pieces and chunky wooden handles, since the handles are easier for small, chubby hands to grasp than regular puzzle pieces. If you don’t want to invest in high-quality puzzles, check your local library. Many libraries offer puzzles for check out, or allow patrons to play with puzzles in the library.
13 months: Make marbleized gift wrap
Yes, you’ve made it to the age where you and baby (correction: toddler) can do crafts together. All you need is some tempera paint, plastic wrap and white paper. (Butcher paper works particularly well.) Cover your work surface and tape the white paper in place. Help your little one dribble some paint onto the paper. Use several colors and let the colors touch. Then, lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the paint, covering the paint and paper. Show your child how to move his hands over the paper to create designs in the paint; he’ll probably get the hang of it pretty quickly!
When he’s done, carefully lift off the plastic wrap and throw it away. Let the paint-and-paper dry; the finished product makes great gift wrap. Or you can frame your baby’s works of art.
“My one-year-old loves making marbleized paper,” says Kate Freeman of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a child care company. Kids love the tactile experience, and working with various colors helps them learn and ID colors (and even experiment with color mixing).
MORE ON THE BUMP: 25 Reasons Babies Rock
14 months: Go for a walk
You’ve probably been on hundreds of walks with your child already. But how many times have you gone at her pace? Find out what catches her fancy when she’s given the time and space to explore whatever she wants (within reason, of course—the road is still off-limits!).
Too many kids spend the vast majority of their waking hours inside. Heading outside puts your child in touch with nature and gives her a chance to use her senses to explore the natural world. “Touch and explore the grass, trees and flowers. Watch bugs. Talk about what you see, hear, smell and feel,” McMaken says. “This activity stimulates language development, attention skills and observation skills. It also enhances the emotional connection between you and your child as you share the excitement of the outdoors.”
15 months: Look at books
You already read to baby, but at this age, you might have a better time if you set aside time to just “look at books” instead of trying to go through the story word for word. So stock up on sturdy books and give your child a chance to hold and handle the book. At this age, kids are still learning basic concepts, so simply holding the book and learning (eventually) how to orient it right-side up and how to flip the pages from front to back is a huge pre-literacy skill that sets kids up for eventual school success.
Follow your baby’s lead. If he’s interested in looking at the pictures, look at and label the pictures with him: “cat,” “cow,” “car.” You’ll help expand his vocabulary, and he’ll begin to understand that books represent things in the real world.
16 months: Play with blocks
By now, your child has the physical dexterity to pick up and rearrange blocks, and may enjoy stacking them up and knocking them down. (Most toddlers love making messes!) Some kids like to use the blocks to create roadways and structures for cars and other toys too. Try putting out a variety of small toys with the blocks and see what your child does.
“Blocks can be used to hone fine motor skills,” says Michele Morrison, director of training and program support for The Parent-Child Home Program in New York. “They’re also wonderful for looking at similarities and differences; try grouping them by size, shape or color. They can be used for counting activities and teaching basic directional concepts and colors too.”
17 months: Color
Strap your child into his high chair or hold him on your lap and spread out some crayons and paper. Show him how to make marks on the paper; then hand him a crayon. “Many parents get really upset with children having writing instruments at this age,” Morrison says. “They’re afraid that the child is going to start scribbling all over the place. But with supervision, a very young child can start using crayons.”
Your pre-preschooler is nowhere near ready to write and probably not even close to creating artistic masterpieces, but your child will be developing his fine motor skills and enjoying some self-expression. Eventually, those squiggles will turn into shapes and letters. For now, though, just have fun!
MORE ON THE BUMP: How to Read Your Baby's Mind (Really!)
18 months: Read or sing nursery rhymes
The old Mother Goose nursery rhymes can seem a little uncool, but they’re classics for a reason. “What’s wonderful about Mother Goose is the rhythm and the rhyme,” Morrison says. The classic rhymes also contain all kinds of unique and unusual vocabulary (tuffet, anyone?), which is great for your child’s cognitive and verbal development. “Studies have shown that the more words kids are exposed to, the better they typically do in school. So the more we can stretch their vocabulary, the better. And children between the ages of 16 and 24 months are real sponges for language. That’s when language is really blossoming, and a very important window in terms of child development.”
19 months: Play ball
A small rubber ball is good for hours of fun. (Just make sure the ball is bigger than the inside of a cardboard paper towel tube. You don’t want your child playing with a potential choking hazard.)
“Show your toddler how to kick, throw and chase the ball,” says McMaken. “He'll be developing his motor skills and also getting a pint-sized physics lesson as he observes the way the ball behaves under different forces.” Playing “catch” or “kick” with your kid also teaches the importance of sharing and taking turns—important concepts for soon-to-be preschoolers!
20 months: Water play
Toss some plastic measuring cups into the tub or kiddie pool to open up a whole new window of learning for your child. Let your child play, experiment and make observations. If you want to play along, try filling a half-cup container and pouring it into a one-cup container. Then fill the one-cup measure and have your child try to dump the contents into the half-cup container. It won’t fit!
Your child will think you’re just having fun, but she’ll also be making some important observations. “What you’re doing is encouraging your child to develop a sense of size,” says Laing. “Eventually, he’ll understand that a half cup is smaller than one cup, and that one cup is bigger than a half cup.”
Note: Keep some towels on hand. Water play can get messy, especially when measuring cups are involved!
21 months: Do housework together
Toddlers love imitating mom and dad, so the next time you need to get something done around the house, try involving your child. “If you are wiping down the counters, give your baby a little rag and see what he does,” Fisher says. “Most likely, he will try to copy your motions and will soon be trying to wipe the floor, cabinets, his toys—everything."
Helping around the house helps kids develop their motor skill, but more importantly, Fisher says, it helps them “feel important and gain independence.” Other developmentally appropriate household tasks: dusting, picking up toys and sweeping or vacuuming with mom or dad.
22 months: Build with boxes
Cardboard boxes are cheap, easy to find and endlessly entertaining—not to mention cognitively stimulating. “Children are little scientists,” Morrison says. “Many kids this age are fascinated with filling up boxes and dumping out boxes.” And while that can be annoying for parents (aka the Head Cleaner-Uppers), your little scientist is actually learning about cause and effect.
Building with boxes can also help kids grasp complicated concepts. “One of the things that very young children are exploring is the idea of conceptual language, like inside and outside, on top of, underneath,” Morrison says. “They really get to experience that when they play with boxes.”
23 months: Sing simple songs
“Classic nursery rhymes and children’s songs like ‘This Little Piggy’ and ‘Five Monkeys on the Bed’ help kids understand basic mathematical concepts such as ‘taking away’ and ‘adding to,’” Laing says. “Kids this age aren’t going to be able to add and subtract, but they can begin to understand the concepts.”
Combining the songs with the appropriate actions really drives home the message. So you’ll want to play with those piggies too.
24 months: Tear paper
Tearing is immensely satisfying for young kids, McMaken says, so show your toddler how to tear strips of paper from a piece of construction paper. If he’s interested, you can even show him how to glue the torn pieces to another piece of paper. “This activity is useful for teaching color concepts,” McMaken explains. “It also develops fine motor skills which will become important for writing, and as a bonus, mastering the sequence of steps (tear, apply glue, place on paper) is important practice for later development of reading skills.”
