In this post, I wanna jot down list of activities, toys and books that can be used for babies from birth to an year. Its been a frequent question for the New moms to where to start with and how to start?
Few of the ideas here have been shared by another fellow mom (Hema Ramesh) and I just loved to add them here.
So, Let’s start with Toys:
- Bead Mazes/ Activity cubes (You can decide what to choose based on your play space area at home).
- Play Tunnels
- Stacking Cups/Rings/Blocks
- A learning walker
- Sensory Ball sets ( like bumpy, soft, hard, crinkly)6
- A pounding bench ( more appropropriate after 8 months)
- Jumbo Block/Duplo set
- A musical set ( like xylophone, rattles, bells, egg shakers, tambourine, drums)
- Reflecting Mirrors
- A rolling Tube / Bottle
- Sensory Wooden Blocks
- Jumbo knob puzzles
- Treasure Baskets ( You can make one with simple things available at home or buy them but no choking/small parts)
- Color paddles/Rainbow petals/Rainbow colored wooden toys
- Any pretend play sets
- Black, white and red patterned cards/books. (To stimulate their visual senses) http://www.brillbaby.com/free-…/infant-stimulation-cards.php
- A hanging mobile set.
- Object permanence box (montessori)
- Wooden Ramp Racer
- A wooden/ non toxic plastic skittle set
Activities:
As We discussed before, Tummy time, rhyme time, story time and massage all are very important in their daily routine.
You can makeover a small baby play area with any toys lying around in home that are appropriate for their age. They can include a treasure basket, sensory items, mirrors and items mentioned above with a small soft mat/rug lying on the floor.
Coming to treasure baskets you can create as many as you wish with different sensory materials to stimulate their senses. (You can make themed baskets like different textured balls, fabric materials, wooden items, steel etc..,)
- Emptying things from a Jar/basket and putting them back.
- Dropping pom poms/ posting items into a container/box.
- Sorting activities
- Exploring painting with edible finger paints
- Playing with sensory bags
- Listening to funny noises
- Using scoops to empty/fill glasses.
- Pop-up/ Jack in the box kind of Toys
- Posting activities into a slot in a box (can make it advanced by having different slots based on sizes)
- sticking big safe magnetic objects to metal board or fridge
- Ribbon pull tug toy activity
- Edible playdoh-straw-pasta or big shape buttons threading activities
- building activities with big cardboard blocks
- threading toilet tubes in a fixed pole
- muffin tray and ball activity ( placing balls into the muffin tray/ small baskets). Great fine motor activity.
- simple water play
- Tissue/balloon kicking activity
- Hand Rattles
- Floor time with cause and effect grasping toys like placing a ball on the floor and letting them kick so they know the action.
Bed-time Books:
- I am not sleepy
- I am not cute
- Goodnight Moon
- If Animals kissed Good night
- Sleep tight little one
- Its bedtime for little monkeys
- Hush little polar bear
- The GoodNight Train
- The runaway bunny
- Hush Little Baby
- Counting Kisses
- Kitten’s first full moon
- Bear snores on
- Goodnight, good night construction site
- Kiss Good night
- Song of Night
- Sleepy bunny
- Good Night, Gorilla
Regular books:
- The very hungry caterpillar
- Where’s spot
- Peepo
- My big animal book/ any picture illustrated books
- Polar bear, polar bear what do you hear?
- Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?
- The very quiet cricket Board book
- If you give a mouse a cookie
- Head,shoulders, knees and toes
- Ten little fingers and ten little toes
- Owl Babies
- How do dinosaurs say Good night?
- Giraffes can’t dance
- The very busy spider
- Green Eggs and Ham
- The rainbow fish
- The giving tree
- Where the wild things are
- May I please have a cookie
- Chicka chicka boom boom
- Love you forever
- Corduroy
- Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
- Dear Zoo
- Guess how much I love you
Touch and feel books
- Baby touch and feel Animals
- Pat the bunny
- Elmer’s world touch and feel
- Usborne Touch and feel books (That’s not my series)
- Bedtime Peekaboo
- Tails
- Little penguin
- Ladybird touch and feel books
