Playing with a baby

Entertainment is a happy time in children’s lives, that’s why in the first years it should make the most of their time. While having fun, kids also learn. It’s a time when they develop their senses and skills which boost their physical and mental growth. In a children’s life, toys play an important role, so they can’t have a lack of them.

How important for children is having fun?

For parents, it’s basically a children’s time fulfilment. This is why the parents don’t care that much about what kids play with and how, as the only other thing they’ve got to do is sleeping. For children, having fun or playing with toy cars is the same activity as breathing or eating. 

In contrast to learning, achieving goals is not expected while having fun. Children don’t have to challenge themselves to learn how to read in a specified time or to create a drawing. Despite this, fun plays a meaningful role in babies’ lives and allows them to develop correctly on different levels.

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What are the advantages of a child’s entertainment? 

For parents, playing with kids should be a well-spent time. Every parent should forget about the adult life for a while and let the fun take him over, no matter what’s the child’s idea. The time spent together with a parent is exceptionally precious for a baby. It won’t be only a huge pleasure, but it also will have a positive impact on a baby’s growth.

The benefits of physical activity

Both body and mind love being active, and their abilities increase after exercises and games. Tag game, football or jumping contests are perfect exercises, which additionally will strengthen muscles that are still in growth. 

The time spent together

Mutual fun means time spent together. Finding at least a quarter of an hour a day will be sufficient. Both kids and parents get benefits from the time spent together. For adults, it will be an opportunity to increase mood and wake enthusiasm, whereas the youngest will improve their confidence. 

The closeness of parent and child

The purpose of games is to break the distance and bring a baby closer to a parent. This advice is directed mostly to the parents, so they don’t get satisfied by superficial closeness and instead they actively participate in their children’s lives. Such an approach is definitely an important element of their lives, even if it doesn’t seem like that. 

Releasing emotions

Children, while playing games, often show their emotions and indicate what frustrates them the most. The babies who don’t speak yet can remember some situations. Maybe it will turn out that a baby wants to show only positive emotions? Try and make sure!

Learning and development

Babies, while playing games, can learn and develop. Also, it is a perfect opportunity to learn about the world. Usually, simple and undemanding games, develop manual skills, teach how to concentrate and broaden horizons of the youngest. A perfect idea will be a domino game or a trip to a zoo. 

Child’s socialization

While having fun, a child has an opportunity to play different roles. It can become a postman, a shop assistant or a shop customer. Everything will be only a fun pretending, but it will stitch in the child’s memory and will let it establish its position in the group. 

Motion development of babies in age of fewer than three months

We can’t expect a lot from the newborns. In their first months, babies sleep most of the day, so the most important is to satisfy their needs. First of all, the baby has to be warm and must be fed well. At the beginning of their lives, babies wake up only when they are hungry. When time passes, babies are awake for longer periods and become more active. This is the ideal time to start showing what’s waiting for them once they’re going to start walking and playing on their own. It’s also worth caring for the right development. How to do it?

How to improve a baby’s mobility?

Parents should start to improve a baby’s mobility from the beginning of its life. For the newborns, even sitting is a big challenge. The reason why such a problem occurs is the weight and the size of their head in contrast to their body. You can always help your baby to keep its head up.

Lay down your baby on a side, so in the position which is restricted for such little children with hip issues. While laying on the side, with the help of arms and head, a baby is learning how to keep the balance. For this purpose, it’s worth using an orthopaedic pillow or a special mattress for children. Babies elevate their heads even at the beginning of their lives, but it doesn’t last for too long. Also here a parent can help. While a baby is laying down on a belly, move something contrasting above its eyes. Once a baby starts to chase it with eyes, move the object up. 

Learning how to catch is also important in a child’s development. Try to imagine not having such an ability. What could we do? We would not be able to do most of the stuff. Children love to play so learning how to catch can be done while playing. How to help a baby with such a movement? Show a baby its favourite toy and provoke it to catch it. Remember that babies cannot catch strongly, so help them to achieve their goal. Also, it is worth changing the toys, their size, weight and texture.

How to improve a baby’s vision? 

Just after birth, a baby’s vision isn’t sharp. For this reason, newborns in their first months of life pay attention, particularly on contrasting edges, such as a point between black and white colours. This is the way babies learn how to distinguish the edges of different items, which will be substantial while learning how to catch objects.

Vision improvement can be supported by simple exercises, also it will be great fun for parents too. It is proven that in the first thirty days of life, the baby is constantly following an adult’s face, as well as the movement of different objects and it is focusing its vision while laying down on a belly. This is why it is worth activating a baby’s vision by saying syllables close to its face.

Baby’s hearing development 

A newborn is able to distinguish its mother voice even from the first days of life. It indicates how much a baby is devoted to its mother and how well it met her in her womb. In the first month of its life, the baby develops the ability to localize a sound and the way it’s changing. During the next month, it is vital to change the amount and the variety of sounds that the baby can hear. Even though singing lullabies once to one ear, once to the other is sufficient, in a longer perspective, it’s worth teaching it to react to different sounds from the environment. For example, a mother can wear high heels and walk around the baby’s room coming back and forwards. 

Talking to your baby to develop its speech

Speech development is so vital if it’s going about quick communication with a child. It is worth knowing that a baby comes to the world with the ability to make different sounds, however often it’s just crying. After about two months it starts to babble. A baby starts to make sounds that slowly start to resemble speaking. For even better speech development it’s worth constantly talking to it. Even if it doesn’t understand it’s good to describe what we are doing at the moment, how we feel – just to talk to it like to an adult. 

Fun with a baby

The first games with a baby are based on improving its coordination of moving. It learns how to catch, as well as visual and hearing perceiving. Shaking a rattle and listening to its sounds will come as an effect. Probably, a three-month-old baby won’t be able to do it but you can try to convince it to do so.  

The easiest way is to put a little arm inside a rattle and then shake it gently. Once a baby starts to put fingers into its mouth, try to give it a cold teether and see if it will also put it inside. A great solution are the rattles that can be worn on the legs or wrists of a baby. First of all, playing with a baby should give it a lot of joy but also make it a bit tired.

Showing emotions and social skills development 

For the first months, a baby shows calm and anxious emotions that it feels. This is why it is worth listening to the way it cries, as children have a natural ability to modulate the sound they make. Also, if a baby wants to be cuddled, it really should be done because it is the way to satisfy its needs. Cuddling, holding and stroking are the basic activities that should be done by a parent. 

If you would like to make a closer connection with your youngest, try to do a Shantal massage. The instructions on how to do it can be found online, but for the first few times, it’s recommended to have a consultation with a person who’s got a course of such a massage. In other words, show your baby that it’s important to you, so it can feel safe, as this approach will improve its mood. Fun with a baby, which can develop showing emotions and social skills, will definitely have a positive impact. At home, you can play a “stroke me” game. To do so, take some objects that are pleasant to touch and stroke the whole body of your baby, especially toes and fingers.