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My favourite games for three- to six-month-old babies

Ebabies - my favourite games for three- to six-month-old babiesI was playing around on Twitter, trying to find local London businesses that target babies and new moms for our Mommy Connections programs. I came across @entertainingba1, www.entertainingbabies.com. Unfortunately, they are located in London, England not London, Ont. However, they have a great website of different gamesto play with your little one, brokendown intoage groups and goes from 0 to 10 years. I checked out the 3-6 months, since my little man is 5 months. Here are a few of my favourites:

All about me

As babies get a little older they get very excited when they see familiar people or toys. You can use this to your advantage by making your child a homemade album for them. Take photographs and get them printed of all the familiar things in your child’s life: Photos of him/her, face shots of family members, pictures of you playing with your baby and him/her giggling (e.g. A photo of you blowing a raspberry on his/her tummy) Consider photos of his/her favourite toys, teddies, baby sitters, nannies,photographs of his/her cot, then one of your baby asleep in the cot. You can put the camera into the cot and take a picture of you leaning over – in order to replicate the view your child would have, you can also do this on their play mat ifthey have one. If you put all the pictures in the album, it makes a fantastic picture book for bedtimes and for car/plane/train journeys when they are a little older.

Drums

Sit on the floor with your baby sitting between your legs, leaning back against you for support. Get some wooden spoons/sticks and a saucepan or pot to hit. To start with you can tap the saucepan, then as your baby gets more developed he/she will enjoy holding the wooden spoons with you. Later your baby will beholding the spoon on their own and hitting the saucepans. Babies absolutely love it when they make a noise!

Silly heads

From about 5 months on your baby will be giggling more and more. Find a selection of things to put on your head and pull a funny face! Objects can include: saucepans, colanders (they like these because of the shininess of the metal), and hats you have in the house, a cushion – you can let it fall off and pull a funny face! If your baby likes it, try putting one of the hats on him/her – a soft bobble hat for example. If you have long hair, lean over so it falls in front of your face then flip it backover your head and smile – this usually leads to much giggling!

Slideshow

Collect together as many photographs of friends and family as you can. Try to get some great smiley faces – mobile phones are great for this sort of game! Once you have a good collection put a slide-show together on a laptop or iPad/tablet device, this game works best with only one or two facesper slide. Your baby will recognise the photos of the people that he/she sees regularly. It can be a fantastic distraction whilst your baby is sitting in a high chair at the kitchen table whilst you are making food/doing the washing up etc.Your baby will be entertained with the smiley faces but it will also help him/her recognise family and friends.

Where is teddy

Get your child’s favourite teddy, and a brightly coloured towel – if it is a small teddy, a muslin will do. With your baby propped up slightly in a seated position or in a bumbo type chair if they are able to sit in one put the teddy on the floor in front of them. Cover it with a towel. Then ask “where is teddy?” Gently unwrap teddy and cry “peek-a-boo!” and get teddy to nuzzle your baby’scheek”. This helps your baby learn about object permanence – the fact that an object still exists even when it is out of sight.

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