What Are the Best Ways to Play With a Newborn?
During the time after naps and feedings, it’s common for parents to wonder what they should do with their newborn. The good news is that there are lots of ways to play with a newborn.
Not only does keeping your newborn occupied help you get some time to yourself but there are lots of benefits to your baby’s development when you give them playtime.
For example, reading to your baby and showing them books with pictures or single words promotes a strong early vocabulary.
Tummy time helps babies build crucial muscles in their body to help them reach their milestones in the first year or so of their life.
Babies who get lots of playtime have more opportunities to develop cognitive, language, socio-emotional, and gross and fine motor skills.
What I also loved about playtime with my newborn was giving them the chance to be by themselves so they become more independent.
Independence seems impossible in a newborn, but the earlier you encourage them to play by themselves the easier it will be for them to play independently when they’re a toddler.
To best prevent delays in these areas, you’d be amiss not to introduce daily playtime to your baby.
In this article, I’ll briefly mention the best places to find toys for your baby. Then, I’ll discuss 12 different ways I enjoyed playing with my newborn and how you can implement them in your routine with your newborn.
Here we go!
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Where to Find Things to Play With Your Newborn
There are lots of large businesses, like Walmart or Babies’R, and small businesses where you can find things to play with your newborn.
Small businesses can be found on Etsy or in your local area. I highly suggest looking into Montessori playthings for your baby to ensure the items you buy are safe for your baby.
Montessori items tend to be made from natural materials and are higher in quality so they can be reused or sold if you wish.
My favourite place to get toys for my baby is through the Lovevery play kits (not an affiliate yet but would love to be).
Lovevery is subscription-based and has play kits that get delivered to you based on your baby’s age every 2-3 months.
Every idea I outline in this article can be accomplished through the first two play kits from Lovevery. I highly suggest you look into them.
Buying these play kits comes with two other bonuses: 1) you can download the Lovevery app for free, which comes loaded with information and play ideas and 2) each play kit comes with a parent guide for playing and bonding with your baby.
Now, you can find alternative items to Lovevery from Amazon, but the quality won’t be as good and to buy the items individually on Amazon will cost you more than buying the play kits yourself.
This is totally up to you though!
I’ll mention some activities you can do yourself as well.
Quick Tips!
If your baby loses interest in an activity, you can combat this by setting up a toy rotation system.
This means that you can try introducing your baby to only a couple of toys for some time and when they get bored, you can rotate those toys out and play with a couple of other choices for a while.
You can then reintroduce some of the previous toys again, which your baby will likely recognize and be excited about
Another quick tip I want to mention is to keep things simple when your baby is a newborn to prevent overstimulation.
When they're only a month old, you’re going to want them to engage in one activity at a time. So, no music or TV in the background while you have them focus on black-and-white cards, for example.
At two months, you can introduce two activities at a time, then at three months introduce three activities and so on. By 6 months or so, babies can usually handle numerous toys at once.
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12 Ways to Play With Your Newborn
1. Black and White Photo Cards
High-contrast cards, or black-and-white photo cards, are a great way to get your baby’s attention.
They’re perfect for tummy time, side laying, and for face-to-face time with your baby.
Plus, when your baby is no longer interested in them, they make really good wall art!
High-contrast cards help with your baby’s visual development.
You can leave them on their own and they’ll stare at them for at least a minute or so. After that, you can present a new card to them.
You can also take one card and get your baby to visually track it by slowly moving it up, down, right, and left, which encourages them to move their eyes and head.
As your baby gets older, they’ll be able to concentrate on the cards for longer and you can tape a few on the wall or use a card holder like the one from Lovevery’s The Looker Playkit.
If your baby favours a particular side of their head, you can use high-contrast cards to direct their attention to the other side of their head to strengthen their neck muscles and prevent them from getting a flat spot on their head.
2. Tummy Time
I’m sure you’ve heard about tummy time. It was one of my favourite things to say when I wanted to get my baby excited for playtime!
To teach your baby to be able to roll early, you can lay them on their back and slowly roll them over by tucking their arms and shoulders underneath them and placing them on their belly.
For newborns who despise tummy time, place a pillow or a blanket under their arms to make it more comfortable.
Newborns will only tolerate tummy time for short sessions so don’t push them for too long.
A little bit of crying during tummy time builds resilience in your baby, but if you can tell they’re in distress give them a break and try again later.
Just remember, the earlier you introduce tummy time and the more you do it, the easier it will be for your little one later on.
Tummy time builds the foundation for a lot of your baby’s milestones, including walking, rolling, sitting, and reaching.
Trust me, you’re not hurting your baby by introducing this activity. Count yourself lucky if your baby loves tummy time!
3. Books with no words or one-word
Like high contrast cards, books with no words or just one word on them are a great way to keep your baby occupied when putting them on their tummy or giving them floor time.
Different geometric shapes and images from the real world in these types of books help babies with their visual development.
Moreover, they can start to build their understanding of language when you read them books with single words on them.
Your baby will also benefit from you describing what you see in the books and pointing at the pictures.
4. Face-to-face time
Having face-to-face time with your baby is crucial for their socio-emotional, language, and cognitive development.
Giving them eye contact, looking at your baby’s face closely, and reading to them while they look at your face allows you to bond with your baby and get to know each other.
Face-to-face time is a win-win dynamic
Your baby can observe your facial expressions and watch your lips move and you can gain a stronger understanding of their personality and different cues.
5. Mirrors
Facing a mirror toward your baby while they play lets your baby watch their movements and start to recognize themselves.
Babies don’t recognize themselves in the mirror when they’re newborns but they’ll start when there’s a mirror in front of them while playing.
Plus, babies like looking at other babies and are fascinated by faces.
6. Kick Play
As your baby approaches two months, you’ll notice they like to kick, especially when they’re excited.
You can foster the growth of their leg and neck muscles by giving them lots of opportunities to kick.
You can hold up your forearm and let them push; you can hold up something crinkly for them to kick at; you can tie balloons around their ankles so they can watch them bounce as they move their legs; and, you can put rattle socks or sew a ribbon to a pair of socks to encourage them to look at their fee and reach for their toes when they get older.
Kicking play helps babies become strong enough to roll.
When babies try to look at their legs and feet when kicking, they’re tucking their chin in, which builds their neck muscles.
Kicking also gives them the chance to understand that they’re body can move and make noise.
7. Talking
Talking to a baby can be difficult but is incredibly important for your baby’s vocabulary and language development.
There are multiple ways to talk to your baby or introduce them to different sounds:
- Read to your baby: When I wanted to get some reading done with my newborn awake, I simply read to him what I was reading. He didn’t understand what I was saying but he watched me well I talked and listened to the sound of my voice. I also described pictures in his books.
- Have a conversation: Tell your baby what it was like on the day he was born, talk about your hopes and dreams for them, and describe your dream - the possibilities are endless. It may seem weird but do it for the sake of your baby’s development!
- Narrate the day: By simply describing what you’re doing throughout the day, you’re keeping your baby involved in your day-to-day life and teaching them about language at the same time.
- Sing to your baby: There is evidence that shows that singing is very calming for your baby. Even if you don’t know the lyrics to very many songs, you can make up lyrics. No matter how you sound or what you sing, your baby will be soothed by the sound of your voice.
- Show them around the house: This is a great practice to implement every day to get your baby comfortable with their home. You can show them the process of getting a glass of water, turn the light switch off and on, and when your environment is quiet make a noise with something in your home and see if your baby looks toward you.
8. Mobiles
The mobile from this playkit was the only thing that stopped by baby from screaming while he was getting his diaper changed.
Mobiles are honestly just beautiful and your baby will love looking at them.
They’re a way for your baby to practice concentration and can serve as a great point of reference for them as they become acclimated to their new environment.
You may find a mobile will keep your baby distracted for quite some time which can give you a little break.
I suggest putting a mobile above your baby’s changing table, play area, or both but not above their crib. You don’t want to keep your baby awake when you’re trying to get them used to sleeping in the crib.
9. Chores
Doing chores while your baby is awake allows your baby to watch you interact with the environment and observe your movements.
It’s also another way you narrate what you’re doing to your baby.
Getting chores done while your baby is awake is also a great chance for you to get chores done without sacrificing quiet time while your baby is asleep.
I highly suggest just resting or having some alone time while your baby is asleep.
You can finish chores when your baby wakes up.
For example, they can watch you fold laundry and you can show them the different textures from your fabric.
You can also leave them on a soft surface on the floor while you do dishes or make your bed.
Seeing how different things work in the environment is really important for your baby’s developing brain so make sure they have these opportunities to watch you.
10. Dance
Dancing with your baby is an easy way to get you moving and is a special way to bond with your baby.
Moving around to music with your baby can distract them when they’re upset but it can also help them understand rhythm and listen to different sounds.
You can also help your baby build their spatial and body awareness by dancing around with them.
11. Hand Discovery
Knowing we have hands seems so simple but is brand new to your baby.
Newborns don’t understand that they have hands and can use them to manipulate objects in their environment.
Around 2 months, you can put high-contrast socks or some gloves on your baby’s hands that will catch their interest.
They’ll eventually start to notice the socks or gloves as they move their hands around and watch as their hands move.
Soon enough, they’ll make the connection that they’re causing the movement.
When you notice your baby mouthing their hand or reaching for things, chances are they’ve finally discovered their hands!
12. Rattles
When your baby starts to grasp, they’ll have so much fun holding a rattle and giving it a good shake.
To help your baby track sounds, take a rattle and shake it outside your baby’s field of vision. By doing this, your baby may turn toward the sound you made.
If not, you can get them to practice tracking sound by shaking the rattle gently in their face and moving it slowly so they can follow your movement.
There are so many ways to play with your newborn and teach them about life outside of the womb.
I don’t want you to feel stuck not knowing what to do when your baby is not sleeping or feeding.
As you can see, it’s easy to play with a newborn and it doesn’t take much to entertain them and build up skills that are crucial for their development.
By playing with your newborn, you’re doing them the service of preventing delays in their language, socio-emotional, cognitive, and motor development.
You’re also teaching them that they’re capable, independent humans.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these activities with your baby!
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