Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Games etc. for very young babies

Hello, I'm new here, and appologise if this has been done to death in the past, but I didn't see much.

DS7mo appears to be moderately ahead of himself. He's ahead on all the major milestones, but is quite far behind on some wierd things (eg. still doesn't shake a rattle), and is average emotionally/maturity-wise (except in degree, he's a bit intense).

Wether or not the aheadishness persists, right now I need ways to keep him interested. His father is going back to a programming job, and I will need to manage long days with him soon. He follows simple commands without trouble, cruises, attends to things like "look, that leaf is also yellow," but he's not walking independantly, or handing things back much. He very much likes trains and large vehicles, and things that are being moved by wind. He also likes numbers a lot.

What did/do people do with theirs at around the half-year mark?

Thanks! (& appologies for posting without lurking much first)

-Michaela

Looking back at notes and photos, I see DS used to enjoy:
- baby swim classes. We started about this age and they were great fun. (We stopped a few months later because I went back to work, so he didn't get long-term learning to swim out of it, though!)
- playgrounds: it was about this time that he started to love swinging, and he also liked the whole experience, watching the other kids, etc.
- books, especially ones with thick, easy-to-turn board pages he could manage himself. He had a few (Spot, I remember, for example) that had textures on the pages and/or musical bits, and they were favourites.
- he had a couple of wooden pull-along toys that he loved starting around this age and going on for years... googles... yes, this one is a good candidate for best value toy we every owned, as it got used in so many ways for so many years (still, occasionally):
http://www.kazootoys.com/haba-convoi-stacking-blocks.html
- he had a musical mobile with several buttons to e.g. choose which of 3 tunes to play, and he learned to operate it at around this age. That was definitely a mixed blessing, though - if you get such a toy check it has music that doesn't grate within the first 10,000 repetitions...

Have fun!

I introduced a shape sorter to my baby dd about that age and she loved it then and still loves it now!

Honestly, DD didn't like toys at that age. She liked books, and she liked our stuff. You could set her up with a half-full bottle of water and she'd knock it over again & again. She liked to hide under blankets. She loved music and going for walks. She was just exploring the world, really.

DD also did not shake rattles, and never put things in her mouth, but I didn't think of that as "behind"--just different.

Yeah, I'm having the "doesn't like toys much" problem. He has an insane number of blocks, wooden donughts & rings, beanbags, balls, ropes, and scarves than he likes & has liked pretty much since birth. The baby chime and squish also have some play value. Anything else lasts about 5 minutes. 15 if it's really good.

He likes games more, but he wants longer ones than the little nursery rymes most people can teach me, and he doesn't do a lot of the stuff (like handing things *back,* stacking stuff, and oh, say, locomoting) that make toddler games work. He's interested at the library for about 1.5 hrs, which is about as long as one place ever works w/out using games :), but it still doesn't fill 10 hours very easily! The science museum is good for a full day, but that only handles a day a week at most. Most places are good for 0.5 - 1 hour, and I think the best length for a game is about 5-10 minutes right now.

He does like walks and playgrounds (when he was colicky, we used to take him swinging just to get a break!), but it's getting too cold to stay out for very long (we usually funky-place hop for 4-5 hours a day). We are going to swim when the new term starts, he loved it when he was 2-4 mos & we have a great pool next door.

Yeah, behind is a wierd idea... I think he's just not interested in a lot of that stuff. He sees no reason to roll over unless one gives him one, and then he just gets annoyed, flips over, growles, and gets on with other things. But it means he's skipping crawling -- which he *would* have liked.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm still hoping for more

-Michaela

Hmm... at that age DD loved other kids. Can you get in a playgroup of sorts? Seriously, she could watch other kids (especially slightly older ones) for hours!

We'd read a lot. I'd line up her books and let her pick one out, which seemed to keep her entertained longer when she would pick one out. She also loved to knock blocks over that I would build up. Oh, and laptops, she'd always grab my laptop. She also enjoyed pulling all the books/DVDs from the shelves (she still loves that!). Basically, she likes destroying stuff or knocking stuff down in general.

Does he like music? This was about the time DD started having certain preferences for CDs. She'd bop along to them and giggle.

At that age we read books until I was hoarse and then read some more. There is one called Peek-A-Moo that was a favorite, it has extra large flaps that are easy for beginning flap-openers, to begin with I would hold the flap slightly open he would just kind of rake it all the way open to reveal an animal saying moo or cockadoodledoo.

At the library if you haven't yet found the children's song/story hours inquire, it was great to have something to go to. A Kindermusik or other music-exposure class or a Little Gym movement class can be fun at this age also.

A big (shallow) pan/bowl/tub of water on a towel on the floor, the lets see what floats game. Its like bath toys, but because its on the floor it is new and different, at least the first time .

Children's keyboard, not the baby type but a child's one, surprisingly cheap at Target/Walmart.

Other things we had were a bouncer/exersaucer and a walker (yes the media says dangerous -- but only if its at the top of stairs). About this time we also bought a toddler swing (the outdoor type, a enclosed seat with ropes to hang on a swingset) and instead hung it from hooks put up into a sturdy door frame inside the house, allowing for at-home real swinging, that was a big success especially as all winter was too cold for the playground.

Maybe about this age DS first enjoyed having me make a house/cave from a sheet over some chairs, we would sit inside and read books or have a "picnic".

Bubbles if you haven't played with them before. My DS did not see what the big deal was about bubbles but most kids really like them. They have bubble machines that operate on a push the button out comes bubbles principle, which is great for kids too young to blow, I was always looking for things that gave DS a sense of being in charge of making something happen.

Visit a pet store especially one with a big tropical fish section. Or an aquarium is even better, if you live on the coast. If your DS likes things moving/waving like in the wind he will probably enjoy watching and learning about fish.

This was a difficult age for us as DS was really wanting to do things but physically still trapped. He did not crawl either. He didn't much like toys, preferring to be interacted with in some mentally stimulating waylike constantly shown things. I was at my wit's end by 10 am a lot of days.

Polly

Hunh. The shape sorter worked. I was a little surprised, but I figured it was worth a try, since there was one in the closet. Cool

He grabs my laptop too, I may look into a kids' keyboard soon, that sounds like it might work. I also gave him an old telephone, on the grounds that it's a bit like a keyboard, but he was too distracted by the shape sorter to get to it before his nap (it's behind the mirror behind the sorter in "his" desk) Bubbles are easy, I can do that. A pan of water on the floor is easy too, and sounds right up his alley

I'm thinking of actually getting a fishtank. There's a spot in the bedroom where not much else will fit! He loves the library group, because the librarian is totally his type. She's shy and smart, and takes him seriously & makes eye contact all the time. He's even picked up one of her characteristic "thinking" faces, which is cute. I'm going to try and find storytelling sessions before he wakes up, I came upon one by accident and he was glued to the guy for 30 min.

Thanks guys! This is helping!

-Michaela.

How about one of those fridge magnets? The one we have has a couple of big buttons which sing songs when being pressed.

Ours also likes Duplo (baby lego) animals, people, and blocks.

Mine loved sitting next to a huge box and taking a toy at a time, looking carefully, putting it on the ground next to her and then taking the next toy. She could sit like this almost an hour alone. She did the same thing with all the drawers we had in the house. I also placed her books on the bottom shelf in her room so she crawled there and read every single one of them. She could sit quietly in her room for 30min looking at her books. I miss those times she was such an easy baby, could concentrate on anything for a long time She is still quite easy but is talking constantly and needs me to sit next to her playing. As an baby she also loved these wall stickers I had in her room. She took them off and put back on the wall. Same thing with fridge magnets, then she crawled around the house trying if the magnets would stick on different surfaces like the stickers do.

I second swimming and playgrounds. She went to daycare and enjoyed sitting with her friends and changing toys between each others. Do you give him finger food? DD really liked when she started feeding herself at that age. At the daycare they also build tunnels and tents for the babies to crawl in and soft stairs made pillows to practice cross motor skills.