Caring for Kids: Playtime with Your Baby
The Caring for Kids website, providing information for parents from Canadian paediatricians, offers a concise, age-specific guide to playtime with your baby.
The guide notes that, for this age group, “Toys for babies don’t need to be expensive. They can be things you have around the house, as long as they are unbreakable, safe (no loose parts, broken pieces or sharp edges), and the right size (anything that can fit through a paper towel roll is too small). Good toys are washable, and made to last.”
The guide starts by stressing that words and music (reading, speaking and singing) form instant playtime for children in their first year of life, with the following suggestions:
Use rhymes, games and songs as you go through the routines of your day. You can make up a diaper-changing tune, or try a little rhyme as you’re putting the snowsuit on.
Play with books. Read with your baby every day, and remember that babies also want to play with books. They like to put books in their mouth and try to turn pages, so provide clean and sturdy board books.
Encourage babble. It’s how babies learn to make sounds with their own voices. Repeat these sounds, and turn them into real words. You’ll help your baby recognize which sounds form language.
The guide then offers a variety of safe and appropriate toy suggestions for the following age-groups, noting:
3–6 months: “At this age, your baby is developing both fine motor (using hands and fingers) and gross motor (moving arms and legs) skills. They are fascinated with their own hands, and starting to connect how arm and hand movements feel with their desire to make them happen.”
6–12 months: “In the second half of the first year, your baby sees anything within reach as a potential toy. And if they can reach it, they will probably put it in their mouth. Your baby wants to know how things work, and what they do when they are dropped, rolled shaken, banged or thrown.”
The guide concludes by stressing the importance of active play right from birth, especially “tummy time” every day (while they are awake) to help strengthen the muscles in their tummy and neck. For the older infant, from 6 months onwards, encouraging the child to reach for for objects and try new things encourages active play, along with lots of supervised floor time to explore once they start to crawl. The guide recommends avoiding screens and other electronic media for this age group (with a link to research on why this is important) and limiting time sitting in a seat, high chair or stroller, emphasizing, “Babies learn best by engaging with loving caregivers.”