PAPER FUN
special thanks to:
editors: Cynthia Stange, Kathryn Ring, Carol Lowry, and contributors: David Katzner, Jean Ruchert, Terri Ellis, Betsy Koch, Rhonda Koziak, Sharon Peterson, Stacy and Roy Haslett.
introduction
Welcome to the wonderful world of your baby.
In this first year you will see your baby’s abilities expand as your little one grows and develops in amazing ways. There is no way more wonderful to share in this process than through the delight of play and games.
In baby play each family member learns about the other—and about oneself. You learn about attention spans, abilities, communication without words, patience, anticipation, crescendos, beginnings and endings, laughter, and the joy of touching.
And best of all, in playing games, a baby learns that he or she is loved.
Babies collect information through their senses. They need to have stimulation brought to them—stimulation to match their growing abilities. Here are activities to encourage as well as delight.
While these ideas are given in a loose chronological order, don’t forget to go back and play the games suggested in the earlier chapters as your baby matures.
With all the newly developing skills that these games will help encourage, know that this is only the beginning. The best is yet to come.
Enjoy!
Vicki Lansky
Developmental Milestones
birth to 3 months
Babies are a miracle of sensory development. Their eyes focus well only at around eight inches for the first month of life. Still, this allows them to concentrate on what’s most important––studying their parents’ faces and the faces of those who feed and care for them. Newborns also respond to bright colors, bright lights and objects put near their faces.
Infants’ hearing is comparable to that of adults. In fact, soon after birth, infants have been shown to prefer music they heard while in utero. They can be startled by sudden, loud noises. Newborns’ sense of smell is developed enough for them to be able to identify their mother’s smell.
In the first three months, a baby’s energy is devoted to self-regulation in the areas of eating and sleeping. Still, they take in any information that acts upon them. Body movement is at first random and erratic. But each passing week brings more interaction with the environment, more smiling, and more control of those tiny hands which wave in front of baby’s own face.
Neck muscles are not strong enough to support the head adequately so your help is needed for the first few months. A hand will grasp an object placed in the palm, though it is only a reflex action.
By the third month, babies have become social beings, eager to smile, clearly recognizing familiar people, and delighted with attention. You can build a foundation of special, shared times by relating through games played together.
BIRTH TO 3 MONTHS
All Washed Up
Baby Firming
Baby Parts
Baby Pull-Ups
Bathtub Time-Out
Bed Bouncing Baby
Dance with Me, Baby
Exercycle
Finger Games
I’m Gonna Getcha!
Look at Me
Lost in Space
Lullaby Your Baby
Old World Traditions
Parent A Cappella
Playback
Pom Pom Play
Puppet Play
Rattles
Starburst
Stretchy, Stretchy
Strokes for Li’l Folks
Tickle Time Rhymes
The Tootsie Roll
Toy Target Practice
Who Do I See?
Wrist Watch
ALL WASHED UP
Talk and sing while bathing your infant in a sink or plastic molded tub. Sing about the parts of the body you’re washing. The following can be sung to “London Bridge Is Falling Down.”
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes, knees and toes.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.
Sing this to the tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.”
This Is the Way We Wash Our Face
This is the way we wash our face,
Wash our face, wash our face.
This is the way we wash our face
On a (day of the week) (morning or evening).
Other verses to include in your bath time routine are:
• clean our toes,
• wash our arms,
• scrub our feet,
—this list is endless.
These
