Category: Gross Motor Skills

All Fall Down

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Try this adorable game to improve your baby’s hand-eye coordination, as well as skills like concentration or cause and effect. It also introduces a love of playing with boxes, something that’s sure to continue throughout the toddler years.

Small boxes are ideal for this game, to fit a baby’s small hands. We had a variety pack of cereal boxes that were just right for the job. I taped the empty boxes shut so no edges poked up.

First, I simply let Veronika hold and explore one. She was instantly drawn to it – probably because of that grinning cute tiger!

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Stack a few of the boxes together, just out of baby’s reach. This was a bit tricky, since Veronika is just learning to hold herself upright in a seated position, and she wanted to lunge for the boxes. Concentration, being built!

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Once I had a tower, I let her take a swing. Bam! We all fall down.

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If your baby doesn’t seem interested in the boxes themselves, you can set a toy on top of the tower as enticement.

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Once baby reaches for the toy… Boom!

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The boxes fall.

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But honestly Veronika was so eager to get her hands on the cereal boxes, the toy was a moot point.

Once we’d had enough of sitting and knocking down, I set the boxes up for tummy time.

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She also had fun with them while she played on her back. As always, boxes make excellent toys.

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Boomerang Toy

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Veronika hasn’t spent much time playing on her back lately; as soon as she learned how to roll, that was it… My little girl likes tummy play! As a result, I dismantled her play gym, and she spends most of her time playing on her belly.

But today, I wanted to focus on her grabbing skills and hand-eye coordination, so we made this cute boomerang toy.

Simply cut open a strong rubber band and attach to any soft small toy. (Make sure this is tied very securely, so the rubber band doesn’t become a choking hazard).

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While your baby lies on his or her back, bounce the toy above them. Pull down so the rubber band snaps back. Well wouldn’t you know, Veronika went wild for it!

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Her eyes were wide with delight, and she loved grabbing for it.

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Gotcha!

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And kicking it with her feet.

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When I made a silly “boing” sound, she began cackling and giggling.

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What an absolute delight it was to watch her joy.

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You can also purchase toys that mimic this rubber band bouncing. We have an old stroller toy from when Travis was a baby that retracts on a string. This one also elicited lots of giggles and grabbing.

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She got it!

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Here’s a quick clip of that great laughter.

Mirrored Action Song

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I’ve been doing fingerplays and action rhymes with Veronika since she was tiny, but now it’s time to encourage her to get in on the action! As your baby nears his or her sixth month, you’ll find they might be trying to copy all the moves. You can help the process along with this cute game. It’s a great one for big siblings who are eager to interact with a little sib, too.

I sat Veronika down in a chair facing me, and Travis and I acted out a few simple motions. Clapping first.

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Then stomping.

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Then patting your head.

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For each action, we gently moved Veronika’s limbs in imitation. Travis loved helping her hands clap.

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And feet tap.

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She looked very surprised at patting her own head!

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Now we wanted to put it all to music, and we knew just what to sing: If You’re Happy and You Know It, of course! Based on her smile, I think I’m a good performer.

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We sang through the song, doing each motion (“If you’re happy clap your hands… If you’re happy stamp your feet… If you’re happy pat your head… If you’re happy shout hurray…” and so on).

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It’s only a matter of time before she’s doing all the moves right alongside us.

Colorful Scarf Circle

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This activity takes all of two minutes to set up, but your baby will reap great benefits from it. It’s perfect for times when you want to visually stimulate a baby who can’t sit up yet; great for tummy time; and also encourages gross motor development towards rolling or crawling.

Here’s the set-up: lay a soft blanket on the ground, and simply surround it with pretty scarves. Before I draped each one down, I let Veronika see it and grab it if she wanted to, then added it to the circle.

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Now baby goes in the middle! The bright colors immediately caught her eye. Since Veronika isn’t rolling on her own yet, I nudged her gently to her side.

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From here, she could complete the roll, and seemed intent on getting closer to the bold blues and reds. If your baby is already rolling, he or she might enjoy rolling back and forth between these scarves for quite some time!

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Once on her tummy, she had plenty to look at, which was a nice way to shake up tummy time.

Back on her back, she enjoyed running her hands over soft fabrics, or grabbing on to the tassels, leading to great tactile play.

Scarf Play (7)Note: There’s also no need to wait until your baby is rolling for this game. I’ve been setting Veronika up in a similar circle of scarves since she was tiny. The only difference is that now the game is more interactive.

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Ready to Clap

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Following up on Patty Cake, today Veronika and I played another game to prep her for clapping. This time, she automatically tried to clap one of my hands between her two, almost as if it were a toy. This is a great first step towards bringing her own two hands together.

To make clapping fun, we put it to music of course – this time it was If You’re Happy and You Know It, concentrating on the first verse. 

I alternated clapping my own hands…

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…bringing her two hands together in an imitation clap..

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…letting her clap one of my hands between her two.

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…and even modeling on a teddy bear!

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We did then move on to the other verses, but only briefly. Get those baby toes tapping.

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And those arms up for “hoorays”!

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This might be a fun activity to involve big siblings, too, who can help out with the motions.

Finally, a cute video never hurts. We love this version from Little Baby Bum. We’ll certainly have something to clap about soon when Veronika does her first real one!

Varsity Tummy Time

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Veronika started with basic tummy time, moved on to advanced activities, and now she’s pulling out the varsity moves!

Once your little one is comfortable up on his or her elbows, try these tricks to encourage them to last longer on their bellies, and make the time more enjoyable. Ideally at 3 months old, you should be fitting in about 20 minutes of tummy time daily.

First, I held up one of her favorite toys, just above eye level. This was great for strengthening her neck muscles even further – a big first step before crawling!

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Next, we played games to encourage her to turn her head. Place a baby-safe mirror first on one side…

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then directly in front…

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and finally on the other side. Good turns, Veronika!

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You can also continue to get right on your belly, face-to-face with your baby. This time I made funny faces, puffed out my cheeks, and talked up a storm of encouragement. Don’t be afraid to get silly if it helps your baby stay a few minutes longer!

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Finally, we did another pre-crawling activity. I placed a toy with lots of colors and parts in front of her, but just out of reach. Well hello toy, Veronika seemed to say!

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I placed a rolled blanket behind her feet to encourage her to press her weight against it, and shift forward, pushing ever so slightly.

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She got the idea right away, although she isn’t quite strong enough yet! Later, I actually pushed against her bare feet and did away with the towel, and this seemed even easier for her.

Overall, have fun with tummy time, and your child will be loving it before long. What’s your favorite tummy time game? Please share in the comments!

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Baby Sit-Ups

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We’ve been working on strengthening Veronika’s little muscles in various cute ways, and I highly encourage you to add this method to the list!

Start with your infant lying on a soft surface in front of you.

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I gave her a little count of three each time – 1, 2, 3…

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….then gently and firmly grasped her hands and pulled upwards. Veronika grinned each time we repeated this motion!

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We paused at the top for big coos and smiles, then I gently lowered her back down.

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If your baby doesn’t have great head control yet, be sure to place one hand behind the head and neck on the way back down.

Do a few crunches, then rest! Seven minute abs just got a whole lot cuter.

Bouncing Baby

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In busy days with babies, it can sometimes feel like they’re passed from arm to arm or set some place to lie down all day. But this quick little activity is a welcome chance to sit upright, so your little one can feel his or her body in a different way.

Pull out a stability exercise ball or a beach ball. Securely place baby on top, holding them around the middle, and give a few little bounces.

Veronika looked a little uncertain on the first try!

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But then she really got into the bouncing. Not only will this help your child understand where they are in space, but it strengthens little tummy muscles.

If your child seems up for it, turn them onto their tummy on top of the ball too; it can encourage babies who haven’t lifted their head during tummy time yet to do so.

Wild Moves

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I was a bit surprised to find no craft or Green Time in Travis’s latest issue of Ranger Rick Jr., but the magazine was full of fantastic facts and stories about animals, as always. It also included an activity to work those gross motor skills: copying the movements of wild animals.

First up was hopping like a kangaroo. This one was especially neat because the magazine pointed out that a kangaroo can jump 30 feet in one bound (!). We needed to pull out the yard stick to visualize that, and measured our own jumps.

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From there, we tried the article’s other suggestions, which had us waddling like a penguin, flapping like a duck, and pouncing like a cat.

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Travis was having so much fun that I encouraged him to decide which animal move he could do next. Soon we had slithering snakes;

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Trumpeting elephants;

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And a very ferocious lion (pictured at the top of this post).

A great prompt for imagination and to get us moving.

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Om in the Outdoors

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Our beautiful morning sunshine is inspiring us to get outdoors these days, for everything from exercise to painting. This morning, I asked Travis if he thought it would be fun to take mommy’s yoga mat out into the grass, which was met by a super-enthusiastic “Yes!”. We’ve done mommy & me yoga together since he was a toddler, but sometimes changing up the location is all it takes to re-ignite a child’s excitement.

First we did some old favorites. Tree pose!

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We also like doing the blossom move: Lie flat on your back with your arms stretched above your head. Sit up slowly and bend all the way forward to reach your toes. Lie back down again and repeat.

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Travis then announced he wanted to make up his own poses! Most of these were inspired by the items in his immediate vision, so soon we had pinwheel pose (spinning around):

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…and pipe pose (standing straight with arms up above head).

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What poses would you and your child come up with? Head outside and enjoy the sunshine and the mindfulness! We can’t wait to hear about it in the comments.

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