toys and kids: Things to do with infants

Showing posts with label Things to do with infants. Show all posts

Musical Balloons

My girls love their balloons. We've been having a blast with the luminary balloons. Those things can get expensive, though! I was trying to think of something different we could do with them that didn't cost so much money! After looking back at posts from 2011 I revisited our Sensory Balloons post. I thought I would put a little twist on it. It led me to this...

All you need are some balloons and various objects to stick inside. We used 12 inch balloons. They were very easy to fill. I did set up an invitation for this that you will see below. However, my girls had so much fun just dancing around with these and shaking them.

After 30 minutes of dancin' and shakin' the questions starting rolling in. "Mommy, what is inside of there? Do you hear that? What does that sound like?"

The invitation

We had six balloons. I placed what was inside each balloon in a small container. These containers were purchased in a pack of six at the Dollar Tree.

Top row from left to right: Marbles, bells, and lentils

Bottom row from left to right: Pony beads, sand, and water

My 22 month old placing her bell balloon on the bell container. She was right! My oldest had to check all the ones my 22 month old did to make sure they made a match. There was a lot of switching going on. LOL I left the tops to the containers out so that they could shake the container and make a comparison. I wish I had more pictures of this but my youngest was up. Speaking of that... depending on what you put in the balloons, this activity is LOUD! At least if your children are anything like mine with the shaking. :-)

All matched up.

After 5 or 6 rounds my oldest asked to cut them open. They cut them over a bin to contain what was inside.

Watching the balloon deflate.

"Bells!!!! I made a match!!!"

"I think this one needs to be switched. Those are marbles"

Cheater!!!!! LOL LOL

My 22 month old loves the scissors now, too.

Action Songs

Someone asked us about music the other day on Facebook. It is very much a part of our day, it's just hard to blog about I guess. You definitely won't see me videotaping myself singing any time soon! LOL Here is a list of our top three action songs we enjoy. I just started these with my 5 week old. However, my older two girls (3 years and 21 months) enjoy them just as much.

If you click on the song title there is a link to You Tube to give you a better idea.

For my 5 week old I just lay her on the ground in front of me while singing/playing.

Creeping Creeping Little Flea

Creeping, creeping, little flea.
Up my leg and past my knee.
To my tummy, on he goes.
Past my chin and to my nose.
Now he's creeping down my chin,
To my tummy once again.
Down my leg and past my knee.
To my toe that little flea.
GOTCHA!
(Tickle child's foot)

Tony Chestnut

Knows I love you,

Tony knows, Tony knows,

Tony Chestnut

Knows I love you,

That's what Tony knows.

While singing, point to
different parts of your body, like this:

Toe knee chest nut (head)
Nose eye
Love (heart)
You (point to others)
Toe knee nose
Toe knee nose
Toe knee chest nut (head)
Nose eye
Love (heart)
You (point to others)
That's what toe knee nose.

The Grand old Duke of York

The Grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up the hill,
And marched them down again.

And when you're up, you're up;

And when you're down, you're down.

And when you're only halfway up,
You're neither up nor down!

He marched them to the left,
And he marched them to the right
Then you turn them upside down.
Oh what a silly sight!

Sensory Bin/Table/Play

We’ve been getting quite a few questions on sensory tables/bins etc. A sensory experience does NOT have to be in/on a table by any means. Any old container, bowl, box, etc. will work. Our contributors both have store bought and DIY tables. We also use a plastic storage tub often for these play experiences.

You can see our store bought table here… Store bought table

Another great option here... Play At Home Mom Amazon Store

And our DIY here… DIY Table

If you check out our Sensory Bin photo album on Facebook you will see that sensory play is not just limited to a sensory table. Facebook Sensory Bins

Sensory play creates a wonderful hands-on experience. It gives children the chance to explore and experiment while benefiting in so many ways. It also can be used for any age with proper supervision. Here is one simple bin that we did recently…

My oldest daughter is an entertainer to say the least. She absolutely loves to have parties and play hostess, etc. She is a helper by nature and will drop everything she's doing to lend a helping hand...even when often times they do not need one! LOL She is definitely going to be that friend you can call at 2:00AM to get you out of a jam. :-) She had a blast this summer with a colored rice bin that we used to make snow cones, ice cream, slushies, etc. I thought I would create a...

"Hot Chocolate Bin"

This is what I called it. However, my daughter had different plans.

Brown Aquarium Rocks

Cotton Balls

Plastic Spoons

Stir Sticks

Pretend Cake Pieces

Paper Plates

Paper Cups

I also added some of her animals on the side. She often brings them into her play for her "parties".

Scooping up the rocks with a spoon.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

POURING - DUMPING - LIFTING - CARRYING

"Would you like some cake with jelly beans on top?"

CREATIVITY - IMAGINATION

"I'm going to mix you up some nice hot apple cider"

She decided take out all the "props" that were in the sensory bin and put them in her side compartments.

MATH

SORTING - GROUPING - COUNTING, ETC.

Filling up cups.

"That's too much. Let me take a little out so it doesn't spill. It's starting to get heavy, Mommy."

SCIENCE

EXPERIMENTATION - ENGINEERING - CONSTRUCTION ETC.

"I'm going to invite everybody to my party! Everybody is going to have hot cider and cake!" How come you're so tall Mr. Giraffe? Are you all done? OK, when you come back tomorrow I'll give you some more. Let me help you clean up. Now your plate will be all ready for tomorrow."

SOCIAL SKILLS - SELF-ESTEEM

The options for sensory play are ENDLESS along with the learning opportunities.

Some options to add to your sensory bin:

Salt (colored or plain)

Pudding

Corn Starch

Dried Beans

Coffee Grounds

Coffee Beans

Pumpkin Seeds

Cereal

Peanuts

Jello

Oatmeal

Frozen Vegetables

Packing Peanuts

Shredded Paper

Sand

Pom Poms

Sawdust

Ice (colored of plain)

Water (colored or plain)

Soil

Hay

Rocks

Bird Seed

Pine Cones

Sticks

Water balloons

Aquarium Rocks

Golf Balls

Feathers

I can probably go on forever!

Red Bath (Infant Play)

I'm just apologizing in advance for my upcoming blog posts. Most of the pictures were taken with my cell phone. Now that my youngest is movin' and groovin' my time is extremely limited!

Creating a colored bath is a fun way to introduce colors to your infant. You can do this a couple different ways....

1. Using dyes (please see picture below).

You can use natural dyes... please see THIS post. You can use a couple drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors. Lastly, you can purchase bath tablets such as these seen HERE.

Here is a picture of my oldest daughter in her colored bath. She was 9 Months here. See any resemblance to my youngest?? :-P

2. Placing different objects all of the same color in the bath. This is a great alternative for those of you who had concerns with the dyes.

I set this up for my youngest (10 months). I don't have a picture of everything I put in (uh duh)... but it's pretty much just a bunch of random stuff we had around the playroom. I threw in some washcloths, silk tie, water balloons, etc. to give her different textures. There are maybe about 10 objects in this tub...and even that is a lot. I would recommend not putting to many things in the bath. It can be very overstimulating to your infant to have a bunch of different things going on at once... especially if bath time is typically a relaxing/calming time for him/her. I would also suggest that if you do a colored bath with dyes to leave it at just that. Talk with your infant on how you can pour/dump/splash/fill up etc. the colored water. When you use objects, as seen below, keep the water clear so it is more visibly appealing to them.

"You're squeezing the red balloon. That must feel squishy and cold."

"You have two red cups! Let's see if we can stack them."

"We made a red tower!"

"You have a red towel on you. That's so silly!! Where did ______ go?" There she is under the red towel"

"You have a red hat on your head. Whoa, that was a big splash. Look, your red hat is floating in the water now."

I see you!!!

For more fun things to do with infants please see our section here on the blog as well as our FACEBOOK ALBUM

For more water play for infants click HERE

Peek-A-Boo Box

I made A CAVE OF STARS a few days ago for my youngest (8 months). We've been having so much fun with this box since. We started a little game of peek-a-boo with me closing and opening the door on her. She loved loved loved this. So..... it led me to this....

The Peek-A-Boo Box

All you need is a big box and something to cut the little doors. I just used a kitchen knife. This is one side of the box. These doors are all over the box in different sizes.

My older girls loved this as well! Here she is with my 29M old playing. I found it to be a great way for them to really play and interact with her. :-)

Smart baby! :-P

It was hard to capture pictures of this since my camera had to be at a certain angle to shoot through the hole. Here she is anticipating what hole we will surprise her in next.

We also used animals as well as instruments to make different sounds.

"There is the cow! You're touching his nose. That must feel soft and fuzzy."

She loved the holes closer to the ground she could peer out herself.

Where is the cream? - Infant play

I often played a game with my middle girl when she was around 14-15 months old where I squirted colored foam paint on her body parts. It was one of her favorite games. I thought I would try it with my youngest, but I used cool whip instead. I wanted something edible and this is what I had on hand. You could also use yogurt, baby cereal, etc.

My daughter is 8 months here.