Things to Do With Your Baby

New parents are often stuck for Activity ideas to use with young babies.

Here is a list of things we have found very successful over the years to keep babies stimulated and happy. We hope you and your little one(s) enjoy them as much as we do!

• Mirrors - babies love to look at themselves

• Stuffed newspaper stocking - great for tactile sensations and exploration. Stuff an old pair of stockings with newspaper and scrunch away

• Bells on wristband - it's a musical rattle you can’t lose

• Tummy time - this will strengthen baby’s neck and back. Babies should have at least 15 minutes tummy time per day from birth

• Copy me - poke out your tongue, lick you lips, raise your eye brows. Eventually you will notice that your baby does as you do

• Singing songs - babies love to be sung to. Sing regularly, even if you don’t believe you can. Children don’t judge, they just love your attention

• Reading books - this is a nice way to spend some quality, quiet time whilst building an appreciation for reading in later life

• Felt board - you can make your own. Buy a felt piece from your local craft shop and place over a wooden board using craft glue. Take various other felt pieces and cut out animals, shapes, characters from stories and either tell a tale yourself or simply allow your baby to explore the pieces. Make sure they are not too small

• Photo board - older babies enjoy looking at photos of people they know. Talk to your baby about who they can see and what is going on in the picture

• Messy play - texture through tactile experiences help babies to explore their world. Place some pre-mixed cake mix on your baby’s high chair tray and let them finger paint. They benefit from a great tactile activity and it doesn’t matter if they lick their hands

• Puppets - keep a few hand puppets around to use to help calm upset or tired babies. Put on your silliest voice and enjoy the laughs you will have

• Rattles - noisy toys are a great way to help babies with their coordination, thinking and reasoning skills

• Autumn leaf scrunching - if you have a deciduous tree, take your baby into the garden and let them roll, crawl, walk or scrunch in the leaves. It feels great and makes a wonderful noise

• Stacking blocks or cups - good for beginning maths and problem solving skills

• Peek a boo/ blanket peek a boo - babies love the attention and suspense that comes with this game. Use a soft muslin wrap to place over babies head, then remove with a ‘peek-a-boo’. Make sure not to shout too loud or you may frighten rather than excite

• Waving - practice waving goodbye to friends and family. Your baby will pick this up faster than your think

• Rolling - babies generally start rolling anywhere from 4-5 months. Place brightly coloured toys near your baby to encourage them to reach and roll towards them

• Bubble blowing - babies are fascinated with watching bubbles fall. Make sure you do not blow them too close to little eyes

• Pulling baby on blanket - lay your baby on a large rug or blanket and slowly pull the blanket around after you. The moving sensation is great and baby gets the feeling of travelling around

• ‘Jolly Jumper’ - you can purchase these from any large baby shop. We have used this with all of our children and they loved every second of it! Great if you are desperately trying to finish dinner, the washing or you just need five minutes to breathe

• Outings - babies are generally large sticky-beaks. Try to take them to new places: the park; shopping; to a restaurant. Talk to your baby about where you are and what is going on around them

• Food tasting - from 4-6 months babies can start being introduced to solid foods. Give your baby a few little tastes of things throughout their day and explain to them what they are eating. Talk about the food's texture and colour

• Balls - large or small, balls are great fun to push, pull, kick and hold. Make sure they are colourful to grab baby’s interest

• Body awareness - sit with your baby and tickle their toes. As you do this tell them what you are doing and name that body part. Repetition is really important for young children when learning new concepts. The more often you can name things throughout the day the faster your baby will be able to name them back

• Tearing/ scrunching paper - another great tactile experience. This must be supervised to make sure your baby doesn’t swallow the paper

• Texture blocks - provide your baby with different surfaces to feel: smooth; rough; bumpy; soft; hard; etc. Name each surface for your baby as you go. Great as a sensory activity

• Posting box - babies delight in posting paddle-pop sticks through holes in the top of a shoe box. Hours of fun

• Play dough - good for strengthening finger muscles which in turn helps little pencil grips later in life. A good therapeutic activity too as you can really scrunch and kneed it to your heart’s content. Click here for our Play Dough Recipes.

• Cooked pasta or rice - another messy sensory play idea. Place cooked pasta or rice on the tray of baby’s high chair and let them squish it and squash it with their hands

• Nesting blocks or cups - good for beginning maths and problem solving skills.

• Pop up toys - surprise! Baby learns to anticipate what comes next when the toy cues to pop

• Cuddles - and lots of them. Babies thrive on loads of warmth, love and attention. You can never offer too much love and you will never ‘spoil’ a baby like this. Start telling your baby you love them from birth and make sure it continues throughout their life

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