As he becomes more mobile, as his memory improves and as his confidence in his own ability grows, you’re almost certain to see a quick progression in his learning. He can move around to look closer at things and, with his improved hand skills and coordination, he is able explore them more. He is learning about the world all the time but he’ll enjoy these simple games and activities to help encourage him along his way.
Games
*Sponge squeeze*
This is a fun way for baby to explore texture, water and shape and engage in social interaction. This is best played at bath-time.
* Buy a pack or two of sponges and cut each one into a different shape.
* Drop them into the bath one at a time and let him explore them.
* Put each sponge on the side of the bath and press out the water. The sponge should stick to the side of the bath.
* Baby will probably want to make a grab for it.
*Tower demolition*
This game helps build baby’s confidence that he can make things happen, and he will begin to learn that a toy seen in one place can actually be the same toy that he saw somewhere else a mument ago!
* Sit on the floor in front of your baby and build a tower of 4 – 5 bricks between you.
* Encourage her to knock them over
* She will love the excitement of knocking the bricks over and won’t get bored of this game for quite some time!
*Hunt the toy*
In this six months, many of the toys and games that babies enjoy most are those that help reinforce the idea that objects can move and still be the same object, and also that they can still exist even if they are hidden!
Take one of baby’s favourite toys and a cloth or tea towel. Put the cloth over the toy and lift it off to show her the toy. Give her a turn to see if she too will lift it off to expose the toy. You can also try the following ideas;
* Try her with the toy half covered
* Try with the toy completely covered
* If you’re playing with a toy that makes a noise, see what her reaction is if you get the toy to go off from under the cloth.
* Try removing the toy before she (or you) takes the cloth off. Is she surprised?
* Bye-bye baby*
Before children can talk using words they can understand and use hand signs. So include some of these hand signals regularly in play and day to day routine. The easiest one is waving hello or bye-bye.
* Teach her to wave bye-bye.
* Wave bye-bye to everyone when she goes to bed.
* Wave bye-bye to the bus as it disappears down the road.
* Wave bye-bye to the sheep in the field.
* Wave bye-bye to the trains at the station.
At this age he will really love playing with water in the bath. Not only does he find out 'how'and 'why' but he’ll also be practicing eye-hand co-ordination.
* Give him something to pour water from like a jug, and something to pour in to, like a plastic cup
* Also give him something that floats when empty but sinks when full, like a plastic bottle.
* Give him a selection of sponges that soak up water.
* Give him floating ducks that he can send away, with a wave of water
* Let him explore what he can do with these objects and he’ll have great fun
Making butterfly prints
This is a simple painting activity that works like magic and its one that is a real classic. It teaches children to work towards an end, that creating is fun and of course improves hand-eye coordination too.
* Take some thickened paint in two or more colours
* Take small pieces of paper and fold down the middle
* Show him how to put paint on one side of the paper
* Gently fold the paper over and press to get paint on both sides
* Open up to show him the beautiful butterfly he made!
Tip!
*How to make your own thick paint*
To make your own thick paint put a desert spoon of flour into a saucepan with a little water, whisk, bring to the boil and add a little colouring.
For older children you could add powder paint rather than food colouring.
Sorting the socks
Get some help with the laundry and help him to learn very basic maths principles and matching too!
* Put all the socks in a bag
* Ask him to sort them in to pairs!
Heads and bodies
Another pairing game that helps teach basic maths ideas.
* Take about 5 – 10 small pieces of card and on to each stick pictures of animals cut from magazines
* Cut each card in two, so that the head is on one side and the body on the other
* Ask him to pair them up with the right head and right body
* Ask him to do mismatches – what is the silliest animal he can make and what would he call it?
Picture match
On a variation on the game above, this pairing game encourages him to look for what objects have in common – this encourages early maths and also as he will be looking for the detail, this also helps develop early reading.
* Take 10 – 20 pieces of card and stick objects on them, there should be two of each different kind of object – so for example two cars, two mugs and two sofas. Some pairs should be identical pictures but some can be the same sort of object but different pictures
* Ask him to form the pairs – this will help him understand that things can have something in common even if they are a different size or colour for example.
Find the sticker
This is a simple hide and seek game that helps him look carefully - an important skill for early reading.
* Take some sticky backed shapes or cut them out from sticky backed paper
* Ask him to wait outside the room while you stick these to various objects around the room
* Tell him how many you have hidden and let him have fun looking for them
* If he needs help, give him hints when he is getting 'warm'!
At this age she will be extremely curious and will want to explore everything and everywhere, including every nook and cranny of your house so he’ll be sure to keep you on your toes! Play games to stimulate her growing sense of wonder and her love of discovery. )
Frozen Fun
This is a simple exploratory game for bath-time.
* Make a tray of ice cubes – if you have a fancy shaped one even better and you can also add food colouring to make the shapes even more interesting.
* Drop them into the bath
* They will float at first and then gradually disappear with the warmth of the water.
* Talk about what’s happening, to your baby this will seem like magic but they will be learning a little science at the same time!
Little fishes
This is another simple bath game to help her discover what happens to some objects in water.
* Cut little fishes from shiny paper (magazine covers are best) drop these into the bath.
* Explore what happens when she splashes (they should float)
* Explore what happens when she pours water on them (they should sink)
Finger painting
An early painting task which will encourage her to learn that she can make things happen.
* This is a messy one so make sure you protect the floor and baby!
* You need some thickened paint in a pot with a hole big enough for her finger.
* Show her how to dip her finger in and encourage her to make marks on paper
Tip:
*How to thicken paint*
To make your own thickened paint, put a desert spoon of flour into a saucepan with a little water, whisk, bring to the boil and add a little food colouring.
For an older child, you could make this in the same way but add powder paint rather than food colouring.
Taking a print
This game is another messy one so take care to protect the floor and clothing. This game is particularly good for playing with younger and older siblings together as it is great fun!
* You need thickened paint in two different colours (see above for how to thicken paint)
* Put two or three dollops of each colour in a plastic plate or tray
* Give your baby a spoon to stir the two together, they will form a great messy mixture that has bits of both colour and some where the colour has changed so for example you might red, yellow and orange shades
* Take a piece of clean paper and place over the top of the paint to make a print of the colour mixture (if you’re also playing with older siblings you might let them do this bit themselves!)
Paper balls
This game is very basic and helps teach her about distance and space.
At this age a ball is easier to throw if she throws it underhand and can get a firm grip. If he is throwing in the house she needs something that will not do any serious damage. Newspaper balls are ideal.
Make balls out of newspaper and encourage her
* To throw them into a chair
* To throw them into a news paper basket
My drawer
When your baby is this young, she’ll love playing very close to you, and because she is this close to you, you’ll naturally talk to them more which is great. This game features opening and closing, emptying and filling – a big favourite for toddlers.
* Put some toys in a low drawer (could be in the bedroom or kitchen perhaps)
* Cut out your baby’s initial letter and stick it to the front of the drawer
* He can now play at emptying and filling this drawer whenever he wants to
* That’s all there is to it, easy play possibilities are everywhere!
Push me pull me
Making something you can play with gives a real sense of achievement and ’I can do it’ which, in turn, builds confidence for learning. This simple craft activity also helps develop hand-eye co-ordination.
* Give her a plastic jar or bottle and some pasta
* Her job is to put the pasta in the jar and then put on the lid ( she might need some help here!)
* Tie some string around the jar top for her and show her she can now pull it along and make noise!
* If you have a grassy bank outside you can also play at rolling it down the hill.
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Play & Learn activities reprinted from "Preschooler Play & Learn" with permission of its author, Penny Warner, and its publisher, Meadowbrook Press (2000.)
