Food faces

Fine motor, pattern recognition

A meal consists off a variety of small and easily operated items including cubed carrots, peas, cherry tomatoes, sweet corns, grated cheese, , spaghetti or noodles and meat (cut in small bits)

Set the meal of baby in non-breakable small bowl; place every cooked ingredient in separate bowl.

Take a large flat plate and place in front of your baby.

Now help and direct him making face by taking ingredients from bowl and place them on plate.

Guide the baby where necessary and then do final arrangement yourself.

My little trampoline

Walking, standing

A spring mattress bed

Let the baby stand upright in the center of the bed with support (hold both his hands). Now help him to bounce in up and down by lifting him off from bed then placing him back in standing position. The baby can do better if he had started walking.

Another fun activity is let the baby sit on bed with legs out and you gently bounce the bed with hands.

The hokey pokey

Rhythm, language, music and gross motor skills

Your own voice

Hold the baby on lap and sing softly and slowly by doing actions which the baby can see and understand. For example, while singing “you put your left foot in”, raise your foot and put it forward so that your child can see it and so on. As soon as the child becomes used to this silliness, help him participate actively while singing, by placing gently your hand on his foot and move it out then in. start doing this activity slowly then boost the speed.

Tube tunnel

Sense of cause and effect, fine motor

Several cardboard tubes like those inside paper towels or wrapping papers and balls

Take the tube and cut it into half to form a trough. If you want to make a large trough then join two troughs by taping them.

Sit with the baby on the floor and show him the way of holding trough by making an angle with floor. Now put the ball inside the trough from its higher end and let the baby watch the rolling of ball.

Encourage the baby to put the ball into trough and let him tile the trough to see the rolling of ball faster or slower.

Little steamroller

Gross motor

Two adults

Lie down on the floor with another adult and let the baby crawl over both of you. Leave a little space in between so that the baby can first crawl over you then over another adult.

Crack the nut

Gross motor

Two adults

Sit back to back on floor with another adult and encourage the child to snoop both of you. It is good to initially convey the concept to the baby by sitting back to back with the baby and let other adult squeeze in between.

When the baby manages in making a space in between, cheer him to insert himself into the space and then squish him gently.

Diaper dolly

Nurturing, fine motor

A doll whose clothes can be removed off easily

Make or buy a simple doll with removable clothes so that the baby can change the nappy of her dolly (just like you change hers). Encourage her to clean the bottom with square of tissue paper and then change the nappy. Help your child in changing clothes and if she is unable to do so, then help her in the process.

Water coloring

Eye–hand coordination

Plastic container for water, paint brushes

Take a plastic container and fill it with water; provide the baby real paint brushes and water. Set her up so that she is sitting in front side of wall or at any low piece outdoor furniture such as a bench or step stool. Now show the baby the way of painting with water. Do not mind if the child spills water during painting.

Climb every cushion

Gross motor

Lots of cushions and pillows

Make a stack of pillows and cushions and let the baby climb over them. Place the largest and most stable pillow at the bottom such as bed pillows or sofa cushions then place chair cushions and so on. It is important to hold steady the baby and help him climbing this pillow mountain as the baby can fall after reaching the top-most cushion of stack.

Indoor beach baby

Imagination, fine motor

A container or dish which is relatively large and shallow, sand, few cooking utensils or sand toys, newspaper

Broaden newspaper on kitchen floor then fill a shallow container or casserole dish with sand. Place the dish on top. Now encourage the child to play with sand toys or with kitchen tools such as sifters, spoons, measuring cups and mini strainers are fun to play with.

Classified Information

Fine motor, sorting

Several rubber balls or other similar objects-having diameter of more than 2 inches, a muffin tin

Gather few similar objects such as toys, rubber balls or big sea shells. Now guide the baby way of putting objects in every cup of muffin tin. Initially help the baby in filling the cups then dump it out and repeat the process. You can also play sorting same objects into cups. This activity helps teach child matching, sorting and grouping things.