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| Title | Age in months | Description | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing | 1 | Sing your baby your favourite song, close enough for them to see your mouth move. | Brain responses of newborns to sung as compared to spoken streams of syllables predict expressive vocabulary at 18 months. François, C., Teixidó, M., Takerkart, S., Agut, T., Bosch, L. and Rodriguez-Fornells, A., 2017. Enhanced neonatal brain responses to sung streams predict vocabulary outcomes by age 18 months. Scientific reports, 7(1), p.12451. |
| Contrast | 1 | Make three contrast cards to show your baby | Newborns can only focus on highly contrasting images, use black, white and red shapes to catch their attention. They like pictures of faces with shaded eyes and mouths. Brain, B., 2016. Age: Newborn & 0-3 months. boy-www. Brain.co.uk |
| Hum | 1 | Hold your baby to your chest and hum to them, allowing them to feel the vibrations | Kostilainen, K., Partanen, E., Mikkola, K., Wikström, V., Pakarinen, S., Fellman, V. and Huotilainen, M., 2021. Repeated parental singing during kangaroo care improved neural processing of speech sound changes in preterm infants at term age. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, p.686027. |
| Touch | 1 | Hold your baby to your chest and hum to them, allowing them to feel the vibrations | Kostilainen, K., Partanen, E., Mikkola, K., Wikström, V., Pakarinen, S., Fellman, V. and Huotilainen, M., 2021. Repeated parental singing during kangaroo care improved neural processing of speech sound changes in preterm infants at term age. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, p.686027. |
| Massage | 1 | Learn baby massage for feet and legs. | Baby massage improves the quality of baby sleep. Start with legs and feet, slowly introduce other body part over weeks. Sulasdi, N.A.D., 2023. The Effectiveness of Baby Massage on Sleep Duration for Infants Aged 1-12 Months. Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan IPA, 9(8), pp.444-450. |
| Mirror | 1 | Show your baby a soft mirror as they lie on their back, move it from side to side to see if they follow | Gives an opportunity for you baby to practice concentrating |
| Look and Listen | 1 | Move a shaker out of view of your baby and see if they follow | Gives an opportunity for you baby to practice concentrating |
| Making faces | 1 | Make different faces at your baby to see if they react | Babies like to focus on faces and seeing a range of expressions may help them express themselves in future. |
| Tummy time | 1 | Start tummy time with a rolled towel to support their upper chest. Give lots of encouragement. | Mendres‐Smith, A.E., Borrero, J.C., Castillo, M.I., Davis, B.J., Becraft, J.L. and Hussey‐Gardner, B., 2020. Tummy time without the tears: The impact of parent positioning and play. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 53(4), pp.2090-2107. |
| Copying | 2 | Copy the sounds your baby makes to let them know you hear them. | Encourage your baby to explore their voice by letting them know you have heard them by micking them in ‘conversations’. |
| Read | 2 | Start reading and showing books with rhymes and contrasting pictures. | Boosts babieslater vocabulary Muhinyi, A. and Rowe, M.L., 2019. Shared reading with preverbal infants and later language development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 64, p.101053. |
| Dance | 2 | Put your favourite song on and dance holding your baby | Lots of research backs up the benefits of listening to music with your baby. Plus dancing with them is fun! |
| Grabbing | 2 | Hold soft contrasting toys out to your baby to see if they swipe for them | Babies might move their arms and accidentally touch objects, this starts the process of grabbing for them. |
| Go outside | 2 | Look around at different light patterns as your walk down the street. | Babies are drawn to light and dark patches as their vision is still developing, on a nice day they would enjoy looking at the contrast of trees. |
| Tummy time | 2 | Use contrasting pictures and shakers to entice your baby to lift their head. | Babies usually hate tummy time, they need encouragement to try to start lifting their head on their own. |
| Bath time | 2 | Gentle lift your baby's foot in and out of the water saying 'in', 'out' | Babies may take a while to enjoy bath time, but introducing gentle sensory games might help them to enjoy it and start to use parts of their body more |
| Talking | 2 | Lie back with your knees up, place your baby leaning on your knees, talk to them and see if they respond | Babies like to watch you talking and this position is relaxing for both you and your baby. Copy any noises they make back to them as well for a ‘conversation’. |
| Grabbing | 3 | Place object near your baby's hands as you hold them on your lap to see if they swipe for them. | Babies begin grabbing for things with varying degrees of accuracy. Make sure any objects you use are soft just in case they succeed as they then might not be able to let go and hit themselves. |
| Playing Aeroplane | 3 | Cradle your baby face down and slowly move them around the room. | Around 3 months, babies begin to perceive the world smoothly transitioning from one thing to another, so playing with them using smooth transitions will help them process this new perception. Van de Rijt, H. and Plooij, F., 2012. The wonder weeks. Kiddy World Publishing. |
| Tickling | 3 | Say 'I'm going to tickle your...' in a sing-song voice, tickle feet, hands, nose etc. | This can be funny for babies and it teaches them to observe patterns and the names for parts of the body. |
| Following | 3 | Move a shaker or contrast card side to side so your baby can follow with they head. | Your baby’s neck muscles are getting stronger. See how far they can follow you from side to side. |
| Flip books | 3 | Read flip books show your baby what is under each panel. | Guide your babies hand to flip the panels to build curiosity, wait for them to see if they so this on their own. |
| Hand piano | 3 | Show your baby your hand and play air piano whilst making a different sound for each finger | Babies love examining hands and how they move, pair this with some singing see how your baby responds. |
| Music | 3 | Play instruments, sing or play recorded music to your baby. | The benefits of listening to music for babies are well researched. Playing your baby music also feels great and you could even see if they can make a sound with your instrument (e.g. your guitar). |
| Outside | 3 | If its warm outside, allow your baby's hands and feet to touch different textures outside e.g. tree bark and leaves | Herzberg, O., Fletcher, K.K., Schatz, J.L., Adolph, K.E. and Tamis‐LeMonda, C.S., 2022. Infant exuberant object play at home: Immense amounts of time‐distributed, variable practice. Child development, 93(1), pp.150-164. |
| Bath time | 4 | Use different objects to pour, spray or splash your baby in the bath. | Encourage your baby to play in the bath, show them how to splash and see if they learn. |
| Peek-a-boo | 4 | Play peek-a-boo by holding a blanket over your face and letting it drop. | Peek-a-boo helps with language development as it teaches babies to anticipate and wait in conversation. https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/babies-discover-peekaboo/z7kxgwx |
| Songs and Actions | 4 | Sing songs with your baby and help them with the actions e.g. 'wind the bobbing up...' with their feet or hands. | Bobin-Bègue, A., 2019. Rhythms in early development. Early Interaction and Developmental Psychopathology: Volume I: Infancy, pp.55-86. |
| Picture books | 4 | Allow your baby to examine picture books | Babies like looking and books and being read to, pointing out pictures in books may interest your baby, especially if the pictures are familiar to them. Towell, J.L., Bartram, L., Morrow, S. and Brown, S.L., 2021. Reading to babies: Exploring the beginnings of literacy. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 21(3), pp.321-337 |
| Tummy time | 4 | Do the plank as your baby does tummy time to encourage them. | Babies need encouragement to do tummy time, they may also be amused at you putting in effort to do the plank as well. |
| Copying | 4 | Copy their sounds or movements. | When babies make new sounds, copy them to encourage them to explore more. |
| Talking | 4 | Use a higher pitched voice and short sentences so your baby can begin to concentrate on your voice. | Babies can focus on higher pitch sing songy talking ‘baby talk’, longer than they can focus on non-baby talk. |
| Sounds | 4 | Allow your baby to play with objects that can make a variety of sounds e.g. crackly paper. | Olsen, H. and Smith, B., 2020. Sandboxes, loose parts, and playground equipment: A descriptive exploration of outdoor play environments. In Reconsidering The Role of Play in Early Childhood (pp. 186-199). Routledge. |
| Pull ups | 4 | If your baby is happy to do this, allow them to grab your finger and lift them form lying to sitting on a soft surface. | Build their strength and make noises as you do this like ‘ooooooweee’ |
| Waiting | 4 | Begin saying what things are in the world around you to your baby. | Honig, A.S., 2019. Language insights for caregivers with young children. In Research in Young Children's Literacy and Language Development (pp. 229-243). Routledge. |
| Inside | 5 | Loosely wrap toys in paper and see if your baby can find them | Loosely wrap toys in paper and see if your baby can find them |
| Sit up | 5 | Use cushions to support your baby to sit up for 10 seconds | Be careful because they can easily go face first into the floor if you are not with them at all times when practising sitting – its harder than you think. |
| Rolling | 5 | Help your baby to roll by placing them half way and letting them hold your finger to roll themselves | Help your baby to roll by placing them half way and letting them hold your finger to roll themselves |
| Bath time | 5 | Use floating toys like rubber ducks in the bath | Bath time is a great time to practice grabbing for objects with precision, and if you miss they won’t fall. |
| Nappy free | 5 | Allow your baby to practice rolling with no nappy on for freedom of movement. | Babies like to experience sensations on their bodies, which clothes can prevent. |
| Massage | 5 | Learn baby face, back and tummy massage | Baby massage improves the quality of baby sleep. Start with legs and feet, slowly introduce other body part over weeks. Sulasdi, N.A.D., 2023. The Effectiveness of Baby Massage on Sleep Duration for Infants Aged 1-12 Months. Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan IPA, 9(8), pp.444-450. |
| Singing rhymes | 5 | Sing nursery rhymes to your baby as your change their nappy | If babies associate a nappy change with singing time, they will enjoy having their nappy changed. |
| Friends | 5 | Find your nearest play group and go, see if your baby is interested in the variety of toys they have there | At some point your baby will need more stimulation that you and your house can provide, take them along to play ground to introduce them to new things. |
| Sitting and grabbing | 6 | Prop your baby up with pillows and offer them toys just out of reach to practice grabbing | This increases core strength and balance. |
| Tasting | 6 | Allow your baby to taste foods, some foods might take 10 tries before your baby enjoys them | Crawford, B., Low, J.Y. and Newman, L., 2023. Understanding barriers of eating unfamiliar fruits and vegetables in children using ‘Sensory Play’: a narrative review. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 58(8), pp.4075-4087. |
| Baby gym | 6 | On the bed, help your baby to stand holding onto your fingers. Sway them back and forth. | Increases strength and balance. |
| Face the world | 6 | Take your baby on world facing walks | Your baby might like to be introduced to new experiences especially if they are comforted by being carried by you. |
| Look around | 6 | Take your baby to museums and art galleries and show them interesting objects | Now your baby can use their neck to look around, increase the amount of visual stimuli in their environment. |
| Friends | 6 | Help your baby safely interact with other babies their age | Babies like to meet babies of a similar ago to them, especially if they are supported to do so. |
| Mirror | 6 | Talk to your baby in the mirror to see if they realise its your reflection | de Waal, F.B., 2019. Fish, mirrors, and a gradualist perspective on self-awareness. PLoS Biology, 17(2), p.e3000112. |
| Weaning | 6 | Place cooked soft fruits and vegetables in front of your baby and let them play (messy!) | Crawford, B., Low, J.Y. and Newman, L., 2023. Understanding barriers of eating unfamiliar fruits and vegetables in children using ‘Sensory Play’: a narrative review. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 58(8), pp.4075-4087. |
| Helping | 18 | Singing positive songs and tidying up | Siu, T.S.C. and Ho, C.I., 2022. Engaging with happy‐sounding music promotes helping behavior in 18‐month‐olds. Infancy, 27(1), pp.197-206. |