Besides letting my toddlers play with toys, we like to switch it up by playing card games together.

If you’re looking for something that will keep your toddler occupied or ways to bond with your child, check out these 15 best card games for toddlers.

_{This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.}

Benefits of Playing Card Games With Your Toddler

Whether you’re at home or on the go, card games are a fun way to keep your toddler engaged. Card skills like counting and strategy will help them in future endeavors while playing with friends their age! No screen time here – just an all-around great experience for both parent/child alike.

In a hurry? Check out these BEST TODDLER CARD GAMES on Amazon!

Is My Toddler Too Young For Card Games?

It’s never too early to introduce card games to your baby. Even if you just let your baby dump out the cards from its container and teach him how to clean up the cards, he’ll still be learning while having fun.

All of these age-appropriate card games have bright and large pictures- whether it be animals, vehicles, objects – you can start off by teaching your baby naming and recognition. As your toddler advances, you can teach him more complex skills like matching, counting, and following directions.

Matching Card Games For Toddlers

Matching not only offers great solo play opportunities for your toddler but is also a great game for adults to join in on the fun. These types of card games promote hand-eye coordination, fine motor, and problem-solving skills.

Memory Card Games For Toddlers

There is a whole world of fun waiting for you and your little one when she learns these memory card games. First, teach her the pictures on each card so that she can match them later in order to find her favorite creatures or objects from wherever they may be hiding!

Unique Card Games For toddlers

These unique card games not only make perfect gifts but they encourage creativity, active play, gross motor skills, and provide a perfect stealth learning experience for your toddler.

Flash Card Games For Toddlers

Flash cards are a great way to help your toddler learn new words. You can make it a game by asking your toddler to find certain letters or put the cards into alphabetical order.

That’s it for our list of the best 15 card games for toddlers! We hope you and your little one have as much fun playing these games together as we did.

Which one is your favorite? Tell me by leaving a comment below!

Card Games For Toddlers Related Posts

• How to Make a Mess-Free Sensory Box for Toddlers That Will Save Your Sanity
• 10 Toddler Fine Motor Activities Recommended By Therapists
• 15 Best Toddler Table and Chairs With Story Every Family Should Own

The post 15 Of The Best Card Games For Toddlers We’ve Ever Found Online appeared first on SoCal Mommy Life.

Here is what you can do to help with those issues:

Make a sensory bin!

Now, obviously giving your child another “toy” won’t singly solve his tactile defensiveness or make him a ravenous eater. But it can help wake up his senses and with repeated exposure, address common developmental issues linked to the five senses.

In this post,  I’ll show you:

• How to easily create a sensory box full of toys your toddler will love
• The best places to curate your assortment of toys
• Other creative sensory bin ideas

Ever since exposing my NICU baby to different textures through my sensory bin, I’ve noticed that my toddler is less afraid of certain textures. He used to cringe at anything neon-colored, slimy, spiky, hairy, and grainy. Did I mention that he went from an extremely picky eater to a not-so-extreme picky eater?!

Let’s save that to another topic.

If you gather the correct types of toys and efficiently present the sensory box to your child, you’ll notice a change in your child’s behavior. Whether it be happier, healthier, or smarter!

_{This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.}

What is a sensory box

A sensory box is simply an assortment of small items stored inside a clear plastic container that stimulate a person’s senses. It can be used for anyone from healthy babies to mentally ill adults.

Types of sensory box

You can have a sensory box as small as a shoebox or as big as a moving box. Some sensory bins contain fillers such as rice, bird seeds, water beads, hedge balls, pasta stars, and more. Kids can dip their little hands and feet in the boxes for extra sensory stimulation and practice pouring skills with the fillers. The downside to these types of sensory boxes is that they tend to be very messy and play needs to be supervised in case the little ones accidentally ate the fillers.

Another type of sensory box, which I’ll show you how to make one below, is simply an assortment of small items with different textures. No fillers needed so no mess to clean!

Why every toddler should have a sensory box

A sensory box is amazing for a young child’s development. It gives tons of sensory stimulation and each stimulation plays a role in building nerve connections within the developing brain’s neural pathways. The brain uses those stimulations to form perceptions, behavior, and learning.

In short, the more sensory stimulation a child receives the more power to the brain!

As sensory and eating go hand in hand, many pickers refuse to eat certain types of foods because they don’t like how the food look, feel or smell. By exposing a picky eater to items with different textures will help wake up her senses. In return, make her less sensitive when it comes to foods.  This is the reason why I let baby Chunbao play with his sensory box prior to mealtime. It eases his hypersensitivity and makes him more open to trying new foods.

Here are the many benefits of playing with sensory boxes:

• Stimulate the senses – Especially important for kids oversensitive to touch. The more exposure to things they feel peculiar on, the less sensitive they have towards them.
• Speech development – You can name the items in the sensory box or encourage your child to call out each item during play.
• Encourage imaginary play – Sensory boxes can be themed and the small toys in it can strike up children’s creativity on how they play.
• Social interaction –  Sensory boxes are a great tool to be played together while children learn how to take turn and share.
• Motor skills – Sensory boxes help a child develop fine motor skills associated with practical life skill such as dumping, scooping,  and transferring.
• Learn how to clean up  – Playing with sensory boxes can be messy. So why not teach your child how to clean up after herself when play is over.
• Therapeutic & can be calming or help manage anxiety. A must-have for children with autism or sensory processing disorder.

How to Make A Sensory Box For Your Toddler

First, find a clear plastic container with a lid for easy storage. Our bin is 6 quart, which is about 13″ x 8″ x  5″. The size of the bin doesn’t really matter. Just use whatever you can find. Next is the fun part. Look for small items or toys with different textures, the more contrasting the better. I’m constantly adding things to our box but below are items with different textures that are currently in baby Chunbao’s sensory box.

Here are some textures and toys ideas:

• Soft – mini plush pillow, cotton ball, feather.
• Hard – golf ball, rocks, seashell, pine cone, wooden cube,  tangle fidget toy
• Rough – air-dried washcloth, scrub sponge, sandpaper, rough fabric like corduroy
• Smooth – plastic spoon, a piece of silk, tiles
• Slimy – slime toy
• Stretchy – rubber band, rubber/latex glove, stretch toy
• Fuzzy – pompoms, fuzzy sticks
• Spiky – dish brush, spiky ball toy

How to Present the Sensory Box to a toddler

I keep the sensory box in our closet and bring it out prior to mealtimes or when baby Chunbao’s friends are over. He’s still getting used to some of the textures so playing feed-the-shark is a great way to encourage him to touch and grab the little toys.

To help with speech development, name the objects as your child goes through each one. Tell him what color is it, what texture does it have, and how do you feel when you touch it. Let your creativity run wild!

You can also invite independent play as you leave the sensory box out for your child to play and explore. I also love that this sensory box is no mess. We have another sensory box with rice in it and the grains got everywhere no matter how carefully we play. As a busy mom, I really enjoy this set of little items since clean up is a breeze.

Related post: Developmental activities for a smarter baby (3-6 months)

Important things to consider for a sensory box play

Safety first! Some small toys can be choking hazards. So, if your baby is still putting things in his mouth, be extra careful and supervise during play.

I know that it can be hard to keep things clean in the house, but the sensory box can get dirty after repeated play. Wash or wipe the small toys frequently to keep germs at bay.

Lastly, do not force your child to touch anything he is adverse to. Instead, encourage him to imitate you as you gently touch the object. Or, get one of your child’s favorite toy and interact it with the things he is sensitive to. If you want to lessen your child’s adversity towards a thing, leave it out along with his other toys so that it becomes part of his environment. Eventually, he’ll get used to it.  And one day when curiosity strikes, he’ll start to play with it.

Where to get sensory box toys

The possibilities are endless when it comes to curating toys in the sensory box. From no cost to some pricier alternatives, you can practically make a sensory box for your child with little to no effort. Here are some places that offer the best sensory toys.

In the Kitchen

My personal favorite! Think scrub sponge, dish brush and a plastic spoon. If you opt for fillers, rice, oats, beans, macaroni are all great filler materials. Measuring cups and mini food storage containers are great for scooping. The best thing is that it’s free. Well, not technically free since you purchased those items, but using available items saves time and money. Score!

99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree, or your local dollar store

I love treasure hunting at the 99 Cent Store. You can usually find unique small toys for a dollar such as squeezable animals, plastic creatures, slime toys, fuzzy unicorns, and much more. The under $5 aisle at Target is also filled with small sensory toys perfect for your toddler to explore.

Amazon:

Amazon is great if you know exactly what you’re looking for. Since baby Chunbao is afraid of anything spiky, I got these spike balls to help with his texture defensiveness. Here are other great finds from Amazon:

• Resistance band
• Stretchy man
• Stringy balls
• Rubber shark puppet – Use this shark puppet to encourage your child to pick up the little items in the sensory box. Ready for some serious pretend play?
• An assortment of sensory toys

Leave it to the pros:

For busy moms with extra cash, sensory box subscription services like Sensory TheraPlay Box offers professionally designed sensory boxes delivered to your door monthly. You’ll get a box full of sensory toys (5-7 items) hand-picked by Occupational Therapists (pros that specialize in children’s sensory and feeding development).  Subscription is $40/month with free shipping within the US.

Here is a look at one of their boxes.

Other amazing sensory box ideas

Possibilities are endless when it comes to sensory boxes. See below for some inspirations.

♡ Kinetic sand sensory box

♡ Rice sensory box

♡ Garden sensory bin – Mess For Less

♡ Treasure Chest sensory bin – I Can Teach My Child

♡ Frozen Snow Dough sensory bin – The OT Tool Box

♡ Indian corn sensory bin – Still Playing School

♡ Spring sensory bin – Fun With Mama

There you have it. All you need to know about making a sensory box for your toddler. Is your little one ready for some serious sensory play?

The post Beginner’s Guide to Sensory Box For Toddlers appeared first on SoCal Mommy Life.

As you and your baby get to learn more about each other, there are many fun activities you can do and toys your baby can play with to help reach developmental milestones.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.

Developmental Milestones for 3-6 month baby

Motor development

• When on tummy, baby can lift head and chest
• Open and close hands and shake toys
• Bring hands to his mouth
• Push down with legs if held in a standing position
• Rollover
• Help hold the bottle during feeding

Sensory development

• See across the room
• Reach for an object
• Play with toes
• Look for dropped object

Social development

• Starting to babble and mimic the sound
• Laugh out loud
• Smile spontaneously
• Say “ma-da” or similar vowel-consonant combinations

You are your baby’s best advocate. If you have a concern about your child’s development- whether it’s because some areas are lagging, or because a skill that was mastered seems to have forgotten, or you just have a gut feeling that something isn’t right – check in with the doctor.

Most likely, there’s no problem at all (some babies are just late boomers). If a lag is identified the right intervention or activities will help your little one maximize his developmental potential.

Developmental Activities to do with your 3-6 months baby

Babies develop from the top down, from head to toes. Babies lift their heads up before they can hold their backs up to sit and hold their backs up to sit before they can stand on their legs.

Do lots of tummy time for gross motor skills

Most babies by 3 months can support their heads on their own so developmental activities during the 3-6 months should be focused on preparing baby for rolling and sitting. Lots of tummy time will help strengthen the baby’s core and upper body. So spend lots of supervised tummy time, whether on your lap or on a fun activity mat, or your nursing pillow.

Captivate your Baby’s Senses with Sensory toys

Babies in their third to the sixth month are still captivated by high-contrast colors and patterns so bring out brightly colored toys, rattles, activity gyms, and black and white cards.

Sensory toys that light up or makes noises when pressed or shaken will be your baby’s favorite at this age.

Also still captivating is mirrors. Although babies don’t realize they are looking at themselves they really find their reflection fascinating and will even reach and smile at the little cutie in the mirror!

You may also notice that your baby is beginning to take everything into her mouth. This is part of her sensory development so encourage your baby to explore a variety of items for her to grasp and safely mouth.

Be especially careful of her surroundings as she tries to mouth even the tiniest objects such as coins, bits of food, and bugs. She could choke on these things so make sure the area is cleared of objects that are sharp or breakable or have small parts.

3~4-month-old baby play ideas:

• Help baby improve his neck strength by propping him on a headrest. Bring a toy to get his attention then pull the toy away. Watch your baby try to lift his head from the headrest to follow the toy.
• Help baby prepare for crawling position by placing him on his tummy. Sit behind him and alternately flex his legs. Watch his arms to see what happens. After a few minutes, alternately flex his arms and see what happens.
• Sing songs to your baby to increase his attention to vocal tone, tempo, and pitch.
• Provide physical comfort and contact with infant massages. Pay special attention to his hands and fingers to encourage his awareness of fine motor ability.
• Gently raises baby to stand and watch her presses her feet on the floor
• Help baby explore different scents by letting her smell a variety of items such as lemon, cinnamon, banana, cheese, and other foods. Avoid bringing her near unpleasant smells.
• Hide and seek – notice how your baby follows you with her eyes. Play hide and seek by ducking behind counters and chairs, then popping out to surprise her.
• While baby is lying on tummy kicking his legs, move his arms in alternating actions to simulate crawling.

4~5-month-old baby play ideas:

• Practice sitting by holding the baby in your lap and support her lightly around her waist. Release her for a few seconds and let her balance herself. After a few times repeat the exercise on the floor, support her with your hands as she tries to balance herself.
• Enhance your baby’s self-esteem by giving her lots of mirror time. Let her see herself standing up, sitting, and close up. Put a hat on her head and watch her reach to her new image.
• Practice rolling by lying her on her back. Place a toy on each of her sides, just out of reach, so she’ll be encouraged to try to grasp the toys.
• Make bath time fun by placing different objects and toys in the water. My son especially likes to see Munchkin Bath Bobbers waddle in his bath!
• Help baby develop cause and effect skill by offering him lots of objects that produce an effect, such as a wet sponge (squeeze it and water comes out), toys that make noise when pressed/touched, and playdough (squeeze it and it retains its new shape)

5~6-month-old baby play ideas:

• Play can-you-get-it to help baby better control his reaching, grasping, and coordinating skills. Hold a toy within his reach, and slowly move it around. He’ll soon reach for it and eventually grasp it.
• Let your baby practice standing to help her develop her leg muscles and balance. While she’s in a sitting position, let her grab your thumbs, then gently pull her upright.
• Hold a toy in front of your baby to increase her desire to raise herself up. Then set the toy a few inches away from her to encourage her to go after it.
• Put a variety of small toys in a shallow container like a pot or bowl. Encourage baby to reach into the container for toys and bring it to you.
• Baby may begin to “army crawl” where he uses his arms to pull himself forward. You can enhance this skill by setting a toy several inches in front of your baby to inspire him to crawl forward.

Best Developmental Toys for 3 – 6-month baby

Best all around toy

Play gyms are still fan favorites. This 5-in-1 activity gym not only grows with the baby but is perfect for tummy time. The 48″ mat offers plenty of space for both baby and mom to play, with sides that fold up to form an enclosure as baby grows. The included prop pillow will keep your newborn comfortable during tummy time.

Best for gross motor development

This award-winning toy helps develop gross motor skills and bring out the little musician in your baby. The Honer 4 Piece Baby Band comes with different shapes of rattles that make different sounds.  The mini tube shaker, baby maraca, baby rattle, and cage bell are designed with little hands in mind. Your baby will be able to grasp and shake these toys and be intrigued with the sounds they create!

Best for fine motor development

My son LOVES to grab onto his Oball. In fact, this is the very first toy we used to train him on grabbing.  The honeycomb pattern makes grabbing and holding easy for infants.

He’s a year old now and we are using this ball to teach him how to catch. Another great toy that grows with the baby!

Best for social skills development

I was super fascinated by this drum/mirror by Bright Starts when I first saw it. I think it was meant to be a drum for baby to play with when sitting when they are old. However, I used it to train my 4 months old’s neck control while on the tummy.

When tapped, the drum plays music and lights up!

Best toys to learn cause and effect

This Little Tikes Tap-A-Tune Piano is a great toy to help baby learn cause and effect (while on tummy time!). The keys felt very similar to a real piano and the tune it produces is lovely.

Best toys to development language skills

I love these velvety finger puppets. I used these to train my son on how to track objects. He’s usually enticed by the vibrant colors of the plushy creatures. As he gets a little bit older, I taught him how to say these animal names while we play.

Best Sensory Toys

There are over 100 billion neurons in the fingertips. Activating these neurons sends signals to the brain and stimulates the baby’s nervous system.

Sensory balls are perfect for your baby’s tactile and sensory stimulation. Not only can your play with these with her hands, but she can also put these to her mouth for some oral exploration as well. Make sure they are clean, of course!

As your child grows, he can grip, toss, bounce and roll these sensory balls to help with his motor skills.

I usually have Baby Chunbao play with his sensory balls before bedtime. As these balls are a great stress reliever so we treat them more like a “calm-me-down” toy.

Best teether toys

At around 5-months, your baby may start showing signs of teething. Some common signs are drooling, biting, irritability, and fussiness.

A good teether can provide some teething reliefs and oral stimulation. Give you baby something to chew on, to rub against and something cold.

We love the Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys! Not only does this teether provide icy relief in a fun key form, it has different textures for sensory stimulation. Best of all, its multi-surface is perfect for assisting in the eruption of front, middle, and back teeth. Speaking of a multi-purpose teether here!

I always kept this in the fridge (manufacture says to never put in the freezer) so it’s always on a stand-by to provide some serious teething relief!

Best bath toys

These arctic creatures made my son’s bath time super fun. While we bathe him, he loves playing and grabbing these wobbly heads and delighted to see them sink and pop right out of the water.

Developmental Activities and Best Baby Toys Related Articles

• The Only Ferber Method Guide You’ll Need To Successfully Sleep Train Your Baby
• Best Non-Toxic Baby Crawling Mats
• Why European Infant Formula is Better
• Best Infant Toys for 0-3 Months Old

Developmental Activities and Baby Toys for a Smarter Baby: 3-6 months

The post Developmental Activities and Best Baby Toys: 3-6 months appeared first on SoCal Mommy Life.

Having a baby is an exciting time! There are so many things to learn and do, and it can be difficult to know where to start. If you’re looking for some guidance on developmental activities for infants, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ll cover everything from tummy time to ways to encourage your little one’s burgeoning independence.

As a mom who is fortunate to have worked with so many child developmental specialists for our NICU baby, I have learned so many ways to play with our infant so that he doesn’t miss his developmental milestones.

Now with Baby #2, we never ran out of learning, sensory, and brain developmental activities.

In this post, I’ll show you some fun developmental activities for your baby so that you can better help your child reach her developmental milestones!

_{This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.}

This post is all about developmental activities for infants (0-3-month-olds).

0-3 Month Developmental Milestones

Before we dive into baby learning activities, it’s important to know what are the developmental milestones so that you can focus on the areas your baby might need more work on.

Baby’s development is usually categorized into 3 buckets – motor, sensory and social. Here are some major milestones by 3 months old.

Motor development

• Raises head when on tummy
• Supports upper body with arms when on tummy
• Bring hands to mouth
• Opens and shuts hands
• Grasps for objects when placed close to baby’s hands
• Stretches and kicks legs when lying on the back

Sensory development

• Eyes follow a moving object
• Recognizes familiar object
• Turns head toward direction of a sound

Social development

• Watches faces intently
• Smile at familiar faces
• Recognize familiar objects and people at a distance
• Begins to babble

Do not get bogged down if your baby is “delayed”. Not reaching a milestone doesn’t mean your baby is not smart. Also, “delayed” for now doesn’t mean delayed forever.

Babies just develop at a different pace. Just like my niece started to walk at 10 months and my son didn’t start walking until he was 18 months old. They are both walking, jumping, super hyper, perfectly normal kids now.

To encourage learning and parental bonding, there are 21 developmental activities for infants you should be doing (if not already) with your newborn.

Save, print, and pin to your Pinterest so you can refer to this list of play ideas again.

21 Developmental Activities For Infants

1. Chest -To-Chest Tummy Time

Do you know that healthy babies can start doing tummy time the day they are born?

Although safe-sleep means putting the baby to sleep on his back, being on track for development means playing on his tummy. The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends tummy time 2~3 times a day for 3~5 minutes.

The easiest and most engaging way for a newborn to practice tummy time is by putting her on your chest. You can do this sitting upright (like kangaroo care) or lying down. This is my favorite activity (and my son’s favorite too) because we get to see each other’s faces.

2. Tummy Time on the Boppy pillow

For infants who can’t support themselves on the tummy, use a Boppy pillow to give them a boost.

My son had a weak muscle tone (due to his stay in the NICU) so he was doing tummy time on the Boppy for months before he can barely support himself on the mat.

3. Use toys to strenghen neck and core muscles

When baby is on the floor or supported with Boppy, put a toy in front of her and engage her in play. You can also have your baby follow the toy by moving the toy off the floor to help strengthen her neck and core muscles.

If your baby still hates tummy time, give this Splashin’kids water mat a try. Madi used to hate being on her tummy. With this water mat, she’ll try to poke the sea creators and didn’t realize she’s working on those neck and core muscles!

4. Show lots of faces to your baby

Infants love faces, especially your face!

Make eye contact, have your baby study your face, and turn to your voice to encourage his social development.

I’ve also printed out some faces cards to put alongside my baby’s playpen. They both enjoyed studying these little faces when they were on tummy time.

Brillbaby has tons of FREE infant simulation cards for download

5. Read to your baby from picture books that offer short sentences

Just because your baby isn’t speaking doesn’t mean she isn’t learning language. The more you talk to her, the sooner she’ll develop language skills.

Make it a routine to read books to your baby every day. Watch her respond with eye contact and body language such as kicking her legs and flapping her arms,

6. Play Peek-a-Boo

Stimulate your baby’s thinking skills by playing Peek-a-Boo with him during nursing or holding time. While smiling and talking to him, cover your face with a cloth. Continue talking to him, then remove the cloth and smile. Watch his eyes widen as you magically appear.

7. Offer lots of visial stimulation

To encourage your baby’s cognitive development, make his world visually interesting. Place colorful pictures on the walls and ceiling near his crib. Hang mobiles that move, make sounds and are visually stimulating.

8. Offer your baby dissimilar object to look at

To help with your baby’s perceptual development, offer her dissimilar objects to look at, listen to, and touch. For example, show her a round ball and a flat plate or cold towel, and a warm bottle, and so on.

She’ll learn concepts through experience and comparison, and she’ll soon be able to recognize objects based on shape, color, size, and number.

9. Introduce new objects to your baby and watch her expression

Keep your baby’s world fresh to stimulate her increasing curiosity, For example, attach something new to the mobile over her crib and watch her body language. Sher her a new rattle during feeding time, and she may stop nursing for a moment to study the interesting object.

RELATED POST: The Ultimate Guide To The Most Popular Infant Toys In 2022

10. Play Here-It-Is game

You can help increase your baby’s memory by playing Here-It-Is. Bring a brightly colored object to get your baby’s attention, then move it out of his sight. Wait a couple of seconds and bring the toy back into his field of vision. Say the object’s name to reinforce the connection.

11. Move toys slightly around the baby to help him reach for them

12. Engage your baby in “conversations”

Talk to your baby, then pause and wait for her to vocalize. When she does imitate her sounds with a high-pitched voice and an animated face. The more you repeat her sounds, the more she’ll repeat yours.

13. Play tactile games

Help your baby learn about various textures, temperatures, and sensations. Find objects that are hard and soft, such as a block and a pillow. Find ones that are smooth and rough, such as a towel and a velcro strap. Look for ones that are cool and warm, such as a plastic toy and a hand.

14. Help your baby develop circular eye coordination

As your baby begins to follow circular movements, you can help develop this ability by holding a brightly colored object about 12 inches from his face. Slowly move toys in a circular motion and see if he tries to follow it with his eyes. He probably won’t make full circles yet, but this skill will develop rapidly over the next months.

15. Offer baby lots of interesting things to grasp and explore with his mouth

Mouthing objects are great for sensory development. A teether is ideal since it’s small, safe, and clean, but other objects are fine too. If he puts a chilled teether in his mouth he’ll learn about cold and firm. If he mouths a small stuffed animal, he’ll discover furriness and softness.

16. Move interesting objects up and down in your baby’s field of vision.

Increase your baby’s capacity for vertical tracking by moving interesting objects up and down in his field of vision. As his head control increases, he’s better able to follow an item vertically. To keep him interested, occasionally choose a different object.

17. Help your baby discover cause-and-effect

Place a toy that makes noise when squeezed (like Sofie la giraffe teether) in her hand. Squeeze it for her and watch her reaction. She’ll soon be squeezing herself in an attempt to make the noise.

18. Be creative in making different noises to your baby

Coordinating the parts of the mouth for speech is tricky business – and lots of fun! Practice a variety of sounds with your baby while she’s facing you. Gurgle, blow bubbles, blow raspberries, puff your mouth, whistle, and so on. Be creative, she’ll be fascinated, and soon she’ll be making those sounds herself.

19. Develop grasping skills by offering a variety of toys that are easy to hold

As your baby’s ability to grasp objects increases, he needs lots of fun things to hold.

Offer him a variety of toys that are easy to hold and let him explore. When he drops an object, offer him a different one. Then offer him another object while’s he’s holding something else. See what he does!

20. Play who’s talking guessing game

Ask another family member to join you. Prop your baby up so he can see both of you. Cover your mouth, and have one person speak. Watch your baby try to figure out who’s speaking by making eye contact with the speaker.

21. Comfort and contact

Continue making time each day for physical comfort and contact. Infant massage is a wonderful way to do this. After bathing, warm up some baby oil (we use this organic baby massage oil) by rubbing it between your palms. Rub it into your baby’s skin, starting with the legs, calves, back, chest, and then arms. Pay special attention to the hands and fingers to encourage your baby’s awareness of this fine motor ability.

It’s never too early to start boosting your child’s brainpower! The developmental activities suggested in this post can help get your little one started on the right track. Be sure to share with other parents and caregivers, so they can help provide a stimulating environment for the baby as well.

What are your baby’s favorite playtime activities? Let me know by leaving a message below.

21 Brain-Boosting Developmental Activities For Infants (0-3 months)

Developmental Activities For Infants Related Articles

• Ultimate Guide to the Best Infant Toys (0-3 months)
• Best Non-Toxic Baby Crawling Mats
• Developmental Activities for 3-6 Months Old Babies
• Easy DIY milestone onesies

The post 21 Brain-Boosting Developmental Activities For Infants (0-3 months) appeared first on SoCal Mommy Life.