I Had the Baby, Now What? {Creative Ways to Play with Infants}

The first few weeks with a newborn are hectic, to say the least. Once my husband and I started to make our way out of the haze, I looked around and thought, “Well, now what? What do we do all day?” Our son never slept 18 hours a day – he’s been social and active almost from day one – so I needed to find things to occupy him, and quick! Here are a few ways I’ve found to play with infants and get their minds working, even at a young age:

Read

play with infants

Okay, so this one isn’t that creative, but I can’t overstate the importance of reading to your babies. Before they even learn to talk, reading aloud allows them to hear how language is supposed to sound (tone, inflection, etc.), and after they begin speaking, reading aloud expands a child’s vocabulary. Babies love picture books, but my husband and I also like to read novels aloud to our son. We’ve read everything from A Tale of Two Cities to The Chronicles of Narnia – we just lay down next to him and read while he plays. That way Mom and Dad get to read something they’re interested in, and our son gets exposed to some classic literature. play with infants

Tummy Time in Front of a Mirror

Some babies love tummy time, but for others it’s a fight. Our son loves it now, but that wasn’t always the case, and I found that doing tummy time in front of a mirror made it more fun for him. We have a cheap full-length mirror that I started putting horizontally on the floor, propped against the couch, and laying our son down in front of it. He loves to look at himself, and I like to put some toys down for him to play with or lay down next to him and make faces at each other.

Crawling for Toys

play with infants

Once my son started army crawling, I started lining a bunch toys up at the end of a blanket, putting him at the other end, and seeing what happened. It’s a great way to encourage crawling, plus I’m always interested to see which toys he chooses. (This time he went for the dinosaur teether and wooden giraffe.)

Laundry Basket

Before my son could sit independently, I propped him up in the laundry basket. It sounds strange, but he loved it! First I covered the basket with a blanket so he didn’t get his fingers stuck in the holes, then I put a pillow behind him and put some toys in there with him. This activity helped strengthen his core muscles, kept him contained and occupied, and allowed me to easily take him from room to room with me.

Puppies

play with infants

{Disclaimer: I got this idea from a friend.} My son adores animals, but during the winter there aren’t many days warm enough to go to the zoo. When it’s cold outside, we like to go to the pet store or Humane Society and find some puppies to play with.

This has helped his coordination, and he’s learning to be gentle with animals (or people) who are smaller than he is. Plus, who doesn’t love babies and puppies?

 

 

 

Basket of Toys

I’ve started stuffing a basket with some of my son’s favorite toys, and he loves to sit and pull them all out. Bonus: he also thinks the basket is an awesome toy. This is our current favorite activity! It helps build up his core muscles by sitting, and he also works on his coordination when he picks up different toys. play with infants

play with infants

 

How do you play with your infant?

Lauren C. Davis
Born a Southern girl, Lauren and her family moved to Wichita when she was in middle school. She came back to town after graduating from the University of Kansas, was set up on a blind date with a Wichita native, Ben, and they were married 11 months later. In June of 2015 they added a sweet, rambunctious boy, Henry, to their family. Lauren is a 'mostly' stay-at-home mom, but also shares her beauty expertise on Instagram. Lauren loves traveling with Ben, adventures with Henry, a good Netflix binge, chocolate, carbs, and a nap when she can get it.