Young Infants Activities
(0-6 months)
Learning takes place from the very beginning of an infant's life. Having a plan to help babies learn is an important part of caring for them. Infants, however, learn very differently from older children. Therefore, you should offer activities that are carefully tailored to their methods of learning.
Activity 1 : Lift Up and See
Goal : To Strengthen upper body muscles and practice lifting head Materials : Rattle toys, bells, moving puppets, books, blanket KDI: AL:1, PDH:12, CD:22,23,28,31,35, CA: 39,40,41 Resource Lay the infant down on the blanket. Talk about each toy as you place it in front of the infant. Pause, observe the infant's efforts in lifting the head and shoulders.Provide encouragement or positive reinforcement as necessary. Say for example, " You are looking at the bunny !" Activity 3 : Where's teddy ?
Goal : See if the child looks toward or point to the correct individual or thing. Materials : stuffed animals, pets or familiar person KDI : Resource When there are several very familiar people, pets or toys with names in the room ask the child, where's teddy ( or whoever )? clap and show approval if the child indicates correctly. Activity 5 : Personal Clapping game
Goal : Social interaction with an adult Materials: NONE KDI : Resource Sit the child on your lap and do the motions together.As a variation to the "Pat-A-Cake" create your own rhyme and motion include child's name and after you have done several times observe the child whether he catch on and do the motion by himself. Activity 7 : Cups And Spoons
Goals: To increase social awareness; to increase sensory motor skills Materials: A variety of plastic cups with handles, plastic spoons KDI : Resource Place the infant on a mat and place a cup and spoon on the tray. Encourage the infant to explore each item. Demonstrate how you can use the spoon to hit the cup or to stir, and then give the item back to the infant. Encourage her to pick up the cup with the handle and pretend to drink from it or eat with the spoon. Repeat this using a slightly different cup. For younger infants introduce the cup and spoon separately before pairing them. As infants gain experience, give them several different cups and spoons to play with at the same time. Activity 9 : Talking Walk !
Goals: To increase language and communication skills; to increase cognitive development Materials: None KDI : Resource Pick the infant up and hold him so he can see over your shoulder. Walk around the room and point out objects and events that are taking place and what other infants and toddlers are doing. “That’s the telephone. Sometimes it rings and I talk to people on it. There is Roxanna, she is playing with Dot. This is one of my favorite pictures. Aura painted it. See the beautiful red she used.” For younger infants make the walk shorter and talk less. Use items that the infant is familiar with and start out with what she knows, like her own coat, then let her touch it. Use disparate items to continue such as a book; allow her to touch this also. Only label one or two items and then stop. With older infants label more items and talk about their function. Encourage the infant to touch the items and try to imitate what you say. Vary what you say to include a “What is that?” Wait a few seconds and then say something like “Those are Nathan’s boots!” Use similar items such as sneakers, boots, slippers, and shoes to make it even more difficult and talk about the properties of footgear and why they are different.Assessment: The infant will participate in the walk and focus on the identified items Activity 11 : Infant Massage
Goals: To increase cognitive development; to increase sensory motor skills Materials: Lotion, changing table, floor, couch, or bed KDI Resource Procedure: Place the infant on a changing table or other surface. Undress the infant (be sure it is warm enough). Place some lotion in one hand to warm it, and then put the lotion on the infant’s body. As you massage the infant’s body with the lotion, talk to the infant about his body. “Adolfo, now I’m going up and down your arm. Let’s check out that hand. You’ve got five fingers. I’m going to count them. One, two, three, four, oh, actually this one is a thumb.” Continue to talk to the infant as you massage his body. Just do one area of the infant’s body such as the arms or legs. As children respond, talk in more detail about what you are doing. Activity 13 : Touching Songs
Goals: To increase creative development; to increase social awareness; to increase sensory motor skills Materials: None KDI Resource Sing or chant songs or rhymes where you touch the infant such as “This little piggy went to market,” “I’m going to get your nose,” and “Hickory Dickory Dock.” Sing or hum a song while you hold the infant and move him to the rhythm of the song such as “Rock-A-Bye Baby.” Help him do the motions to songs or rhymes like “Pat-A-Cake” or “Johnny Hammers with One Hammer” by holding him on your lap and gently moving his body. Activity 16 : Keys
Goals: To increase sensory motor skills; to increase cognitive development Materials: Plastic keys KDI Resource Call the infant’s name and shake keys. Gently place the keys in her hand. Help her mouth, look at, or shake the keys, if necessary. Keep the keys close to the midline. Then offer keys for her to reach and grasp from different angles (up, down, right, left). Have her reach across her mid line to get the keys. (This can be encouraged by having the child hold a toy in one hand while you offer the keys.) Increase the distance the keys are from the infant so that it is a long reach. Put the keys out of the infant’s field of vision and call, “Get the keys,” so she has to turn and reach. Activity 18 : Bumble bee , Bumble bee
Goals : Social interaction with adult Materials : None KDI Resource Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee,Bumble bee, bumble bee. (Move your index finger in circles and “make it fly” toward your child.)Straight from the farm.Bumble bee, bumble bee. (Repeat the index finger movements.)Flies under your arm. (Tickle the child under the arm while making a bee sound. Activity 20 : Sensory Activity
Goals: to increase sensory motor skills Materials :uncooked rice, beans or cereal in a box KDI : Resource Place uncooked rice, beans or cereal in a box. Add sand, crayons, tissue paper or packing peanuts to a different box. Stand her in the different boxes and let her jump and squish the items.Cook and cool noodles. Put them in a plastic container. Explain the different types of noodles, temperatures and hardness as she touches them. |
Activity 2 : Tugging the Towel
Goal : To practice the grasping reflex and to gain vocabulary control over reflexes Materials : Hand towel, Blanket or mat KDI : Resource Lay the infant face up on the blanket. Sitting in an upward position, move your legs into a "V" formation. You should be facing the infant. In addition you should be comfortably bend over. Roll the towel. Then gently pick up and place the infant's hands on to the towel. This will stimulate infants palmar's grasp reflex. Hold on to the towel so that your hands are on the outside of both of the infant's hands. Slowly pull your hands towards your body and gently raise infant's shoulders from the blanket. Activity 4 :Gotcha !
Goal : Anticipation Game for social Interaction Materials :Toy with a face, such as small stuffed animal or puppet KDI : Resource Seat the child in an infant seat, or if he sits independently, simply sit him in front of you on the floor. Have a the toy call the child's name and move slowly toward the child making a funny. growling noise. When the toy reaches the child's foot say " Gotcha!" Activity 6 : Book About Me !
Goals: To increase social awareness; to increase language and communication skills Materials: Plastic sleeve covers, three-ring binders, markers, digital or regular camera, photographs of the infant, construction paper, paste KDI : Resource Take photographs of the infant doing various activities throughout the day. Print them or have them developed. Cut construction paper or poster board into 8 1/2′′ × 11′′ pieces so that each fits the plastic sleeve cover. Paste the pictures of the infant on both sides of the construction paper and put each page in a plastic sleeve. Make a beginning page to identify the infant’s book. Place in a 3-ring binder. Pictures can also be laminated or covered with clear contact paper.With the infant on your lap, look through the book with him and talk about each picture, what he is doing, and how wonderful he is. For younger infants, keep the book short and if possible have the pictures of the child alone doing everyday things (eating, sleeping, playing, and so on). As children get older have more pictures in the book with a wider range of events or make several shorter, more specific books such as “Shalini at Home,” “Shalini at School,” “Shalini Playing with Her Friends. Activity 8 :Signs !
Goals: To increase language and communication skills; to increase cognitive development Materials: None KDI : Resource Look at the sign for “more.” Learn how to do the sign so you feel comfortable teaching infants the sign. Show the infant the sign for “more” during an activity or feeding when you want to know whether or not the infant wants more. Use the sign for more before or during feeding and show the infant the sign every time you feed her. Consistency is key. Use the sign for more until the infant begins to sign back to you. Once infants know the sign “more” begin to add additional signs. Activity 10 : Scrunches !
Goals: To increase cognitive development; to increase sensory motor skills Materials: Brightly colored scrunches (what women use to hold ponytails) or commercially available baby wrist and ankle elastics KDI Resource Put scrunches around the infant’s wrists or ankles. Point these out to the infant by holding the infant’s hand and saying, “Look at you, this hand looks great!” Check to see if the infant’s eyes focus on the hand (or on the scrunches). For young infants use scrunches made out of black-and-white striped or highly contrasting, patterned materials. Securely attach a large bell to a scrunches or circle of elastic that can go over the baby’s feet. Encourage the infant to bring his hands or feet to his mouth. Help him focus on the scrunches for longer periods of time. Activity 12 : Yoga
Goals: To increase sensory motor skills; to increase cognitive development Materials: None KDI : Resource Lie down on the floor (or a bed or couch) with your legs bent. Place the infant on your bet legs facing you. Smile and talk to him and tell him what you will be doing. Gently take his right arm and move it across his body to his left waist. Hold it for about five seconds and then return it to his side. Do the same thing with the left arm and then the legs. As you are doing this activity, keep saying things like “I’m moving your arm.” “I’ll take it across your body and touch your waist.” “Doesn’t that stretch feel good?”For variation place the infant supine on a mat or blanket. Place one hand on each of the infant’s legs and gently lift the legs up and bring them toward the infant’s chest. Hold this pose for 5 seconds, then slowly put the infant’s legs back down to the floor. Repeat this several times. And, keep talking. Activity 14 :Textured Mat
Goals: To increase creative development; to increase sensory motor skills Materials: Mat made of various materials (satin, cotton, fake fur, velvet, terry cloth, Lycra, knit fabric, suede, leather-like, and so on) (commercially available) To Make: Sew together squares of various materials. Nine squares of 12 inches each makes a good size mat (36′′ × 36′′). KDI : Resource Place the infant prone on mat. If it is warm enough, have her in diapers. Take a corner of the mat and stroke her hand with it and talk with her about the texture of the material and how it feels. Talk about how the squares are different in color, pattern, and texture. Discuss how they look and feel. Place her in different positions on the mat so it is easier to reach other textures. As infants become older, they can use 6-inch fabric squares to explore by themselves Activity 17 : Riding a Pony
Goal : Social interaction with an adult Materials: NONE Resource Ride a Little Pony Infants who can sit up with or without support delight in playing this game. Let your child sit on your knees facing you. Gently bounce him up and down. Say: “Ride a little pony down to town. Better be careful, so you don’t fall down.” As you say “don’t fall down,” pretend to let your child fall. Open your legs and let him slide down between them. Infants who enjoy this game will try to bounce when on the adult’s knees to start or continue the fun. Activity 19 : House hold Instruments
Goal : to increase sensory motor skills Materials :Everyday items around your house KDI: Resource Everyday items around your house have potential as sensory tools for infants. Squirt shaving cream on one section of the bathtub and shaving gel on another. Spread them around and discuss how the sensations are different Gather scraps of ribbon and material. Look for differing types, such as satin or fleece. Lay them out and let your child crawl or help the infant walk across them. Add cotton balls or pads to the walkway for more textures. |