Best Activities to Promote your Newborn's Development

#babydevelopment #giftguide #recommendedproducts Jul 02, 2024

After months of anticipation, your sweet little one has finally arrived and you’re beginning to settle in. In the midst of the newborn fog you want to establish a flexible routine, but you aren't sure where to incorporate play into the day. Great news: infant play routines can be easy!

Newborns are just starting to explore the world around them, so their play activities should be simple and focus on their senses. As a speech therapist and mom, these are my favorite activities that promote early brain development while building a connection with your baby.

1. Tummy Time

Place your baby on their stomach for short periods of time to help them strengthen their neck and upper body muscles. Use high-contrast black and white photos or this foldable book that grows with your baby. No toys around? No problem. Simply recline with your baby on your chest for a cozier tummy-time option. My boys have especially loved this water mat to keep them engaged while on their tummy.

2. Gentle Massages

Gently massaging your baby can promote relaxation and improve their overall well-being. It can help baby ease into a restful sleep, have lower stress hormones, and improve their circulation and immunity. This lotion is a great option!

3. Sensory Play

Offer your baby different textures and materials to explore, such as textured scarves, crinkle toys or stuffed animals. Sensory play is an important part of newborn development that can benefit babies in multiple ways such as: language development, fine motor skills, cognitive development, social skills, and problem solving

4. Hands to Midline

Use rings or a rattle to help your baby bring their hands to the middle of their body and the rings to their mouth. This is a great activity for their developing brain because it incorporates both sides of the brain. Babies begin to cross midline around 3 months with their vision, and begin to reach across their midline around 6 months.

5. Take a "Home Tour"

Use a baby carrier and walk from room to room around your house. As you go, narrate what you are doing and seeing. This carrier is a favorite of mine! Making your baby’s world a bit bigger can help them engage with their environment. For example, while walking in the kitchen you might say, “I’m going to turn on the sink. Here comes the water out of the faucet. Do you hear the water drip? Look, we can put our fingers under the running water. The water is warm, isn’t it?”

6. Cause-Effect Activities

Demonstrate how pushing on the buttons of this musical light bar causes it to light up and make noise. As they interact with their surroundings, babies will begin to build connections between their actions and an outcome. Babies begin to learn cause and effect as early as three months old, when they learn that when they cry a caregiver will comfort them. Describe other cause-effect actions around the house, for example," Let's turn on the lights! Let's see what happens when we flip the switch? On! Off!"

7. Practice Visual Tracking

Use this light up NogginStik to capture your baby’s visual attention. Move it slowly from side to side and up and down to see if their eyes begin to focus and track movement. Most babies can visually track an object around three months. This will be the foundation for meeting other vision milestones such as hand-eye coordination and depth perception in the future.

8. Cuddle and Skin-to-Skin Contact

Newborns thrive on physical contact, so cuddling and skin-to-skin contact can help them feel secure and comforted. Skin-to-Skin helps regulate a baby’s temperature, breathing, and heart rate. It also has benefits for mom as it releases oxytocin which can aid in stress reduction and bonding with your baby.

9. Sidelying Play

Place your baby on their side to engage different muscles and naturally bring their hands to midline. This position aids not only in sensory development, but can also improve head and neck control, core muscle strengthening, and becoming more aware of their hands and feet. This play mat or floor mirror are perfect for sidelying activities.

10. Black and White Toys

Newborns are attracted to high-contrast patterns, so toys with black and white patterns can be engaging for them. Babies first see only in black, white, and shades of gray right after birth. They slowly begin to develop color vision with red being the first primary color they can distinguish. Try these hanging toys perfect for the car seat or stroller.

11. Reaching for Feet

Help your baby discover their body with these feet rattles that will entice them to begin to reach. Babies typically reach the motor milestone of reaching for their feet around 4-6 months. Feet are wonderful sensory receptors that help your baby make connections between their brain and body.

12. Shared Book Reading

Reading to your newborn stimulates their brain as they learn about speech sounds and patterns, improves their vocabulary, and helps them to develop listening skills. It can be a great bonding activity as your baby learns to feel calm, secure, and reassured by the sound of your voice. Here is a list of great book options for reading with your baby.

13. Floor Time

So much emphasis is placed on Tummy Time, and while this is extremely important, giving your baby time on their back while supervised on the floor is very beneficial as well! Babies need opportunities for unrestricted movement as it is key for developing strength and independence. A floor gym like this will give your baby the opportunity to explore their environment without being contained while engaging all of their senses.

14. Music Time

Music has incredible benefits for your baby! Music impacts babies on an emotional and physical level. Studies show that children who listen to music between 6 and 12 months old have better brain development than those who don’t. Singing lullabies to premature babies has even been shown to improve their oxygen levels and feeding volumes. Use this Kick & Play Piano Gym as an easy way to incorporate music into playtime.

15. Face to Face Interaction

This is a simple activity that can be done anytime, anywhere! Babies love faces. Simply place them 8-12 inches in front of you and engage them in eye contact and making facial expressions. My boys have loved looking at baby faces in this book. In a few months your baby may begin to imitate your facial expressions which is a pre-language skill that is an important step towards developing words. When talking to your baby, focus on using parentese, a way of speaking to babies that uses simple words and grammar along with exaggerated sounds and tones, but is more sophisticated than “baby talk”.