If your baby has older siblings, then he or she is likely eager for the day when a baby brother or sister can truly talk. Help keep things amusing in the meantime with this cute, family-friendly activity.

Make a list of the words your baby can say so far. For Veronika, this is a mix of vocalizations and baby signs, and she’s picked up some funny first ones. On our list we had:

• diaper
• cat
• socks
• tickle
• bus
• mama
• dada

Big brother Travis loved brainstorming the list, adding the “ta ta” that she says for Travis.

Now it was time to turn her words into a poem! Take turns as family members adding sentences. I started things off on a silly note with:

“The cat in socks likes to tickle the bus.”

Travis immediately latched on and added:

“The bus got to tickle the cat.”

Our poem ended with:

“Veronika put a diaper on ta ta

And mama and dada took it off.”

As you can see, there are no rules and no need to rhyme. But it had Travis laughing, had all of us marveling at the words she can say already, and now has us excited for what word comes next.

What was your baby’s first word? Please share in the comments!