The Power of Play: Birth to One Year
Play is serious business for babies and children. Far from frivolous, play is how babies come to understand that they are separate individuals that can act upon people and things in their world and get a response! If their environment is safe and nurturing, play will jump-start all of their systems including cognitive, motor, language, social, and emotional skills. In fact, some sensory systems such as vision are dependent upon environmental stimulation to develop. For instance, if a young baby is deprived of sight in an eye (due to a cataract or other impairment) and this goes untreated for the first few months of life, he will never develop normal vision in that eye. If a child is deprived of hearing language due to neglect or to an unaided hearing impairment, by age ten he may forever lose the ability to use language meaningfully. Moreover, babies who are not adequately nurtured by loving touch and sensitive interaction may suffer lifelong social and cognitive disadvantages. These critical periods illustrate the vital role of experience for development. Play is an essential part of the nurturing experience.
Play: Birth to Six Months
In a general sense, play is the way babies use their physical, sensory, social, and cognitive capabilities to advance their own development. In the first few weeks or months of life, babies require assistance in exploring their world. Although they have sensory abilities (such as sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste), newborns have a rather limited ability to organize their movements to explore independently. So, it is up to caregivers to bring interesting stimuli to Baby for her exploration.
Another important role of parents is to help Baby regulate his or her moods (or states). Young babies vary in their ability to manage stimulation. This is why some babies seem calm while others are described as fussy. A baby’s way of being is sometimes called temperament. There is evidence that temperament is genetic or part of baby’s DNA blueprint. Babies who are able to maintain a calm, organized mood have what is called an easy temperament. These babies are a delight to play with because they can remain in a quiet-alert state for a while; they also tend to sleep better at night. During the day they can play and learn about people in their world. Fussy babies need extra understanding from their caregivers in order to enjoy playing. They may also need help in learning to soothe themselves. This is why reading cues and understanding your baby’s style is so important. If you bombard a shy, passive baby with too much stimulation, she will withdraw by crying or looking uninterested. But with subtle enticements, such a baby will emerge to explore people and objects. Difficult babies who cry a great deal require even more coaxing and sensitive understanding to be interactive and playful. Even with easy babies, it is important to read and respond to signals, or match play interactions with your baby’s mood.
In the first four months or so, babies do not need toys to play. Babies are very people-oriented and their favorite things to engage with are faces. Maybe nature made them this way, to entice others to provide the level of care they need. A perfect way to play with a young baby is simply to get close, talk softly, and let her explore your face. Give her time to try and touch you. As she grows, play peek-a-boo in a variety of ways. Your baby enjoys your voice and loves to hear you sing (even if it is off key). Give her time and she may even “sing” back. As she grows, sing songs with gestures, such as “itsy bitsy spider”. Babies love to hear the same songs over and over.
Babies also enjoy movement and are happiest when they are in someone’s arms where they feel safe, warm, and can feed at will (the way nature intended). Babies are lulled by motion and have enjoyed this stimulation for many months before birth. Motion is also a serious source of play or learning. While traveling about on Mother’s hip, Baby is learning about the characteristics of her world (climate, odors, language). Movement stimulates her visual, vestibular and balance systems. Parents in American society have, until recently, been hesitant to hold and carry their babies too much, due to a fear of spoiling. However, far from spoiling, such care reduces crying and clingy behaviors later on. This is also the way 80% of mothers throughout the world care for their babies (that is carrying them close and feeding at will). Parents can vary the experience of movement during play. Place baby in a receiving blanket and swing her gently, as though she was in a hammock. Parents can also delight their baby by swinging her in their arms in various directions such as up and down side to side. This swinging can sometimes help babies regulate their moods (calm down, or become more alert).
Playthings: as your baby’s motor abilities begin to advance, he will enjoy interacting with objects. Commercial toys are usually less interesting to him than everyday objects he sees you using. This makes sense from an anthropological standpoint because children learn about work or adult tasks from playing. This is the function of play in human and nonhuman youngsters. So, provide your baby with a range of household objects that are colorful, varied in texture, and make interesting sounds. Some suggestions are cloth samples, spice bottles filled with rice (sealed up tightly), shinny paper. Kitchen implements and objects such as clean jar lids, measuring cups, plastic spoons and pots are great fun and will be used in increasingly sophisticated ways based on your child’s developmental level. As your child’s cognitive and motor skills continue to advance, give him some oranges to sort in a muffin tin or clothes pins to drop into a coffee can. Make sure your baby has sufficient novelty in the objects you give him to explore. However, do not overwhelm him with too many things at once. One or two playthings will do. Multi-sensory objects that stimulate your baby’s sense of smell, sound, touch, and vision are best because they excite more of the brain. Such experiences give the developing brain practice in using all of the senses together. This is called sensory integration, which is one of the most important dividends of play. As sensory integration advances, your baby will be capable of using his various systems (such as hand-eye, movement-balance, taste and smell) in concert to explore his world.
Play: Six Months to One Year
As your baby continues to develop her motor skills, she no longer needs you to bring things to her. Now she has the power to explore on her own. Your role as parent is to create a safe environment that is stocked with treasures for your child to find. By doing this you are instilling in her a sense of independence and mastery. Intentional obstacles such as pillows to crawl over, or cabinets to open, compound the fun, challenge, and learning. Make sure one or two of your kitchen cabinets as accessible to your baby. Fill them with safe objects.
Playthings: A few commercial toys may be interesting to your child, including blocks, sorters, a few cause and effect toys and balls. But sensory-rich everyday objects still dominate her interest. Remember the importance of novelty. By six months bright babies become bored with the same objects. If you make toys such as shape sorters out of shoe boxes, you can reinforce her interest in new objects without spending a fortune buying every commercial sorter available. Providing a variety of objects to stack, nest, and sort helps your baby generalize skills across objects. Generalization teaches her the concepts behind manual skills (i.e. smaller things fit into larger things). Moreover, when your child learns to make fun out of everyday objects, she is honing her creativity.
Just as in the previous months, it is important not to overwhelm baby with too many objects at once. Place three or four objects on a low shelf so she can crawl to them. When she becomes bored with these objects, put out some new things for her to play with. Organize interesting objects into “sensory boxes”. Create a box of smellables, a box of noisemakers, and so forth. Describe the sensory characteristics of the objects as you explore them together. A nature box of things you find together on walks such as sea shells, non toxic leaves, and so forth can stimulate an interest in science, and is a great language activity. Children at this age still explore with their mouths, so supervise carefully.
In addition to objects, babies enjoy sensory experiences such as sitting in a large container of uncooked rice or pasta. Add in some cups for pouring and you make this sensory experience an opportunity for your child to expand her small motor skills and experiment with amount and measuring. Hide interesting objects for your child to discover in the rice and demonstrate that interesting sights can disappear and reappear (object permanence). Continue to provide movement experiences for baby. Capitalize on her motor skills to add complexity. Experiment with different types of swings, slides, and tunnels. A big cardboard box rescued from the rubbish pile is an incredible source of fun, learning, and creativity. Crawl into the box with your toddler if you can, or play peek-a-boo with her from the outside. If you cannot find a box, a blanket thrown over a coffee table will provide a similar experience. For a fun ride, put her in a laundry basket and pull her around the room, Mardi Gras style.
Make the best of outings and errands with your baby. At the grocery store let her smell and touch produce. Hand her an orange and let her drop it in the bag, or on the scale for weighing. Discuss the colors on the labels of cans and bottles; visit the live lobsters in the seafood department. When you come home from the store, seat her on the kitchen floor with some of the can goods and paper bags. See what develops. When you must make a dull errand with Baby, stock your bag with interesting objects for her to play with. Try to change these objects periodically for novelty. This will not only stimulate your child, it will help her behave. Let her help you sort clothes at the Laundromat, or allow her to pour the soap into the machine with close supervision. Feel the motion of the washer and heat of the dryer together.
By this age, you should be reading to your child about 20 minutes per day (or more!). This time may be a great end of day activity, perhaps following bath and massage time, and just before singing your favorite lullabies. Don’t forget to include baby’s favorite lovey during this routine, such as a blanket or soft toy. The lovey will help her to sooth herself during the night, because she associates it with you and your tender nurturing.
Never underestimate the importance of play!