For babies, play is hard work and they need the best tools possible to do their jobs right. The right toys can help make sure your precious wee one meets all her developmental milestones, and it’s a sweet way to spend time bonding.
In our last post, we talked about play mats, and this week we’re focused on having fun with building blocks.
Blocks help to build a great foundation for physical dexterity and problem solving, and babies can begin to grasp and hold blocks as early as six months. By the age of 12 months, most babies will be able to stack blocks on top of one another, making a simple structure. Stacking helps hand-eye coordination, reaching for and grasping blocks develop fine-motor skills.
You can get in on the act by playing some simple games with your baby. Sweep some blocks up into a bucket and the dump them out again. She’ll get a kick out of the mess you make, while you’re encouraging her to understand object permanence. If your infant is still too young to build his own tower, you can create an interesting structure a few inches away from him, and encourage him to scoot forward to knock it down. One Sassy Doctor prescribes a laughing baby for all that ails you!
One of the best things about blocks is that they grow with your child. Start off with some larger, soft blocks like the Squirt and Squeak Blocks when your baby is very young, and eventually graduate to smaller, stackable blocks. By 18 months, you’ll be amazed at how she can sort them by size, shape and colors!
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