Hidden Treasure

October 3, 2019Leave a comment

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Today Veronika learned to dig! Despite somewhat chilly temps, we headed to the sand play area of our local playground armed with a bright ball and a shovel.

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I sat Veronika down and – making sure she was watching – showed her that I was digging a hole. I placed the ball in and covered it back up with sand, making sure some of the bright purple was easily visible.

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Now I showed her how to uncover it!

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She was a quick study. She immediately wanted her own turn with the shovel, whether to dig for the ball, or simply to dig a nice hole in the ground.

You can make the game harder as you move along. On the next round, I left even less of the ball visible, but Verouinka wasn’t fooled!

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Work your way up to hiding the ball (or any other bright object) when your baby isn’t looking, and see if he or she will know to dig it up. This is not only great for fine motor skills, but also object permanence!

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Memory Game

September 15, 2019Leave a comment

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Object permanence is probably well-established now for your baby at ten-months old, but this game will help strengthen the concept that an object exists even once hidden. And your little one will love finding it!

I decided to use two foam blocks for the game, because I wanted objects that were different in some ways, but similar enough not to confuse Veronika. One block was a blue square and the other was a yellow triangle. Working with one at a time, I described the block to her: colors, shapes, texture. Let your baby feel (or mouth on!) the toy if they are interested.

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Then I hid the block behind my back. She was instantly curious where it had gone, and trotted around to find it.

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We repeated with the yellow triangle. Again, your baby won’t be acing quizzes after games like this, but it’s great way to introduce vocabulary about shapes colors and the element of hiding will keep your little one excited.

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Dropping Objects

August 6, 2019Leave a comment

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Impish Veronika has discovered the joy of dropping objects and making mama pick them back up again; this is actually an important skill, both for her motor skills and for object permanence (and for sense of humor!). Whether from the highchair…

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or from the grocery cart…

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…she is a little imp about it these days.

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You can use baby’s enjoyment of this game to your advantage with at-home dropping games!

First, I sat with Veronika in front of a bin of toys that needed cleaning up and showed her how to drop one in.

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Say a cheerful “oopsie!” or “dropsie!” with each toy that lands, to up the entertainment factor.

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Pretty soon she was cleaning up all her toys without knowing it.

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You can also do this game with socks in front of a low dresser drawer.

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Okay, Veronika isn’t really helping me put away the laundry, but she loved watching me drop in the socks, or trying it herself.

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The drawer wasn’t the right height for her to play by herself, so I set her up with an open box to continue the fun.

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Perhaps if you play this enough, your little one will tire of it and you can end round after round of highchair dropsie.

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Or maybe not!

Music is Hiding

July 30, 2019Leave a comment

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Musical toys are a great way to teach babies about object permanence since they can be out of sight but not out of ear shot. Today, I pulled out several of Veronika’s musical toys and music boxes to see if she could find them once hidden. This is a slightly more sophisticated variation on a musical “hide and seek” game we played when she was just an infant. This time around, there’s an added element of enticing your baby to crawl.

She loves music boxes when out in the open.

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I thought for sure she’d go for them right away once I hid the box under a blanket, but little Miss Busy had her attention elsewhere.

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A toy music cube grabbed her attention better. I pretended to crawl around next to her. Where was the music?

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I had to slightly pull back the edge of the blanket before she truly noticed the musical toy.

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But now she’s got it!

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If you repeat this game over and over, you’ll reinforce the idea of object permanence. Later in the afternoon, I hid the music box behind pillows.

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This time she was more interested. She bopped along to the sound and then went looking.

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Ta da!

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You can have so much fun with this one in various ways as your baby continues to grow. Once he or she is really crawling, try hiding the musical toys behind furniture. And during the toddler stage, let them be the hider, and mommy and daddy can go on a music hunt.

Seek Out the Squeak

June 12, 2019June 12, 2019Leave a comment

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This cute little activity will hone your baby’s skills in a number of areas: fine-tuning their hearing; playing with their sense of object permanence, and exciting them with a little anticipation!

First, I rounded up a few toys that squeak. I guess in our house that tends to be little pigs!

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Hide one squeaky toy under a scarf (or a dish towel would work), and make it squeak.

The muffled sound was less distinct than Veronika is used to. Where was the sound coming from?

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She homed in quickly on the scarf – although this may have been because the scarf itself looked novel and interesting.

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Tada! A squeaky toy. I squeaked it again as her reward, and praised her efforts.

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Uh oh, is that another faint squeak she heard?

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Now she knew how to locate the second toy.

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Okay, so maybe she was more thrilled with her little scarf toys than with the pigs underneath but she still was reaping the benefits of this game tangentially – and having lots of fun in the process!

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Take Peekaboo To a New Dimension

March 22, 2019Leave a comment

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A few weeks back, we introduced peekaboo; now it was time to take the game to a new level! Peekaboo never gets old for babies, but as your baby gets older, you’re going to keep want to find ways to keep it novel and entertaining.

So whereas in the past I’ve draped a see-through scarf over Veronika’s head, today, I used an opaque (but lightweight) blanket. Prop your child up and drape the blanket over his or her head.

Quickly and gently lift one corner with a big happy, “Peek-a-boo!”

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Likely, you’ll get giggles and your little one will want you to repeat again and again.

Though to be honest, sometimes Veronika was more into the blanket itself, and the tactile feel of it over her head or in her hands.

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Then repeat the game with a favorite toy. “Peek-a-boo,” says her pudgy little bear.

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She eagerly awaited each reveal whenever the blanket hid the toy.

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When it appeared again, I’d greet it with, “There’s the toy!”

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As a reminder, there’s a purpose behind this classic. It’s one of the best and earliest ways to teach your child object permanence, so keep those peek-a-boos coming!

Where’s Bear?

March 6, 2019March 7, 2019Leave a comment

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This game is a fantastic way to teach your four-month-old about object permanence, i.e. the idea that something still exists even if he or she can’t see it. We hid bear in layers upon layers, and then had to find him!

First, I showed her a stuffed teddy, saying the word “bear” clearly for her.

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I slipped bear into a brown paper lunch bag, letting her watch, then crumbled it shut. “Where’s bear?” I asked.

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The bag next went into a toy box (any box will work, including a cardboard box from your latest package delivery). The lid went on, and again I asked, “Where’s bear?”

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