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2 HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AGMONTHS

Try these fun and easy activities with your 2-month-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Gently shake a rattle

or another baby toy

Take turns with your baby when he makes cooing and gurgling sounds. Put it in your baby’s hand.

See if she takes it, even

Have a "conversation"

Rest your baby tummy down, on your arm, with your hand on her chest.
Use your other hand to secure your baby—support her head and neck.
Gently swing her back and forth.
As she gets older, walk around to give her different views.

Read simple books to your baby.
Even if he does not understand the story, he will enjoy being close and listening to you read.

Put a puppet or small sock on your finger. Say your baby’s name while moving the puppet or sock up and down. See whether he follows the movement.
Now move your finger in a circle. Each time your baby is able to follow the puppet, try a new movement.
Start with simple patterns (diagonal stripes, bull’s eyes, checkerboards, triangles).
Place the pictures so that your baby can see them (8"–12” inches from her face). Tape these pictures next to her car seat or crib.

Place a shatterproof mirror close to your baby where she can see it.

Start talking, and tap the mirror to get her to look. The mirror will provide visual stimulation.

Sing to your baby (even if you don’t do it well).

Eventually your baby will understand her reflection. Repetition of songs and lullabies helps your baby to learn and listen.

Activities

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6 HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AGMONTHS

Try these fun and easy activities with your 6-month-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Gently rub your baby with a soft cloth, a paper towel, or nylon

While sitting on the floor, place your baby in a sitting position inside your legs. Use your legs and chest to provide only as much support as your baby needs. This allows you to play with your baby while encouraging independent sitting.

Common household items such as measuring spoons and measuring cups make toys with interesting sounds and shapes.
Gently dangle and shake a set of measuring spoons or measuring cups where your baby can reach or kick at them. Let your baby hold them to explore and shake, too.

Play voice games.

Talk with a high or low voice. Click your tongue. Whisper. Take turns with your baby. Repeat any sounds made by him.
Place your baby so that you are face-to-face—your baby will watch as you make sounds.

With your baby lying on his back, place a toy within sight but out of reach, everyday activities. Tell your baby what you are doing. Let your baby see, hear, and touch common objects.

Your baby will like to throw toys to the floor.

Take a little time to play this "go and fetch" game. It helps your baby to learn to release objects.

Give your baby a box or pan to practice dropping toys into. Place your baby facing you. Your baby can watch you change facial expressions.
Give your baby a turn. Do what your baby does.

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HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AG 1 Try these fun and easy activities with your 1-year-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Let your baby “help” during daily routines. Encourage your baby to “get” the cup and spoon for mealtime, to “find” shoes and coat for dressing, and to “bring” the pants or diaper for changing.

Following directions is an important skill for your baby to learn.

Tape a large piece of drawing paper to a table.

Show your baby how to scribble with large nontoxic crayons.

Make puppets out of a sock or paper bag.
Take turns making marks on the paper. It’s also fun to paint with water.

Cut up safe finger foods in small pieces (do not use foods that pose a danger of your baby’s choking) and allow your baby to feed himself.

When your baby “asks” for something by vocalizing or pointing, respond to his signal. Name the object your baby wants and encourage him to communicate again—taking turns with each other in a “conversation.”

Activities

HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!
Try these fun and easy activities with your 18-month-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Pretend play becomes even more fun at this age. Encourage your toddler to have a doll or stuffed toy do what he does—walk, go to bed, dance, eat, and jump. Include the doll in daily activities or games.

Toddlers love movement. Take him to the park to ride on rocking toys, swings, and small slides. You may want to hold your toddler in your lap on the swing and on the slide at first.

Toddlers will begin putting objects together. Simple puzzles with knobs are great. Putting keys into locks and letters into mailbox slots is fun, too.

Put favorite toys in a laundry basket slightly out of reach of your toddler or in a clear container with a tight lid. Wait for your toddler to request the objects, giving her a reason to communicate. Respond to her requests.

Your toddler may become interested in “art activities.” Use large nontoxic crayons and a large pad of paper. Felt-tip markers are more exciting with their bright colors. Let your toddler scribble his own picture as you make one.

Play the “What’s that?” game by pointing to clothing, toys, body parts, objects, or pictures and asking your toddler to name them. If your toddler doesn’t respond, name it for him and encourage imitation of the words.

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HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AG 2 Try these fun and easy activities with your 2-year-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Action is an important part of a child’s life. Play a game with a ball where you give directions and your child does the actions, such as “Roll the ball.” Kick, throw, push, bounce, and catch are other good actions.
Take turns giving the directions.

Take time to draw with your child when she wants to get out paper and crayons.

Draw large shapes and let your child color them in.
Take turns.

Show your child how to move fast or slow with the music.

Children at this age love to pretend and really enjoy it when you can pretend with them.

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HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AG 3 Try these fun and easy activities with your 3-year-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Make an adventure path outside. Use a garden hose, rope, or piece of chalk and make a path that goes under the bench, around the tree, and along the wall. Walk your child through the path first, using these words. After she can do it, make a new path or have your child make a path.

Make a necklace you can eat by stringing Cheerios or Froot Loops on a piece of yarn or string.
Wrap a short piece of tape around the end of the string to make a firm tip for stringing.

Listen and dance to music with your child. You can stop the music for a moment and play the “freeze” game, where everyone freezes until you start the music again.

Next, encourage your child to copy your drawings, such as circles or straight lines.

Activities

HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW! Try these fun and easy activities with your 4-year-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Invite your child to play a counting game. Using a large piece of paper, make a simple game board with a straight path. Use dice to determine the count. Count with your child, and encourage her to hop the game piece to each square, counting each time the piece touches down.

Play “bucket hoops.” Have your child stand about 6 feet away and throw a medium-size ball at a large bucket or trash can.

For fun outdoors on a summer day, fill the bucket with water.

Play the “guess what will happen” game to encourage your child’s problem-solving and thinking skills.

For example, during bath time, ask your child, “What do you think will happen if I turn on the hot and cold water at the same time?”

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HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN AND GROW!

AG 5 Try these fun and easy activities with your 5-year-old—a great way to have fun together and encourage your child’s healthy development.

Encourage dramatic play. Help your child act out his favorite nursery rhyme, cartoon, or story. You can use cardboard boxes for jumping over or climbing through, broomsticks for laying between chairs for “limbo” (going under), and pillows for walking around. Let your child help lay out the course. After a couple of practice tries, have him complete the obstacle course.

Play “mystery sound.” Select household items that make distinct sounds such as a clock, cereal box, metal lid (placed on a pan), and potato chip bag. Put a blindfold on your child and have him try to guess which object made the sound.
Take turns with your child.

Practice writing first names of friends, toys, and relatives.
Your child may need to trace the letters of these names at first. Be sure to write in large print letters.

Let your child help you with simple cooking tasks such as mashing potatoes, making cheese sandwiches, and fixing a bowl of cereal.
Supervise carefully when your child is near a hot stove.
See if he can tell you the order that you followed to cook and mash the potatoes or to get the bread out of the cupboard and put the cheese on it.