Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Games for Babies’ Category

Apr
19

I found my hands. Let’s play some games!

Posted in Child Development, Games for Babies, parenting, Things to do

Classic "Airplane Baby"

4 to 6 months
One of the biggest changes that will occur during these months is that the parts of your baby’s brain that coordinate sight and touch are now integrating the incoming sensory information. This enables your baby to figure out where her hands are in space (thanks to the proprioceptive system), and make them do what she wants.

With the beginnings of depth-perception, this sight/touch sensory integration means he can reach for an object and pick it up. By about 6 months, he is also able to rotate his wrists, and thus manipulate objects.

What to watch for:  These are the signs that your baby’s brain is organizing sensory input exactly as it should.

  1. Banging objects and toys. (Against the floor, or two objects together.)
  2. Spontaneous bringing together in a clapping motion of her hands in front of her body. This is the first sign of coordination between both sides of her body. To assist in this developmental milestone, you can play clapping games with your baby even before she can play them by herself.

Ram Sam Sam is a children’s song that originated in Morocco, and was a favorite clapping game of my children when they were infants and toddlers, especially on the changing table. You can listen to the song here, 

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and download it directly at play.kindermusik.com.

A ram sam sam, a ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)
Guli guli guli guli guli (roll your baby’s hands or bicycle his legs)
ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)
A ram sam sam, a ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)
Guli guli guli guli guli (roll your baby’s hands or bicycle his legs)
ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)
A ra-vi, a ra-vi (lift your baby’s arms over his head, or fold his legs up toward his head)
Guli guli guli guli guli (roll your baby’s hands or bicycle his legs)
ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)
A ra-vi, a ra-vi (lift your baby’s arms over his head, or fold his legs up toward his head)
Guli guli guli guli guli (roll your baby’s hands or bicycle his legs)
ram sam sam (clap your baby’s hands or feet together as you sing)

Touch Me
As babies begin to coordinate sight and touch, they delight in “touching” games. Here’s a fun naming game to play. (And yes, babies can begin to learn body part labels, even if they can’t yet speak the words!) I found many versions of the lyrics brought to the US by immigrants from all over Europe. Many people commented that this was a beloved touch game played with grandparents, even at 4 or 5 years of age. Here are a couple  of versions:

Here is where the coachman sits (touch baby’s forehead)
Here is where he cracks his whip (touch bridge of nose)
Eye winker (touch or circle one eye)
Tom tinker (touch or circle the other eye)
Nose breather (touch nose)
Mouth eater (touch mouth)
Chin chopper (touch chin)
Gully, gully, gully (tickle under chin)

Here sits the Lord Mayor (touch baby’s forehead)
Here sits his two men (touch eyes)
Here sits the rooster (touch cheek)
Here sits the hen (touch other cheek)
Here sits the chickens (touch nose)
Here they run in (touch mouth)
Chin-chopper, chin-chopper,
Chin-chopper, chin! (tickle under chin)

Airplane Baby
At about 6 months, a baby on his tummy really feels the pull of gravity, which gives baby a strong desire to lift up his head, neck, upper back, arms and legs all at the same time, resulting in the classic “airplane” position.

Babies at this age want and need to have their vestibular systems stimulated by rocking, swooshing, twirling, swinging and other similar movements.  One word of caution – every person (grownups, too!) has a level of moment they can tolerate, and it’s different for everyone. If your baby begins to cry during a moving game, this means that the play has become too rough or wild for your baby’s vestibular system to handle, and the level of play is actually causing her brain to disorganize.

Hold your baby firmly around her body, tummy down, in a horizontal position. Take off! Fly your baby around the room, swooshing, dipping, spinning, rolling, starting, stopping as it pleases your baby. Be sure to make airplane sounds! If you would like some musical inspiration, download  Run and Jump/Soaring from play.kindermusik.com.

As your baby turns into a toddler and preschooler, lie on your back on the floor and bend your knees with your feet off the floor. Have your child place his tummy against the bottoms of your feet. Hold onto your child’s hands. Lift your child up towards the ceiling as you raise your feet and fly!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose 9 year old Rob would love to still play airplane on her feet, but at 86 pounds, would likely crush the lift-off mechanism.

Earlier related blogs:
Organizing your brain. By the age of 7.
Baby’s Busy First Month
Two and Three Months: From head to hands

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Jan
1

Creep, Creep, Creep to My Lou

Posted in Child Development, Games for Babies, Music and the brain, Things to do

While your child is developing an understanding of language, it is important that he be given many opportunities and experiences to hear and feel a wide range of speeds; from slow to moderately steady, to quick.

The best way to do this, of course, is through music. And it’s a lot of fun, too.

Do you know the song Skip to My Lou? If you don’t, it’s easy to learn. Just look it up online to learn the melody, and then try this game.

The words go:
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou.
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou.
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou.
Skip to my Lou, my darlin’.

Skipping usually comes naturally by about Kindergarten. If you don’t yet have a skipper, that’s okay. You skip while you sing, either with your baby in your arms or on the floor. Your toddler may just watch you at first, while your preschooler may give it a try.

Now, substitute movement words, and vary the tempo.

For example: really slowly…
Creep, creep, creep to my Lou.
Creep, creep, creep to my Lou.
Creep, creep, creep to my Lou.
Creep to my Lou, my darlin’.

Here’s a whole host of movement words to get you started:
march, twirl, sway, rock, run, walk, gallop, lunge, wiggle, prance, spin, waddle, slither, swoop, slide, hop, jump, leap, nod, crawl, kick, wave, shake, flop, stretch, swim and bounce

Alternate between the two extremes of fast and slow, and notice the joyful realization on your child’s face (even your baby!) when she anticipates what is next.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose favorite moving word is undulate.

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Aug
3

Sink, or Float?

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Child Development, Games for Babies, Things to do

Learning about “order” in the world is a fascinating subject for children. He learns about physics and the law of gravity when he drops the spoon from the high chair. She discovers the wonder of plants when she watches a seed turn into a flower.

Here’s a fun summer activity for babies, all the way up through preschoolers.

Get a plastic tub (the kind you use to wash dishes in while camping works great), and fill it with water. Find a variety of objects that either sink or float or both. Sponges, plastic animals, a plastic bowl, a wooden spoon, a rubber duck, a ball, a small strainer (look in your utensil drawer for ideas), ice cubes, a hotel sized bar of soap.

If you add a squeeze of dish soap after you’ve filled the washtub with water, show your child how to whip up a froth of bubbles with the wooden spoon or a whisk.

You might even buy some colored bath tablets, and let your child pick two colors. What happens when he drops in the first one? What happens when he adds the second? (Of course, you know the answer – the point is for your child to discover the “order” of the color wheel.)

Then let her experiment and learn. About the order of things that sink. Or float. Or both.

­-posted by Miss Analiisa, who at times wishes she could simply experiment and play with the order of things, rather than always having to make things orderly. Like the living room, before the cleaner comes.

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Jun
21

Games for Babies: Croquet and Chicken Ball

Posted in Games for Babies, parenting, Things to do

These ideas in the Games for Babies Series can be played with babies 9 months and up, but my children play these well into their preschool years.

Croquet

What you’ll need:
Ping pong balls
Wooden spoons

In its simplest form, you use the wooden spoons to play a “free-form” version of croquet all around the living room. With little ones, it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination just to hit the ball!

You can also sit facing your child (with legs spread to contain runaway balls), and hit the ping pong ball back and forth between you.

As your child gets older, create a little “wicket” course with blocks or books or boxes. Have fun with it!


Chicken Ball

What you’ll need:
Feather dusters
Balloons

I have to give credit for the invention of this game to my nephew, Jared. Blow up a balloon (or two), and hit the balloon with the feather duster. Sound silly? It is. But unbelievably fun.

For older ones, place a making tape line on the floor and play with the classic rule, “Don’t let the balloon touch down on your own side”.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose own children and their cousins launched rocket balloons over the loft balcony attempting to land them in the growup’s coffee cups this weekend at Grandma and Poppa’s beach house. (Another fun game, but not for babies!)

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May
14

Games for Babies: Beak-it

Posted in Games for Babies, parenting

In my Village Classes, we’ve been exercising little arms, legs, and brains to one of my favorite poems.

One misty moisty Morning
One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to see an old man dressed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do?
How do you do?
And, how do you do again?

When we get to the repeated “How do you do?” section, we stop the exercises and “beak-it” the babies on each word “you.” Beak-it? Yes!

Beak-it is a term used in my family for making eye contact and then gently touching baby’s nose, chest, or tummy with your pointer finger.

The touch is paired with language, either the poem above, or a simple “beep” or “beak-it.”

Although I can’t say I have an actual memory of playing “Beak-It,” when I was I baby, I know it was a favorite in my family. We even called one playful Aunt, “Aunt Beak-it.” It’s so simple, yet so fun!

- posted by Miss Anita, who loves the look of glee on a baby’s face during a “Beak-It! Game!”

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