Infants

Games Babies Play

Share This Article: On Twitter On Facebook Print

Hi, Video/ DVD lovers.....I am Dr. Susan Turben and welcome to VIDCAMCLIP.#1...the video section of our site featuring developmental information about how babies, toddlers and preschoolers learn to learn. We don't just talk... we go visiting! Let’s go visit Turney, a 2 month-old baby girl and her mom, at home.....all of our VIDCAMCLIPS feature real families raising their children. This information is not only free, but high quality good information on child and family development !

Good parenting and infant learning begins at home and parents are the best teachers. Look at this routine that Turney's mom has already established at 12 weeks. Like Turney's baby, so your infant or toddler needs to repeat routine actions. Notice that she encourages her baby to look for sounds, to see bright objects. Remember to laugh, to smile and talk..... Even unborn and brand-new babies control their bodies using reflexes from head to feet, from the trunk of the body to the arms and legs and they exercise vouluntarily...that's right, all by themselves!.....with support and some grownup help! Every person alive, (including babies) are in constant motion. Watch how Turney repeats movements......she repeats them why? Because they feel good-it's that simple. Babies who are comfortable and feel secure are not frequent or hard criers, but also think about it....crying is talking, and communication at any level should not be ignored. Pick up a crying baby, move her around, change the handling post ion, clean up and feed, knowing that every cry is a vocal speech exercise.

On to VIDCLIP#2 We are off to Matthew's house. This baby uses his mouth and eyes, ears, fingers and toes and mouth to pay attention to objects. People qualify as objects too! Watch Matthew repeatedly look at his out stretched hand while he is expanding his chest. He breathes deeply, concentrating eye and hand movements, stretching, wiggling, reaching, staring, sucking, crying and making sounds. When he uses his body parts in different positions, he is actually teaching himself to remember faces, smells, and objects. Babies are born ready to learn, so teach them! Start from the beginning to exercise your baby's mental muscles as well as those physical ones, even during a diaper change.

Sing to your baby, get your face close to his, whisper, splubber, giggle, but most of all use words and talk. Brandon is learning to take turns listening and talking through social play with his mom. Don't feel silly, get into it....repeat back squeaks, shrieks, cries, gulps, hiccups, or hissing. Vocalize as many infant sounds as you can! when adults and infants take turns vocalization, babies learn to feel peaceful and social; yes, social! Babies learn to enjoy the company of other people, to form relationships with several or many people and to soak up information.

Do you know any Songs and Games for Toddlers? Read on.... VIDCLIP #3 teaches families finger play, action games and story songs to help toddlers make friends, get exercise and develop mental and physical abilities. Let's get started with: “head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes head and shoulder knees and toes knees and toes and head and eyes and ears and nose, head and shoulders knees and toes knees and toes.”

Action songs are made for toddlers! Let's get our hands up and pretend that you are holding a baby doll in your arms. This song is “Ms. Polly had a dolly who was sick sick sick so she called for the doctor to come quick quick quick the doctor came with his hat and his bag and he knocked on the door with a rap tap tap. He looked at the dolly and he shook his head he said Ms. Polly put her straight to bed he wrote on a paper for a pill pill pill. I’ll be back in the morning with my bill bill bill.” see what effect the actions have following and making sounds and using words? Actions and words go together! Here are two more action songs: “Open shut them open shut them, give a little clap open shut them open shut them, put them in your lap. Creep them creep them right up to your chin open up your little mouth and do not let them in.” Let’s get up on our knees and pretend we are "jack in the box"... a jumping game for toddlers and babies. Moms and toddlers are ready. Are you at home or at school ready? “Jack is hiding down in his box until somebody opens the lid."

VIDCLIP#4 In the hospital surgery, a dad tells the nurse: “I thought babies just lay around cried and got fed, I can’t really believe they think about anything.” The truth is actually the opposite: infant thought and mental development is expressed by actions, even before birth. Yes, babies literally double their brain size in the first three years of life! Babies have highly organized sensory areas of the brain, enriched by direct experiences through touch, smell, sound, and sight. "Babies sense warmth or hunger, express their thoughts through actions and cries and when they are uncomfortable babies stare at or look away, frown or smile, and respond differently to shapes and light.”

One nurse told me," If objects are held 12 inches from infant's eyes, babies track it side to side. Babies use protective reflexes such as the tonic neck reaction, and when you lie her down on her tummy, her head automatically turns to one side the hand comes up to her mouth and this hand goes back. Another protective thing the baby will do is if you go to place the baby on her stomach, and you put her down too suddenly, her arms will go out in a parachute effect to protect herself.

Relaxation and Exercise for Good Health

All parents are teachers but don’t push. These adults who care for babies want to know exactly what to teach. Which exercises are just right for their babies. Coordination exercises may be appropriate for babies and toddlers as long as the baby gets to do the work not the adult. Even babies enjoy aerobic conditioning, flexibility and strength training. A very pleasurable activity for infants is gentle massage. Moms and Dads who start massaging their babies right after birth say this provides a loving way to get to know their baby. These hands on massages soothe a child’s skin hunger, a need to feel good. Food and warmth and sleep also feel good changes in light and temperature air all of these things feel good to babies and toddlers. They produce pleasurable secure feelings. Water play is fun but adults should remember to choose activities because of the child’s interest not the adults. The best activities and exercises are the ones that both adults and children like to do together.

More Songs and Games for interested parents

Here are more songs and games that exercise metal as well as physical muscles.

First alternate slow and fast actions sing songs like:

“Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream.”

Or use toys that make sounds and use sounds that vary in tone and pitch that go up and down such as:

“Put your hands up high, put your hands down low, up, down, high, low.”

Three play games that change position lay your baby on her back and sing:

“ride, ride, ride on the bicycle, ride, ride, ride on the bicycle, ride, ride, ride on the bicycle ride on the bicycle, ride, ride, ride.”

Language talking games are very important to do such as:

“Open, shut them, open, shut them, give a little clap, open shut them, open shut them put them in your lap.”

All of these games stress language interaction and talk.

Activities to Show How Smart Babies Are

The positive lasting affects of physical and mental stimulation in the early years can be seen in the lives of these children who are creating life long habits of health and fitness. They are developing social relationships as well as good posture they feel secure. And are developing a sense of belonging and well being they are happily practicing eye hand and eye foot coordination in order to gain smooth and balance movements. Motor development specialist tell us that children who do these activities at an early age, think faster or at least think faster on their feet. Watch the coordinated and smooth movements of this ten month old. He is a concrete thinker who understands that objects can move and occupy space and do not disappear when the location of objects changes.

Can you see infants and toddlers sitting at the table doing table tasks? They are doing intellectual activities, just the way the children who are singing and doing the songs and games where also engaged in learning intellectual skills. At table children use there manipulative skills and there hand function to sort, to categorize objects, to place things that are similar together. Infants and toddlers match similar objects together and then later learn to discriminate among different concepts of objects. So for now these toddlers are learning to sort by color, size, and shape. They are learning to internalize and take mental pictures of the objects in their world. They will use those to solve problems and think.

Other brain games for babies involve language and object activities. Touch and talk back to babies imitating the babbling sounds and extending the sounds babies make into whole or complete words.

Show an object to an infant, then ask a question like “do you want do that again?” Then wait, do nothing until the baby makes a motion or a sign. When he makes any sign quickly give him back the object. Give it to him again and talk back to him, using the same tone and inflections that he makes. Watch Blake’s activity level increase his body language says: “yes yes do it again” see how eager he is to continue the game.

So enjoy your babies performance remember that the social and language games that you do with your infant help the infant to develop positive behaviors. Research tells us that easy access to home materials is the best way to encourage and reinforce good behavior. So go ahead use home made or home available materials with your baby. There are some other ways in which you can help your infant to cope and develop positive behavior. Let us show you some of those now.

Creating Positive Experience With Babies

At home or at child care settings, there are many easy ways to encourage positive behavior in young babies. It’s a fact that infants like to roam and explore. They definitely do not like to sit and do what there told. So parents need to set up toys and materials and equipment that are clean safe and interesting. Toys that vary in shape and size. Arrange to turn older babies loose in a specific area of a room where untouchables and unsafe objects have been removed. Arrange pieces of equipment away from corners of sharp edges. Give your baby freedom and do not over protect them let him do the work. Never do for a baby what he can do for himself. Watch this baby figure out how to use the push toy and string as a means to get a heavy object into a large container. He uses his depths perception and visual sharpness in order to fit the push toy and the container together. Toddlers need to have a measure of control over there own actions. Use low sets of open shelves for infants which contain lots of clean objects so that the creepers and crawlers can choose there own play toys. Babies who have these positive experiences are resourceful and happy and less irritable.

Indoors or Outdoors children need the freedom and permission to get messy. It’s really ok if young children play in the mud, with sand and the water it helps them to test there environment and to learn different problem solving skills. Parents can get a lot of information about there own child’s temperament by taking them to different places. Taking trips to the stores and to the malls. Even in the supermarket there's a lot to learn about a child's behavior. A supermarket is a good place for parents to practice giving children positive attention. No nagging or criticizing. There is so much to learn in this familiar environment. It is a time and place for talking, for choosing and practicing good behavior. Watch Jen help her mom interact with the baby. Point to and name objects, and even read labels. Each of the girl’s personality is so different, there could be behavioral problems if mom weren’t aware of each child’s temperament and personality.

Most of us cannot do this job without support and help. Your community has the resources to help you make that job easier. All cities have educational, social, and health human services, preschools, nursery schools, church schools, head start, home start, parent education programs, mental health centers, well baby clinics, associations for education of young children, public library’s, community colleges, counseling services, domestic relations court, cooperative extensions services, home health care services, information and referral hotlines. Contact your child’s librarian for resources that you might need.

I am Doctor Susan Turben take care of yourself and take care of your children.