How to play with your newborn baby ? From 0-12 months

 A gentle moment of complicity but also an essential learning tool for growing up and awakening to the world, play is an integral part of a toddler's daily life. However, when faced with a baby who changes every day, we don't always know which toys and activities to offer. To learn how to play with a baby and accompany him from 0 to 12 months in his discoveries, follow these few tips distilled with the complicity of Stokke.

How to play with your newborn baby's first 3 months

The first year, everything is discovery and learning for a baby, and play is a real "job" for him, as Maria Montessori explains. The role of the parents is then to be at his side, to accompany him gently in the discovery and to arrange the space according to their child's preferences. For the first three months, parent-child symbiosis is essential," explains Emmanuelle Langlois, a psychomotricist and early childhood expert. The parent discovers their baby, lays the foundations for the exchange, and everyone learns to know and get along with each other.

Play with your newborn baby 1 to 2 months

During this time, don't hesitate to carry your child as much as possible: "There is a back and forth between parent and child, what is called a tonic dialogue, which allows parents to understand their baby just by being in contact with him. In fact, I always encourage baby massage, which is a wonderful way to create a bond. Reproducing your child's babbling, singing lullabies, exaggerating facial expressions, talking to your child: these are the simple moments that lay the foundation for play and establish the baby's emotional security. "Playing with a baby during the first months is to encourage early interactions and visual and physical exchanges," summarizes the psychomotrician.

Which toys to choose? "My advice is not to over-stimulate babies, who already have a lot to discover around them. It's above all the contact that counts at this age. But I like nursing necklaces: when they're worn, babies like to hold on to something. These adapted necklaces allow them to grasp and chew while being in contact with their mother.

Play with your newborn baby From 2-3 months

"I insist on putting babies on the floor as often as possible, rather than in a deckchair where they are passive and limited in their interactions," emphasizes Emmanuelle Langlois. The ideal: lay your baby on a mat and place an ark of awakening next to him, or even a little behind him. "Hanging objects will catch his eyes, push him to move his head and make him want to turn around. As the baby's tone is global, by turning his head, he will gradually engage his shoulders, spine and pelvis and that's how he learns to turn around on his own.

Which toys to choose? "I advise to put few toys around the baby, but to renew them often. Colors: he needs contrast! During the first weeks, the baby can see at about 20 cm and is quite blurred. His vision improves week after week, and it's the contrast that attracts him the most.

• Tumbling toys, whose bottom is ballasted and which tilt without falling, to make the baby want to reproduce his gesture when he taps it;
• Sound balls, rattles, easy grip balls, mirrors.

From the 4th month: when the baby starts to turn on his stomach

It is important that the baby spends time on the floor, learning to curl up, turn around and discover his body. "We can take advantage of this period to give them small foot massages when they are turned over on their stomach: this allows them to become aware of this part of their body," advises Emmanuelle Langlois. Once on their stomachs, children can handle objects in a different way, play differently, and the grip becomes more voluntary.

Which toys to choose? 

"We can propose objects that stimulate the manipulation and the senses, with a different grip and materials. »

• Sound and visual rattles, toys with different materials, themed sensory baskets (we offer the baby a few toys made of different materials such as metal, wood, fabrics...);
• Musical instruments: maracas, bells, castanets with a handle, small rain sticks. The main thing is that the movement is simple to do for the baby;
• A basket filled with different balls: large, small, plastic, with pins, with holes...

When the baby is in a sitting position

"The position normally arrives at the same time as the movement and the beginning of the crawl: a lot happens at this time! "the psychomotrician enthuses. The baby now has a different way of looking at things, his hands are available and he can handle more objects.

Which toys to choose? I always advise to opt for simplicity," explains Emmanuelle Langlois. Playing with your child means being able to observe him and suggest activities that seem to really please him.

• Uniquely shaped boxes for babies: the objective is not that the baby knows how to put the round into the round and the square into the square, but that he wants to embed the object and repeat the gesture.
• Small books: we opt for the cardboard versions because it is the manipulation that interests them first, before the story. (Nathan collection "I grow up with Nathan").
• Cubes to learn how to put them on top of each other and make little tricks.
• We can also make the first huts (cardboard boxes are always a success), small courses on the ground with obstacles to overcome (like a cushion), provide a box of toys that babies love to empty of their contents …

The little tricks of Hana, photographer and mother of Livia, 3,5 months old...

Can you introduce yourself?

I am 35 years old, I come from Slovakia, I have been living in Paris for 5 years now, after having lived in London for 10 years and in Austria. I am a lifestyle and fashion photographer and I married a Frenchman, with whom I had a little girl, Livia, who is now 3 and a half months old!

How do you capture Livia's attention on a daily basis?

As Livia is still small, it is mostly through a lot of eye contact and facial expressions. I talk to her a lot, and I like to sing her my own little rhymes. Music is very important in my daily life, and since my mom used to sing songs to me when I was very young, I sing with Livia all the time.

What are your first games?

As she is only 3 and a half months old, the only way to really play with her at the moment is to place colorful toys in front of her, preferably very close to her face to get her attention! In the end, what amuses her the most are our faces! We make grimaces, sounds, movements to attract her attention and interact with her...

She's still very small, but can you already tell if she has a favorite activity with you?

She loves to sit in her Stokke deckchair, fixed on her Steps high chair, next to us, to interact with us. She also loves to lie on the changing mat in the bathroom: we spend a lot of time there, and I have installed a small mobile that she can observe when we change her. It is also there that I make her do little exercises with her legs (if she has a stomach ache for example), we sing and we always have a good time while preparing the bath.

What was the first toy you gave your daughter? Your favorite?

She has so many toys! I think my favorites, like her, are the ones that make noise and are very colorful. I love the musical turtle that I bought her to soothe her nights, I also love the little books, even if at the moment we play mostly with rattles ...

How do you integrate your Stokke chair into your games?

What I like best about the Steps high chair is that Livia is not at ground level but at our height, so the connection with her is immediate. I love being able to put her on her chair and just talk to her, play or sing with her, knowing that she sees the same things as we do. Thanks to the little deckchair, we use her Stokke chair every day.

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