According to current research this is how your newborn perceives the world a blur of out-of-focus images dulled colors and muted sounds and sensations so how do you connect with someone who is so disconnected from the visible world and how do you provide the proper stimulation to help their brains grow and adapt in today’s we are going to show you some fun and easy ways to both stimulate and connect with your 0-2 three-month-old baby not only do these activities encourage brain growth in your little one they will also provide opportunities for bonding and learning about the world together so let’s hop to it and learn some ways to play with your newborn baby
Give your Baby Face Time
One of the easiest and possibly most important ways to connect with your baby is to offer them some FaceTime no not that kind this basically means to get close to them and allow them to study your face the latest studies show that babies begin to recognize and distinguish between faces long before they can distinguish different shapes or patterns in their environment they can focus on parts of faces near to them and so by allowing your baby time to study your face not only do they familiarize themselves with you but you begin to simulate parts of their brain that are associated with their visual experience and their perceptual abilities this also helps them to later be able to distinguish relevant social information like emotions babies as young as a few days old can begin to mimic some of your facial expressions as well so one fun game is to get close to your baby and stick your tongue out repeatedly and slowly and they should begin to stick their tongue out back at you as well as they start to get a little older you can also mimic their sounds and facial expressions back to them and you might even get a laugh
Allowing your child to stretch out on a blanket
Another important aspect of infant development is gaining spatial awareness you can encourage this by simply allowing your child to stretch out on a blanket give them uninterrupted time to recognize and study their hands and the ways that their arms and legs move this helps them to develop the neural pathways necessary for controlled movements recognizing spatial concepts like distance and may even play a role in their mathematical abilities later on in life so give your baby time to stretch
Narrate your day to them show them different rooms
Another fun way to play with your baby is to narrate your day to them show them different rooms in your home talk to them about what you are doing or what they are seeing and let them listen in on your phone calls all of these activities have been shown to increase a child’s IQ and their vocabulary range as they get older you can also encourage development in your baby’s language center by initiating in conversations where you give your child time to respond to your question because you have a lot to talk about another way to encourage communication is to begin signing with your baby
Introduce sign language
The newborn phase is an excellent time to introduce sign language for frequent activities like changing the diaper no longer cries during diaper changes because I always show him this sign first and he now knows what to expect signs are amazing tools that eventually allow your child to communicate with you long before they can speak you start practicing now around five weeks of age your baby will go through their first developmental leap and they will start to notice contrast and shadows so give them time to study these as you encounter them around your home going back to the example of the newborn vision it’s easy to see why so many newborn toys have black and white high contrast images on them even with the most obscured vision you can still pick out the high contrast image if you don’t have any black and white newborn toys laying around you can also make your own by using a card or a piece of paper and just coloring and obscured black and white image on it or you can print them out online studying these types of images encourages your baby’s brain development in several areas and they can also be used to encourage visual tracking as they are highly interesting to your newborn
High contrast game
Here’s another high contrast game that your baby will love shine a flashlight on the wall in a darkened room and make shadow puppets and watch as their eyes light up also around five or six weeks your baby will begin to exhibit their first social smile so be sure to pull out all the stops to get your baby to last smile at your antics around this time your baby can also pick up on different types of music so it’s a good idea to put some on in the background and let them listen while they’re stretching out or maybe even pick up your child and go for a dance around your living room or your kitchen they really enjoy this activity around seven weeks your baby will also start to recognize patterns so be sure to give them lots of times to study the various patterns that you encounter throughout your day
Ability to grasp and hold on to a toy
Another skill that emerges around seven or eight weeks is the ability to grasp and hold on to a toy you can encourage this behavior by offering your baby a small rattle or some of these little teething rings they offer unique textures and they’re easy and lightweight for a baby to hold on to also after this mental leap your baby will begin to clearly recognize different facial expressions so going back to giving them lots of face time make sure that you make some exaggerated expressions and give them time to study your face
Sense of touch
Lastly it’s important to note that babies learn so much about their environment through their sense of touch you can encourage this learning and growth by offering your baby a lot of unique sensory experiences throughout their day one sensory game that my little guy loves is raising and lowering his muzzle and blanket over him like this sometimes I drop it on his belly so he can feel the different weights of the blanket and sometimes I just brush it across his face he thinks this game is so much fun another way to offer your baby some sensory experiences is just to grab a few different unique items from your home and let your baby grasp them or show them to them the other day I picked up a lime and arrows who really loved this I scratched the surface of it so you could smell the strong citrus scent and you really locked in on this and kind of followed it everywhere that I looped it another great tool for sensory engagement are these sensory books that they make for babies they have different fabrics or textures on the pages is great because not only does it give you an opportunity to read to your child it also gives them a lot of different textures that they can experience and it’s all put together for you those first three months are filled with change your baby’s brain will be growing at such a rapid rate they’ll becoming more alert by the day and seem like they’re literally growing in front of your eyes and while the days are a blur of naps feedings and diapers changed I hope you’ll find some time to play with your baby I also wanted to note that whenever you’re playing with your child make sure you’re looking for signs that they’re not overtired so if they’re sneezing or if they’re looking away from you and they’re yawning or closing their eyes those are signs that they could be over stimulated or overtired and they’re not really in the mood to play all right guys so that about wraps it up I hope you enjoyed this blog on how to play with your 0 to 3 month old baby .