Fun Play for your Children

All the best games for your Little One!
Newborn – 2 years
Newborn – 6 months
When a baby is very little or newborn its play for him to be held, talked to, patted, rocked, massaged or even just carried around. Baby loves looking and listening to everything and spending time with you!

Let’s look

– At a bit of sunlight dancing on the ceiling
- A flutter of the leaves outside
- A washing line
- At mums eyes – baby loves to get to know you
- At a mobile – try making one yourself – use lots of contrasting colours - In the mirror
- Anything moving - your face or a coloured toy. Play aeroplanes with your hands - fly through the air and land on your baby's tummy

Let’s listen

- For noisy fun fill a tight small plastic container with rice, and shake for a rattle
- Sing nursery rhymes. Local libraries often have free nursery rhyme sing a long meets or books and CD’s

Together time

- Put baby into an African style sling and go for a walk outside
- Have bath together
- Give baby a massage
- Play peek a boo

Book worm

At around 6 months you can introduce reading. Use big bright colourful, contrasting books, or make your own touchy feely books from craft materials, like card board, fake fur, or old cloths

6 - 12 months

Take out…. and put back in

Babies love to take tings out of and then put them back in… try with
- Lids from 2L milk container out of a lunch box
- Pegs in a peg basket

My Kitchen Rules

Give baby a small section of the kitchen, here they can play with:
Pots, pans, wooden spatulas, whisks, measuring cups, pots that go ‘bang’, strainers, flour sifters and anything else you deem safe

Up the Stairs

As soon as baby wants to be get up you can accommodate him by giving him his own space to ‘crawl’ up steps – this can be a card board box to lean on, or even a few cushions from the couch. Make sure your there to guide him and you’ll be impressed at how fast he learns how to cruise on and off his climbing wall

Your Baby

Give your baby a baby to look after – it can be any of your soft toys. Put him to bed, feed him breakfast with a bib, cuddle him or play hide and seek
9 - 12 months

Kitchen Concerto

Make fun instruments from up-turned pots and pans with wooden spoons, or two saucepan lids for cymbals. Use your instruments to explore different concepts such as loud and soft, fast and slow Water fun Fill a low, wide container with a few centimetres of water and place it on the ground. Float small objects such as flowers or corks in the water and let your baby reach and splash
Hide and Seek Show your baby a toy, then hide it under a small blanket and help them find it Roll the ball Roll a soft, brightly coloured ball to your baby and teach them how to stop it and push it back to you

Teddy Bears Picnic

For a fun change take your teddy and your usual lunch into the backyard with a picnic blanket

12 - 18 months

Bath time

- Use an empty bottle to pour water, and make bubbling noises
- Tightly secure a lid to an empty bottle for a floating submarine

Sand Pit

Fill an old tyre filled with sand. Give your baby small containers and cut open milk bottles to dig the sand with

Chase Me

Crawl around the house and chase after your little one, and let him think he’s gotten away! Hide behind corners and pounce unannounced!

Sock Puppets

Make puppets out of bed socks, and role play – eating, cuddling, singing, and nice words you want your baby to learn

What's that smell?

Give your baby a tour of the pantry and show them all the different smells – like dried herbs, vinegars and essences

Challenges:

Give baby a plastic jar with a screw top lid, and show them how to put it on. Organise pegs into colours. Organise pots into sizes Scribbling: Begin crafty activities – give your little one a crayon and paper and show them to scribble
18 - 24 months Now you can break down your play time into ‘outside play’, ‘inside play’, ‘food play’, ‘water play’ and ‘craft play’. You can mix it all up, or make a weekly planner of scheduled play times.

Outside play:

Treasure hunt

Go outside with a bucket and collect leaves, sticks, flowers, pebbles and go through your bounty when you get home. My Garden
Give baby a watering can and et them be responsible for watering their own herb pot plant daily

Inside Play:

Dress-ups Use a full-length mirror and your old clothes and accessories like hats, scarves, and shoes.

Cubby House

Build a cubby house out of couch cushions, large carboard conainters or pitch a tent inside

Food Play

Sandwhich creation

Cut up various sandwhich toppings like ham, avocado, and cheese and let little one make their own culinary creation

Water Play

Give little one their old baby bath, fill it with a few centimetre of water and let them fill up a watering can to water their own pot plant every morning

Crafty Play

Scrapbook Make a scrapbook of objects, and pictures of objects and people that you child knows. You can stick these into a book or slip them into a photo album.

Picasso

Try water colours, finger painting or a variety of canvases – paper, card board, toilet rolls, take away coffee cups

Playdough Recipe

- 2 cups plain flour
- ½ cup oil
- Food colouring/ Edicol dye
- Water
Instructions:
Add the oil to the flour and mix; mix food colouring or Edicol dye with water and add to mixture until it forms a soft dough