Baby Playtime: Flashlights!

Baby J is almost six months old, and has finally found his way on to the blog.   M and G were playing with a flashlight and happened to set it down next to him.  It was so interesting to watch him explore.

3 Anticipation Games to Play with Baby

Babies love anticipation, but they especially like familiar anticipation.  That's why "peek-a-boo" and "This Little Piggy" become more and more of a hit every time you do them.  Baby knows a fun surprise is coming and approximately when they can expect it, and that is exactly how they like it.

So, chances are you could stick with "peek-a-boo" and "This Little Piggy" forty times a day for the rest of your child's baby career, and your baby wouldn't mind a bit.  But you might get a little bored.  :-)

Here are 3 more fun anticipation games to play with baby to mix things up a little.

1.  Who's Coming to See Baby?  Hide a stuffed animal in a cloth bag, and let baby see the bag.  Ask:  "Who's coming to see (baby)?  Is it Grandpa Walker (or some other ridiculous suggestion)?"   Gradually pull the stuffed animal out of the bag and into sight little by little, offering more suggestions as you go.  When the animal is all the way out, exclaim, "It's (Bunny!)"  and bring Bunny up to tickle Baby's neck.

2.  "I'm going to Kiss Your... Eyes!" Lay baby on his back and lean over him.  Say, "I'm going to kiss your...." and pause with an excited look in your eyes while your lips hover over the part of his body that you plan to kiss.  Quickly exclaim, "Cheeks!" and go move in for lots of quick, excited kisses.  Repeat over and over with lots of body parts.

3.  Tickling Fingers Walk.  I learned this one from watching my mother in law change my babies' pajamas.  (works best when baby has a bare chest.)  Slowly walk two of your fingers up Baby's tummy and chest as you sing "Bum, bum, bum" to the tune of "Doe, Ray, Me."  When you reach the very highest note and the top of baby's chest, quickly run your fingers around baby's body, tickling him and squeaking, "Tickle, tickle, tickle!" (This Little Piggy Style)

Start these traditions even before your baby learns to laugh.  It's fun to watch their little eyes smile up at you in delight as they start to catch on.

What other fun anticipation activities have you played with your babies?

Crinkle Baby Squares

M and G are as excited as I am about the upcoming addition to our family. So when I saw this cute and easy tutorial for a crinkle square at Joy's Hope I thought it would be a great opportunity to include them in the preparation for baby J. (It's a boy, by the way, so Wimpherzina is OUT.)

I have a huge bolt of muslin fabric that I got for 5 dollars at a garage sale, an old ubersoft changing pad that I was able to cut up for the other side of the square, cellophane wrapping paper for the crinkly noise, and lots of random ribbon. The only thing I had to buy was the package of fabric markers so the girls could decorate their squares. (Crayola makes a pretty reasonably priced package of those though, and I have a feeling I'll be able to put them to another good use one of these days.)

The crinkle squares turned out great- nice crinkly noises and the girls are so proud of their decorations. They can't wait to give it to Baby J.

I'm thinking though that this may be one of those toys that is used with supervision only. It seems like maybe the cellophane in the fabric makes it a bit of a suffocation risk? I don't know...would it make you nervous?

We have three more months until baby J will likely show up. Do you have any suggestions for other fun things I can do with the girls to involve them in the anticipation?

Alphabet Animal Sounds

This may be one of those things that I've just discovered that lots of people already do naturally, but I've been tickled lately to meet with good success teaching my 15 month-old alphabet letter sounds by treating them like animal noises. Everybody knows that toddlers can't get enough of lions roaring, and monkeys chattering, but it never occurred to me until now that she would love it just as much if I threw in a letter here and there instead of an animal.

Now I ask her, "G, what does a pig say?" then "What does the letter A say?" etc. We also get practice in at mealtime, alternating between "Here comes the piggy," as I oink loudly with the spoonful of peas entering her mouth and "Here comes the letter C!" as I "Cu-cu-ca" with the next spoonful.

Has anyone else found this to be a good trick or had success with similar ideas?

Non-toy Toys for Babies

Radiator Vent: G loves the sound and feel of running her hands over the vent.Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl: Makes a wonderful long-resonating sound when she plops toys in or bangs with a spoon.
Tin pie plate: Great drum sounds, and mirror effect!
What other non- toys have your babies turned into fun toys?

Homemade Book: Baby body parts flap book

G's favorite page in Pat the Bunny has long been the peek-a-boo page (the one that uses a cloth flap to cover Paul's face), but it only recently occurred to me that it would be easy and fun make a book filled with peek-a-boo flaps.I used pieces of felt (because they don't fray) and glued them on with a glue gun (so they would stay put). There is a place to purchase blank board books here.

Baby Initiated Peek-a-Boo

Playing a game with a newborn is a little tricky, but being a game-loving family, we try our best. Here is something my husband came up with for M when she was a baby that we do now with Baby G.

When the baby is sitting in her bouncy chair, my husband tosses a baby blanket over her head. She, of course, has a pretty constant flailing of arms, and soon the blanket falls down from her face. We exclaim peek-a-boo, and usually earn a big smile- sometimes giggles. I don't imagine there's any connection at all right now in Baby G's mind between her arm flailing and the peek-a-boo, but I remember that with M, it really seemed that over time she grasped that there was a cause and effect involved.

Homemade Baby Book: Eyes

I have been noticing lately how much G's eyes are drawn to pictures of eyes in books we read together. It has made me think, "Wouldn't it be nice if she had a book full of eyes from people that are significant in her life?"

And since I still have some blank board books left over from the bunch that my mom gave me a while back, I decided to make a book this morning using pictures I printed off of our computer. (I use packing tape to laminate the pictures and attach them to the pages)Each page has the picture of the eyes of one family member and the question, "Whose eyes are these?" along with the answer. G seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures when we read the book this afternoon, and M really enjoyed showing it to her little sister and asking her the questions.

Favorite Books for Under-Two-Year-Olds

By the time M turned two we had spent a lot of time at the library and had accumulated a lot of books from garage sales and as gifts. This is our list of favorites- the ones that got read over and over and stayed enjoyable to both Mom and Baby. They are listed roughly in order of age-appropriateness.
Babies: Great for it's small size and pictures that capture even a 6 month-old's interest.
Animal Sounds: Any animal sounds book is good, but we especially like this one.
Pat the Bunny: So interactive and sweet!
Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?: Great rhythm and fun sounds. I prefer the board book version; the full version goes on too long for a young toddler's attention span, I think.
Goodnight, Moon: Soothing bedtime classic.
The Foot Book: Again, for young toddlers, I prefer the board book, shortened version.I'm as Quick as a Cricket: Capitalizes on a child's enjoyment of comparing him or herself to different animals. I prefer the full-size version of this one (not the board book which is missing one of our favorite pages)
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb: Great rhythm!
Where's Spot?: Simple pictures and easy to open flaps. Kids seem to like books about hiding!

Going to Sleep on the Farm: Beautiful pictures, especially showing the interaction between a father and his son; simple, lulling words.

Does a Cow Say Boo?: Wonderfully fun book for kids who know their animal sounds and are ready to enjoy a spot of mischief.
How Do Dinasaurs Say Good-night?: The other books in this series are fun too.


Green Hat, Blue Hat: Capitalizes on kids' enjoyment of wearing clothes on the wrong body parts.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt: Wonderful, suspenseful classic written for older kids, but also enjoyable for young toddlers
So...those are our favorites. I'd love to discover other good books for this age range by hearing your recommendations!

Chocolate Pudding Finger Painting

We had an especially fun snack the other morning- we finger- painted with chocolate pudding!
M enjoyed shaking the instant pudding in a tupperware container.She kept repeating (in amazement) "I'm brown, Mama! I'm brown!"And of course, the best part...

Same and Different Activity

We've been working on a new concept lately- the concept of "same and different." To practice, we've been playing a little game.

I made a set of picture cards out of halved index cards. I drew four simple pictures and made four copies of each. Then I shuffled the cards and turned over two cards in front of M and asked her what the pictures were.

I then asked her "Are they the same?"

If they were different, I would say, "No, they're different," and we would shake our heads sadly together.If they were the same picture, I would say "Yes!!! They're the same. Let's clap!" and we would clap our hands together. M loved the clapping- got very excited. Understanding the concept is still a work in progress, but she has fun with the practicing!
I suppose it's also good preparation for eventually playing the memory matching game together.

Spoon Skills

New activities can sometimes frustrate M when she isn't able to do them right away. It's hard to know at times whether or not to encourage her to persevere or to put the activity away and save it for another time.

It was really fun recently, though, to see M initially frustrated with a skill and then figure it out and come to really, really enjoy it at the end.

To help M practice her "spoon skills" I set up two big pans, one of them filled with assorted play foods. I supplied her with a big spoon and asked her to transfer individual items from one pan to the other. She got such a kick out of "catching" oranges, pears, and canned beans and was so triumphant when she had transferred the entire batch.

Magazine cut-out activity with toddlers

M and I found something new and fun to do together today with old magazines. Together we thumbed through the pages, and whenever we found a picture she was particularly interested in, I cut it out and handed it to her. She liked having the picture in her hands- fawned over it and talked to it.

Pretty soon we were using the pictures together. Things like: feeding a bottle to a baby or a cookie to a dog or letting two babies play together. At first I was suggesting things to do, but she soon picked up on it and had her own ideas. (We had a few giggles over giving a pacifier to the dog). It was fun and creative play!

Lamb Mask

While my mother was here visiting this week she and M did this sweet lamb's head craft together. M helped mom color the ears pink. Then came the fun part- tearing apart cotton balls and gluing them to the mask (already cut out). Mom poked a hole on each side of the lamb's face and tied a string of elastic to both holes to make it ready to wear.
Doesn't M look cute as a lamb? (We tried the mask on her Raggedy Ann doll as well)
The lamb mask template is one that my mother made herself. If you click on the image below, you will have the mask full-sized and ready to print for your own use(use heavy cardstock).

Play Soups for Toddlers

Like any self-respecting toddler, M is drawn like a magnet to all puddles- to all water in general, for that matter. And I, like most mothers who have things to do and generally find it inconvenient to clean up mud-spattered children at odd times of the day, am forever steering her away from those much longed-for puddles.

Today, I decided to let her have her "water touch!" as she likes to say. While she was napping I set out three bowls and filled them with water ahead of time so that it would have time to be warmed by the sun. In each bowl I made a different "soup."

The first was Animal SoupThen Nature Soup with rocks and leaves
and finally Lego Soup!
These were good for a full 45 minutes of entertainment (which is saying a lot for a 19 month old!) The soup ladle was especially a hit as it allowed her to transfer water wherever she wanted- including her mama's lap!

Stuffed Animal Mountain

M and I just had so many giggles and happy times together with her collection of stuffed animals.

First, I laid her softest and coziest blanket down on the floor and then I went around the house looking for her stuffed animals. As I found them, I tossed them on the blanket until there was a giant mound of fur and fluff.

From there, M:

1. jumped on the mountain of animals
2. swam in them like she was in a kiddie pool

When that got old, I3. buried her under the mound of animals and let her pop up from underneath with a peek-a-boo!
4. I gathered the four corners of the blanket and made a little bundle that included M and her animals and
5. swung the bundle around like a clock pendulum.

Very fun! I can only imagine how the giggles and silliness might be compounded with more kids and more stuffed animals!