0-3 Months
3-6 Months
6-9 Months
9-12 Months
12-24 Months
2 years onwards
Perpetual Motion
6-9 Months
For the first six months, babies use their eyes and hands separately—your baby fingers things without looking at them and looks at things without touching them. From about 6 months your baby will transition from being a passive observer of the world to an active participant in it, learning to develop hand to eye coordination. This is an incredibly exciting time for you as a parent, as you both watch and participate in your child's growing awareness of the world.
Playtime Tips
- Your baby has probably learnt that crying and fussing will bring you running. However it's important to help your little one learn how to keep him/herself entertained for some of the day. It's a good idea to devote short periods to playtime or reading time together, then provide a few toys to keep your infant amused and encourage independent play.
- Provide a change of atmosphere/setting or toy if your baby starts to fuss. Don't let piles of toys gather, as this can overwhelm your baby, and put your little one off focusing on any one task at hand.
- It's important to give your infant some belly playtime each day - especially as this is the position in which they will learn to crawl. As they get more curious and confident, they will push up on their arms which is great for building upper body strength.
- At 6 months onwards your baby's mobility will be increasing. Play active games to exercise their gross motor skills. Simply pushing a toy across the floor and encouraging your infant to pursue it is a great workout for your baby's eye/hand coordination and manual dexterity.
- At around 8 months your child will delight in a simple game of hide and seek or peek-a-boo. Using the child friendly mirrors is ideal for this.
- Action/Reaction play is a great time to focus on the development of concepts and language. In', 'out', 'open', 'close', 'full' and 'empty' for example. Link your actions to words and your baby will soon get the idea, even though it will be a while before the language follows.
- Help your child to make the connection between words and concepts by talking about the features as you play - for instance 'here's the small ball', ' where's the red truck?'
How your child perceives the world
Hearing / Communicating At 6 months most babies can respond to the different sounds you make and notice new sounds like the bark of a dog or the hum of a vacuum cleaner. Having "conversations" with your baby, and waiting for a pause in the babble to "answer" sets the stage for the give and take of language and helps to encourage the development of your baby's all-important first words. Excitingly, your little one is actually beginning to pick out the components of speech! By the 7th month your baby may recognise and respond to his or her own name and you'll notice more babbling and attempts being made to imitate sounds. By 9 months your baby may be able to put those sounds together - almost in an attempt to speak. He or she can listen when spoken to and will start to recognise common words like ball, cup and no!
Recommended toys
Causing something to happen - by pressing a button, ringing a bell, pulling pieces apart, or shaking a toy - gives your baby's mind something new and exciting to think about. The emerging realisation that your baby's own actions can make something happen fosters their sense of empowerment and can be the source of so much fun and pride!
