Fun & Educational Activities for Babies

Little Harvard has selected 3 Fun & Educational Activities for Babies, which creates a positive impact on a child’s educational achievement – especially in literacy and numeracy. We hope you enjoy them and have fun at home!

On The Knee Game Activity

What to do with this activity?
There are lots of rhyme games you can play with your baby or toddler on your knee. Always be gentle and hold your child so that they are safe. Your child will hear new words, and understand ideas like “fast” and “slow”. They will develop their balance and sense of rhythm. Most importantly, they are spending physically close time with you and having fun! Try Baby goes bumpy boo:

“Baby goes bumpy boo
Here we go bumpy boo,
baby goes bumpy bye
Baby goes bumpy bee,
on top of my knee.
I bounce you to the left,
I bounce you to the right
I bounce you up and down,
I bounce you out of sight….woooh.
Baby goes bumpy boo,
baby goes bumpy bye
Baby goes bumpy bee,
on top of my knee.
I bounce you very fast,
I bounce you very slow
I bounce you up and down,
and back we both do go…..woooh.
Baby goes bumpy boo,
baby goes bumpy bye
baby goes bumpy bee,
on top of my knee.”

You can also try getting down on the floor with your baby and letting them fly on your knees, like in the picture above. Play is one of the main ways that babies and toddlers learn about the world – it’s also one of the most effective ways they learn. When a child plays they refine learning skills that continue to develop during childhood and beyond.

At Home Activity

What to do with this activity?
There’s lots of counting and learning play that you can do around your home. Count out loud when you are doing things around the house. For instance, count the steps as you go up or down stairs; count spoonful of food; count toys in or out of a box.

Collect boxes and containers of different sizes for your child to play with. Play by fitting them inside each other or putting one on top of the other. Shoe shops are a good source of boxes to use for stacking. You can use shoe boxes as large building blocks if you tape on the lids.

Turn tidying up into a sorting game – for example putting dolls or cars into different boxes. Count them aloud as you sort them.

Match things that go together – for example shoes and socks, cups and saucers. Talk about socks and shoes coming in groups of two.

Remember it’s never too early to start counting. Children learn about numbers in a natural way through play and by counting real things in their everyday lives. The repetition of numbers in a fun way helps children remember the sequence of 1, 2, 3. Movement and rhymes also make it easier for a child to remember sounds – that’s why nursery rhymes are so great.

Hard and Soft Activity

What to do with this activity?
From the very beginning, your baby will experience the world through their tiny fingers. They will discover and enjoy different textures. Talk to them about “hard” versus “soft” and “rough” versus “smooth”. Say “this ball is too hard” or “isn’t teddy very soft”.

Notice how “rough” orange skin is, and how “smooth” apples are. Let them explore the world through their sense of touch and give them the words to describe the different textures they find. When your child is a bit older they might like to play a sorting game with hard and soft items in your home.

Using their fingers and hands to hold and move things is good practice for writing in the future. Learning to move, reach and grasp helps children develop the muscles and skills to scribble and learn to write when they get older.

Body awareness and learning to do big movements (like crawling and walking) and small movements like the pincer movement (where you lift up things with your index finger and thumb) are important parts of your child’s development. It is part of awakening and developing your brain. For your young child, reaching for objects helps build their coordination and will help them hold crayons later on.