SUPERbaby play Archives

SUPERbaby series: Audit your play space

By Cathy James on July 3rd, 2011%

Babies change so much during their first year, developing in their physical, social and language skills. Think how different a new born and a one year old are. A good way to keep up with their development and make sure you’re matching your play to suit them is to borrow a practice from Early Years professional and carry out a play audit every couple of months.

How to carry out a play audit Read more »

Tummy time ideas

By Cathy James on June 14th, 2011%

Does you baby enjoy tummy time? While we always put our babies to sleep by lying them on their backs, giving them the opportunity for some daily tummy time play is important for their development.

Why is tummy time important?

Giving babies time lying on their tummies encourages them to develop their physical skills. They get to practise raising their heads against the force of gravity, building the strength in their neck muscles. It also encourages them to take some weight on their arms, getting them ready for the day when they’ll be crawling. You’ll notice too that when babies are placed on their tummies they often kick out with their arms and legs much more than when they’re being held or sitting in a chair, so this tummy time helps to build their gross motor skills too.

How to make tummy time fun.

Little and often: a few minutes of tummy time, several times a day, is a great start – helping your baby get used to the different position and giving them the chance to practise new physical skills without tiring them out.

Lead by example: Lie on the floor with them so you are face to face, and have some fun together. Make funny faces, sing songs and chat. Older brothers and sisters can be fantastic companions at tummy time to keep your baby entertained.

Added attractions: Babies just love to look at faces, so why not try some tummy time in front of a mirror? It’s also the perfect time to introduce stories by placing board books on the floor in front of your baby and chatting about the story and turning the pages for them. You can add in some favourite toys too, placing them just out of your babies reach at first, to give them the chance to stretch out and grab them.

Does your baby enjoy tummy time? How do you make it play time?

Our SUPERbaby play series focuses on simple, playful ideas you can use with the youngest of children to have fun and encourage them to develop important early learning skills. The emphasis is on ideas you can easily fit into a busy week, using materials you’ll have around your home. View all our SUPERbaby ideas here.

happily shared with it’s playtime and works for me Wednesday

Make a hide and seek baby jigsaw

By Cathy James on May 24th, 2011%

Transform an ordinary jigsaw into a special puzzle just for your baby with this idea for a hide and seek personalised jigsaw puzzle featuring some of your baby’s favourite people.

Wooden jigsaw puzzles are great for babies:

They help your baby develop their pincer grip as they pull out the pieces using the peg handles
They develop fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination as your baby turns the pieces around and passes them from one hand to the other
They’re good for learning about size and shape and orientation
They give you and your baby lots to chat about as you look at the pictures

To make a jigsaw even more fun try this idea for a personalised jigsaw for your baby:

1. Choose a jigsaw puzzle with large pieces and peg handles.

2. Print out some photographs of your baby’s favourite people.

3. Match up each piece of the puzzle with one of your photographs and use the puzzle piece as a template to cut your photographs to the right size.

4. Glue each photograph into one of the holes in the puzzle and you’re ready to play hide and seek.

Our SUPERbaby play series focuses on simple, playful ideas you can use with the youngest of children to have fun and encourage them to develop important early learning skills.
The emphasis is on ideas you can easily fit into a busy week, using materials you’ll have around your home. View all our SUPERbaby ideas here.

3650 nappy changes: make the worst the best

By Cathy James on January 30th, 2011%

I read somewhere that you can’t consider yourself a true mummy blogger until you’ve written about poop. So here goes!

By the time your baby is two years old you could have easily changed their nappy 3650 times. That’s a lot of nappies and let’s face it, poopy nappies aren’t one of the perks of being a parent. My suggestion this week, thinking about giving your baby a great start in life, is to re-frame how your view nappy change time. How about having 3650 occasions when you can gaze into your babies eyes and really connect with them? When you have some one-to-one language tuition or help them learn to count?

I think especially when you have more than one child in your family, or when you’re childminding or working in a setting with several other children, changing a baby’s nappy gives you a valuable time to focus solely on them. Here are some ideas you could incorporate into your changing times this week, helping them develop language, maths and more, simply as part of your daily routine.

Make eye contact and chat together. Give a running commentary on what you’re doing, ask your baby’s permission before you touch them and pause to give them the opportunity to respond. This helps your baby’s language development and teaches them that you respect them. One day soon they’ll start to answer you back.
Count their buttons and poppers as you undo and fasten them, and look forward to the day when they join in with you.
Sing a song. Your baby will love the sound of your voice (even if it’s as tuneless as mine!) and the rhythms of traditional nursery rhymes are well suited to learning your spoken language.
Pull funny faces as see if you can make them giggle. This encourages them to focus on your face and begin to understand how different expressions convey different meaning.

All of these are such simple ideas and so easy to incorporate in your routine but over those 3650 occasions they can make a real difference. I think adopting this more mindful approach to nappy time makes changing time much nicer for us too, as we are conscious that the care we give to our baby is part of how we educate them too. What are your tips for nappy time?
Our SUPERbaby play series focuses on simple, playful ideas you can use with the youngest of children to have fun and encourage them to develop important early learning skills. The emphasis is on ideas you can easily fit into a busy week, using materials you’ll have around your home. View all our SUPERbaby ideas here.