The early age is full of growth: Babies are all about paying attention and absorbing the world and the stimuli around them. This is a precious time to encourage development as they start refining motor, emotional, social and mental abilities.
Although the little ones can be very stimulated while attending early childhood educational programs, there are a lot of learning activities parents can do at home to help the baby develop these different skills.
With that in mind, we listed five ideas of learning activities for babies at home. Keep reading to learn about them!
1 – Encourage your baby to imitate simple actions
Simple actions and a curious baby can go all the way as a learning activity to help them refine motor skills. When they show interest in mimicking actions, explore different gestures and see how the baby copies them.
Waving hands, touching fingers, simulating tweezers, grabbing, releasing and moving small objects in different angles are some actions that are a good start.
You can also reverse and copy the sounds your baby makes. Echoing their noises is a fun way to stimulate creative expressions, as curiosity can make them explore making different sounds to see how they will return back.
2 – Make everyday routines fun
It’s so much easier to learn and hold information when we have fun! With babies, it’s no different. Having moments of novelty and entertainment will stimulate them even further in their learning process.
Introduce different toys and objects inside a “mystery bag” and let the baby examine what is inside it. As the little one removes any object from the bag, you can make sounds, facial expressions and even introduce the name of it.
Meal time is also an opportunity to let them explore the shapes, colors and textures of different foods. Play with your baby to create a moment of joy and strengthen the bond you have.
3 – Use music
It’s widely spread and you probably heard it at least once that music is good for babies. It is not a myth. A study done by scientists at the University of Washington exposed a group of babies to play activities along with music and the other group was exposed to play activities only with toys.
Through brain scanning they could measure on the group of babies that were exposed to play activity with music, the increased ability of recognizing sound patterns through their response when detecting a disruption of a rhythm. It is proven that music can develop listening skills and sound patterns recognition in music and speeches.
This is the easiest learning activity for babies at home. Now, what songs are you gonna play to your little one?
4 – Explore different sounds and touch
As babies are all about exploring, usings different sounds can stimulate them to recognize, associate certain frequencies to specific actions, helping them develop memory and listening skills. In this activity, you can simulate sounds from objects, toys and emotions.
Babies also have the need to touch and it’s very common to see them putting objects in their mouth. Give them materials with different textures, like a soft pillow, a fluffy blanket or even a squishy toy to explore. Remember also to pay attention to what types of objects children are surrounded with as some materials can be toxic and cause allergies. In case you have any questions, talk to your child’s doctor!
You can even let them feel the texture of grass, as being in nature is very stimulating and important for their environmental consciousness in the future. In this case be attentive to follow your child’s doctor recommendations and give all the necessary vaccines to protect and boost the little ones immune system.
If they are too young and haven’t been in touch with nature yet, wait for some months then start introducing them using indoor plants, and other elements. Don’t forget to give them regular sun exposure as it strongly helps their development.
5 – Peekaboo
Another way to play with the little ones is to hide and reveal. You can do it using objects behind a piece of fabric or even hiding behind a wall. This game creates expectation, stimulates curiosity and emotional response of surprise in babies. As simple as it is, they really enjoy peekaboo time!
Learning activities for babies at home can go a long way to help them improve a variety of skills to grow stronger and smarter. Although we can definitely work on it at home, early childhood education is very important for a child’s development.
When enrolled in a program at Amazing Explorers, the child receives the support of qualified early childhood educators using the Reggio Emilia approach that stimulates children to become critical and imaginative thinkers.
Learn more about our early childhood programs at the Amazing Explorers Academy and see how we can prepare your child for the future!
