Play to learn

Your baby needs to play to learn about the world. Your baby also needs to look at, feel, taste, smell and hear different things. He needs to move around. His experiences with toys and objects help him begin to learn how things work and that objects have different shapes, colors and textures.

Give your baby objects of different sizes and textures (square, round, hard, soft, fuzzy, long, short, sticky). Make sure these objects are safe—they need to be too large for your baby to put into his mouth. Help your baby play with these objects. Show him how to hold them and make them move.

Take your baby outside and sit under a tree. He will enjoy watching birds and seeing lights and shadows as they move through the trees. He can hear new sounds, too, like rustling leaves, birds calling and the engines of cars and airplanes.