Brain Building Activities: 3-6 Months
Who is That Baby?
Sit in front of a mirror with your baby in your lap.
Say, “Who is that baby?”
Wave your baby’s hand and say, “Hi, baby”.
Say, “Where’s the baby’s foot?”
Wave your baby’s foot and say, “Hi, foot”.
Continue asking questions and moving different parts of your baby’s body.
Shake heads, wave bye-bye, clap hands, etc.
What Brain Research Says: Short utterances speed up the development of the language process.
Where’s My Baby?
This is a game that strengthens the back and neck.
Lie on your back and put your baby on your tummy.
With your hands firmly around his chest, raise him in the air and up to your face.
Say the following and do the actions:
Where’s my baby?
There he is. (lift him up to your face)
Where’s my baby? (bring him back down to your tummy)
There he is. (bring him back up to your face)
Where’s my baby? (bring him back down to your tummy)
Up high, high, high. (bring your baby up high over your face)
What Brain Research Says: Developing strength and balance lays the groundwork for crawling.
Let’s Kick
Kicking develops motor skills and is something that babies love to do.
Attach colorful items to your baby’s ankles and watch him kick with glee.
Many booties have brightly colored toes that babies love to watch as they kick.
Hold your baby in your arms and dangle a rattle or bells in front of his feet.
Show him how to kick the rattle or bells.
What Brain Research Says: Repeating motor skills over and over strengthens the neural circuits that go from the brain’s thinking areas to the motor areas and out to the nerves that move muscles.
Roll Olympics
Helping your baby roll over from his tummy to his back will develop his chest and arm muscles. This is a fun game to play while encouraging your baby to roll over.
Put your baby on his tummy on a soft and flat surface.
Hold up a teddy bear in front of his face and do antics with the bear. You might say the following poem as you make the teddy bear move around:
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around.
(turn teddy bear around)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.
(make teddy bear fall down)
When you know that your baby is watching the teddy, move it to the side so that your baby’s eyes and hopefully his body will follow it.
Repeat the poem, moving the teddy bear each time. If your baby tires of this game, try it again on another day.
What Brain Research Says: Using these muscles repeatedly gives babies muscles the strength and elasticity for rolling over.
Pop Goes the Weasel
Babies enjoy music and rhythm. When they were in the womb, they felt the rhythm of the heart and sounds of the blood moving in the body.
Take two rhythm sticks (or two wooden spoons) and tap them together as you sing the song “Pop Goes the Weasel”.
Tap the sticks softly and increase the loudness of the sound when you come to the word “pop”. Soon your baby will begin to anticipate the louder sound.
Help your baby hold the sticks. Sing this song while he is holding the sticks:
“All around the cobbler’s bench
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey laughed to see such fun.
Pop! Goes the Weasel!”
What Brain Research Says: Exposure to music “wires” neural circuits in the brain.
These simple and fun activities are taken from the book “125 Brain Games for Babies” by Jackie Silberg.
Photo Credit: davidhorne;stetted; storyvillegirl; annabellelawrence; dryfish via photopin cc