Therapists often use the play method to encourage babies to reciprocate towards people and their environment. Play allows babies to experience multiple developmental skills including sensory motor skills, hand coordination, social skills, language learning, numbers, and decision making.

Play is very important for a baby’s cognitive development. Through play, babies learn a variety of skills such as, communicating, thinking, remembering and visual skills. Parents can incorporate various forms of play with their babies by reading to them, stacking blocks, bouncing balls, introducing sound/musical toys, cause and effect toys, and light up toys. Back and forth interactions allow the baby to understand different things. For an example, throwing a squishy ball allows the baby to try to crawl towards the ball and to inspect it. In addition, parents can also model facial expressions, and sing with their babies.

It is important to play with babies appropriately depending on their age. Babies at the age of 6-12 months of age may experience advanced play skills than a baby that is 3-6 months. For babies that are 3-6 months of age, it is best to hand them toys to chew on. In addition, they can begin to reach and grasp for small toys such as a rattle or sensory ball. At this age, they love to use their hands and mouth to explore toys/chewables. For a baby that is 6-12 months of age, a parent can dangle a toy in front of the baby to promote hand coordination. They can also have the baby crawl to retrieve toys such as a ball or favorite stuffed animal. When the weather is nice, engaging your baby in play outdoors also helps develop the senses. When a baby is given the opportunity to play, their coordination skills, visual skills and muscle tone strengthens, and they begin to grow confident in themselves. Play is essential for development at a very young age. We encourage you to get on your babies level. Encourage them to engage with you by modeling responses and introducing them to new things.