Activities for you and your infant
Doing some of the following activities together daily will help you to develop a good relationship with your child:
Birth to 12 months:
Try some of these activities:
- Play ‘copy my face’ with newborns – get close to your child and make funny faces and see if your child copies them, e.g. stick out your tongue; opening your mouth wide; play the emotional face games - happy and excited face and see if your baby responds.
- Play ‘Peek-a-boo’ – get time when your baby is attentive, place your face close to your baby, put your two hands over your face and play peek a boo.
- Play ‘legs and arms’ together – during nappy changing time, hold your baby’s hands and move them together gently in over and back motions, do the same with the feet/legs.
- Look at books – introduce books as early as possible (around 3 months) let your baby get used to the feel of them. Use books with hard pages (board books) as this will suit the baby’s motor skills. Use books with real pictures (photographs), point to pictures naming the characters and characteristics. This will help develop their social, visual, language and hearing skills.
Download these tipsheets to learn how you can support your child's play:
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Source: NCCA