Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Play: Three to Six Months

From "The New Language of Toys"...

Three to Six Months:

Yea! you made it! your baby is probably on some kind of routine by now and your life is starting to settle down. He will be more interested in playing starting at this age.

Language Activities:
1) Imitate your baby:
your baby may not be able to imitate you, but YOU can imitate HIM! This is my favorite thing to do with infants...say back what they say to you.
-Example...baby coos...you coo back at her...she'll start to wait for you to do your silly sound then she will do hers.
-it's the start of imitation and turn-taking which is essential for language learning.
2) Give babble meaning
**Reinforce accidental combination of sounds...attribute meaning to her babbling.
-Example...she babbles "mamamamama"; you jump in with "you're right, here's mama. Mama. I'm your mama"...to which she may respond with "tata"...no worries..you encouraged her to vocalize, she's playing with sounds and she's listening to what you're saying.

Toys:
1) Mirrors
-they love to focus on faces...what better face than her own or yours
-point out body parts "Hi there.look at you in the mirror. i can see your nose. right there. where are your eyes? those are your eyes..."
2) Ball bounce
-attach a light weight ball (like a beach ball) to a slinky using a plastic coat twist tie and suspend it from a hook in the ceiling (when you're not around you should not leave the ball suspended).
-demonstrate to your baby how ball moves when you hit it with your hands
-encourage him to reach out and bat the ball with his hands or feet (you can help him)
-he learns cause and effect and language to go along with the activity

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