Games supporting the child's development

What and how to play with a toddler to support his development? Why is stimulating a baby's senses important, and what exercises are there for it? What forms of play should be introduced with a 2- or 4-month-old baby and how do they differ from having fun with a one-year-old child? Learn about the next stages of your child's development and learn how to best match them with joint activities. 

The first two years of a child's life are a period of great achievements in his cognitive, social and emotional development. P.The newborn's primary interest in other people is transformed into the ability to understand the emotions and states of other people, the ability to cooperate and actively participate in activities undertaken by the rest of the family members. The successive stages of development introduce new social competences of the child, and the caregivers often intuitively adjust to the child's abilities. Below we suggest how - taking into account the changes taking place in subsequent phases - parents of babies can introduce games that support their development.

The beginnings of relationality in the second month of life

The role of the parent's initiative when playing with a 2-month-old baby is significant, and his involvement is of great importance in supporting the child's social behavior. Parents closely observe the toddler's signals and often mimic their behavior with expressive emotional expression. Such play stimulates the child's senses, especially hearing, gives him the opportunity to practice vocalizing, and at the same time, the toddler discovers that the caregiver's response can be evoked by grimaces and smiles. Mapping your baby's signals helps keep your baby engaged in your baby's interactions. Your baby's signals may be related to the need for silence or related to active wakefulness. Then the stuffed animals are aids, which render delicate hums, the intensity of which can be modified by the parents.

Playing with a child aged 2-4 months

Between 2 and 4 months of age the infant becomes more sensitive to the nature of face-to-face interaction. Around the third month, the infant's interest in playing solely based on eye contact begins to weaken, so the parents intuitively adjust to this change. To keep a child occupied, they introduce body games, effectively focusing attention on a common object or topic. That is why it is important to properly stimulate the senses, adjusted to the routine and repetitive activities of everyday life. In the first months of life, you can initiate games related to learning about the parts of the body. Babies need a sense of security - it is important that we establish a relationship through normal nursing activitiesby telling your child what we are doing and naming the parts of the body as we touch their skin. Here, for example, socks with rattles that we use can help, focusing the child's attention on his feet.

9th month of life - sharing meanings in play   

Around 9 months of age, babies begin to integrate their experiences in new ways. Their interest in the world, their ability to communicate, and their knowledge of how their parents experience the world (e.g. that adults move around and can pass items) become connected. Thanks to this the infant learns how to signal to the parent that he wants to be handed a toy that he cannot reach by himself. Babies not only discover what interests other people, but also begin to understand their desires and goals based on the way they look and behave. Additionally, it appears in the motor development of a child ability to move.

Playing with a 9-month-old baby

We should provide a baby at this age stable and solid toys that will not tip over every time it touches them - This distracts the baby and causes him to lose sight of his target. Wooden educational cubes are especially useful, with various wall functions, on which there are movable elements and knobs, developing the ability to operate a toddler's hand.

Playing with a 9-month-old baby should also encourage him to crawl, which can be stimulated by changing the ground to crawlsuch as giving the baby a rug, sensory mats under the tummy. The toddler's thigh / calf can also be used as an obstacle course. Let us motivate our child to move in order to get a toy, and let the parent's leg be an obstacle to overcome. Such fun will allow you to stimulate your senses and exercise eye-hand coordination.

The first year of life: opportunities for collaboration 

By the end of their first year of life, children usually begin to enjoy actively helping others and participating in joint ventures. This may mean that a parent takes longer to do housework than if they were to act alone, but being active together is also a time for having fun with a one-year-old child. An interesting idea may be to join a doll to play together, which the toddler can feed in an imaginary way. Puppets that we put on her hands work well here and we manipulate her mouth so that the child can touch her face, point to parts of the body and observe the actions.

Zabawy with a one-year-old baby: reading and books   

Towards the end of 12 months, the child's parents can begin to enrich their reading and sharing experience stimulate engagement by linking the content of the book to what it experiences itself. There is a place for some animation fun when the parent encourages the child to jointly imitate the activities performed by the heroes of the books. In learning words, it becomes useful to find connections between what your toddler sees in a picture and its surroundings. You can encourage the child to play, in which, together with the parent, he points to the parts of the animal's body from the picture, and then the parent's nose, and repeats "nose" each time.

Between 12 and 18 months of age: the little experimenter

At the age of 12-18 months, the child develops thanks to exercises that stimulate his senses, and his main activity is manipulative play. Usually, the toddler is able to organize the fun himself using items that he has at his fingertips. The child will be happy to manipulate anything that falls into his hands. It can be said that at this stage our child is a "little experimenter". In fact, the child does not yet distinguish which objects are toys and which are everyday objects - he does not know which of them can be tapped, licked, thrown, twisted, etc. Children at this age have fun by actively using trial and error. 

Other forms of play with a 12-18 month old baby

Discovering and observing what others are doing and imitating them becomes more effective. Imitation can extend the range of things a child does: from using objects to understanding cause-and-effect relationships. A toy that arouses children's interest is, for example, a basket with plush or wooden vegetables and fruit. The market also offers a cake cut into pieces with plastic cutlery and plates. A small child will also be happy to use the cups to animate the fun of pouring liquids "pretend" to be inside. If we want to teach our kids self-service, we can show them a doll to dress up. The toddler can practice fastening, tying laces and buttoning on it. Ideally, the buttons should be of different sizes, so that the child can practice fastening with different degrees of difficulty in the future.

Playing with the baby: propose, observe, adjust

As can be seen from the above examples, there are many ways to support a child's development through play, at different ages - the only limitation is the parent's creativity, time and commitment. When starting to play - whether with a 2-, 4- or 9-month-old baby, or with a one-year-old or older child - it is worth being aware of how and at what pace the subsequent stages of development and carefully observe the toddler in order to be able to adapt the proposed games to his perception and current skills.