As you sit with your child, hold their feet and touch each of their toes, making up a story about each one. The small one is a little piglet that goes “oink oink!” The next one is his big brother, etc. Keep going and respond to what they do and say!
Author: Sarah Childs
Fun bath time routine
Create fun and simple bath routines with your child. For example, every time you feel the temperature you can say, “Splish, splash!” When the bath is over, shake the washcloth saying, “Shake, shake.” Look for ways to add to the bath routine.
Sing in different voice
Instead of talking as usual, try singing in a different voice. For example, it’s very funny to sing about getting dressed. Sing, “I’m sliding on my shirt, jumping in my pants,” in a low voice. You and your child can use familiar tunes and make up your own words.
Sing rhyming words
When your child makes a sound, turn it into a rhyme. If they say “Eee,” say, “Eee rhymes with WE and we are together.” How many funny poems can you make with the sounds they are making? It is fun for them and helps them listen to sounds.
Sing sounds to favorite tune
Does your child babble or make lots of sounds? This is a first step in learning to speak. Set these sounds to music. If they’re saying, “Ba, ba, ba,” sing this sound to a favorite tune. Watch their eyes light up. Guess what? Your baby’s brain lit up too!”
Airplane food
Tell your child their food is an airplane and make the food fly around until they open wide so you can land it in their mouth. Make plane noises and talk about whether it is flying high, low, or in circles.
Hold objects in different hands
Hand your child safe objects or toys for their right hand and for their left. Then give them a third. How do they respond? Do they try to hold it with hands that are already full? Talk to them about what they might be thinking about holding objects.
Where’s your hand?
Put one of your child’s socks on one of their hands, asking “Where’s your Hand?” How do they respond? Wave their hand? Look at it? Next, put it on the other hand. Do they respond in the same way or do anything differently?
Drop the ball
A fun outside game is “Drop the Ball.” Give your child a safe object to hold onto and drop, like a ball or a crumbled piece of paper. If you pick it up, they will drop it again. “Down it falls. Up it comes.” Keep up the game with new objects!
Shake, bang, roll
When your child picks up something safe, encourage them to “Shake, Bang, and Roll!” How many different ways do they explore the object? Talk to them about what they’re doing, “You shook the rattle and made a sound.”
