Roly Bowl-y!

Age: approx. 6 months to 2 years

Materials: A metal bowl (the shallower the better.. if you don't have a metal bowl a plastic one will do) and a ball

Baby can tip and move the bowl to make the ball roll around

Turn the bowl upside down. With a metal bowl, baby can see their convex reflection. 

Sit the ball on the top and watch it roll down, over and over.

Spin the bowl for baby so the ball whizzes round and round very fast

The surface is slippery. It is hard for baby to grasp the ball.

What great fine motor and hand-eye coordination practice!

Try multiple balls. Different colours, different sizes.

Baby is Learning:

- Fine motor skills

- Co-ordination

- Eye tracking (following an object with their eyes)

- Hand and eye coordination

- Cause and effect (ie. tipping the bowl makes the ball move towards the lower side)
- Expectation

- How to move objects

- About things that roll
- About reflecting light
- About rounded surfaces

- How to grasp objects on a slippery surface

- Emotions. Enjoyment & excitement.

- How to grasp small objects

- What to do

- Sensory. Sight, reflection, light, touch, rounded edges, smooth surfaces etc.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by just showing baby the movement of the ball in the bowl. If they're not sitting, give them some tummy time looking at themselves in the upside down ball. Roll the ball down the side for them. Sit them in your lap and let them tip the ball and try using a ball that your baby can hold in one hand.

- Extend this activity for older babies by encouraging them to make the ball whiz around without it flying out. Talk to baby about the colours of the balls, the reflection of the metal etc.

- Mix it up by providing different sized bowls and balls. How many balls can whiz around at one time?

- Praise baby for their efforts

- Repeat this activity as often as you like as babies (and children) need repetition in order to consolidate their learning and understanding

- Talk to your baby about what they are doing. This will help them begin to understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as helping develop their vocabulary.

- Give your baby your time. It's the best gift you could ever give them.

Happy playing,
Debs :)

New Here? Subscribe to get all activities sent directly to you

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Are you on Facebook? We are and we'd love to see you there. Hey, we're also on Twitter now too. :) 

MORE BABY PLAY IDEAS

Continue reading...

Exploring Square and Round

Age: approx. 6 months to 2 years

Materials: Collection of square objects (cubes) and round objects (spheres)

Exploring the different properties of the different shapes. Some with angles and some without.

Some roll and some don't! Why? Let baby find out by experience.

Baby is Learning:

- Fine motor skills

- Co-ordination

- Hand and eye coordination

- Manipulation

- Size differences
- Shape differences

- Senses. Different textures, smooth, soft, angled, corners etc

- Cause and effect (ie. pushing something round makes it roll)

- How to grasp small objects

- About gravity

- What to do

- How to stack and whack (more whacking than stacking in the earlier months!)

- Emotions. Delight, excitement, curiosity

Handy Tips:

- Repeat this activity as often as you like as babies (and children) need repetition in order to consolidate their learning and understanding

- Provide a range of different sized, coloured, textured etc. round and square objects

- Simplify by starting with one group (ie. round), then introduce the next before introducing them together to explore the differences

- Extend this activity for older babies by talk about the colours. You could also attempt to stack both groups. Will the round things stack?

- Talk to your baby about what they are doing. This will help them begin to understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as helping develop their vocabulary.

- Supervise. Babies must be supervised at all times. One of the main ways that they learn about objects is by putting them in their mouth, so please be cautious about what you are providing them or what they could access.

- Give your baby your time. It's the best gift you could ever give them.

Debs :)

New Here? Subscribe to get all activities sent directly to you

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

If you haven't come over to play with us on facebook yet, we'd love to see you there. Hey, we're also on Twitter now too. 

MORE BABY PLAY IDEAS

Continue reading...