Week 23 Lesson
Language Development:
Messy Words
As you engage your infant in messy play, provide descriptive words to build vocabulary. The mud can be brown but it’s also squishy, wet, and thick. The finger paint is blue, smooth, and chilly. This is a great opportunity to build your baby’s brain while you play.
Social Emotional Development
Messy Fun
It’s important to stay calm when baby is messy and encourage safe, messy play when appropriate. Some children are worried when hands are sticky or dirty but staying calm and cleaning them up happily is a great way to teach your baby not to worry.
Physical
Feet Painting
Let your young walker step all over large butcher paper with painted feet. Don’t be surprised if he wants to also crawl through the paint so have a washcloth or wipes close by!
Cognitive Development
Yogurt Sensory Play
Engage your baby’s brain and body with a fun and messy sensory activity. Provide a small cookie sheet or plastic tray and some yogurt to spread, swipe and slide. YUM!
Creative Activity
Ice Cube Painting
Freeze watercolor paints in an ice cube tray or silicone baby food mold and let your baby get creative, messy and a little chilly!
Week 22 Lesson
Language Development:
Lantern Reading
Change up your reading routine with your baby by adding a lantern or flashlight outside in the evening or inside under a blanket tent.
Social Emotional Development
Rock Me
Rocking is such a soothing movement for babies of all ages and it’s not just for bedtime! When you notice your baby begin to get upset, hold him tight and begin rocking. Sing a quiet song or create a gentle shushing sound.
Physical
Pillow Crawl
Strengthen those core muscles by placing some pillows or cushions in your baby’s crawling path on the ground. The pillows are a sensory experience as well as a gross motor movement challenge!
Cognitive Development
Texture Play
Place a variety of different fabric scraps in a basket and allow your baby to explore the different textures and colors. You can extend this activity by using descriptive words with your infant while he is exploring the fabrics i.e. rough, soft, smooth, silky, prickly, etc.
Creative Activity
Handprint Campfire
Using red and yellow finger paint, see if your baby can make some campfire flames with their handprints.
Week 21 Lesson
Language Development:
Pete the Cat
The books in the Pete the Cat series are fun and easy to follow with a lot of repetition, making them perfect for our young learners. Enjoy an old favorite like Four Groovy Buttons or one of the newer selections like Magic Sunglasses.
Social Emotional Development
Cuddle Time
Reading stories all cuddled up provides your baby to develop a secure attachment to you which leads to increased self-confidence, empathy, and healthy social relationships as they age.
Physical
Four Groovy Buttons
Place buttons and paint or hair gel in a Ziploc bag and place it in front of your baby during tummy time. Encourage your baby to reach for it and squish it, moving the buttons throughout the bag.
Cognitive Development
I Love My White Shoes
It’s never too early to point out colors and name them while you read. The repetition of the names coupled with a fun illustration is a great introduction to color recognition.
Creative Activity
I Love My White Shoes
Explore colors this week with your little one by providing a large Ziploc bag filled with several drops of different colored paint and a white piece of paper. As your baby moves the colors around on the paper, name them and point to the same colors in the book.
Week 20 Lesson
Language Development:
Water Play!
Water play offers an opportunity to introduce your baby to a lot of words! Cold, warm, slippery, wet, dry, empty, full, big, and small are just a few examples.
Social Emotional Development
Calm Down with Sensory Play
Water is often very soothing to babies whether it’s in the bath, trickling out of a faucet to wash hands, or in a sealed water bottle with glitter and food coloring.
Physical
Stacking Toys
Stacking toys like cups and rings aren’t just great for hand eye coordination but also for developing cause and effect, problem solving and overall cognitive function.
Cognitive Development
Block Play
Infants can typically only hold and stack a couple of blocks on top of one another before it falls. They will however LOVE to knock down anything you create so build it up and let your baby knock it over. It teaches your baby about cause and effect and is fun!
Creative Activity
Paint Bags
Infants learn about their world through touch. Get creative with color mixing by adding paint to a Ziploc bag and squishing it all around.
Week 19 Lesson
Language Development:
Story Time with Laura Numeroff
Laura Numeroff’s books are predictable, repetitive, and fun! They have colorful and clear illustrations making them fun for our youngest learners as well. Read the series with your infant, pointing out the animals and familiar objects you see to build vocabulary.
Social Emotional Development
Pat-a-Cake
Read If You Give a Pig a Party and play pat-a-cake to bake your own cake with your baby.
Physical
Tummy Time
Spending time on her belly helps your baby develop coordination between her upper and lower body, supporting her muscle and motor development. Place Laura Numeroff’s fun illustrations in front of her this week and see if she’ll reach for them.
Cognitive Development
Serve and Return
Babies learn everything through their interactions with you! Their brains are gaining important knowledge about the world each time you respond to them – whether it’s trading silly faces, having a “conversation”, or taking turns pointing out images in a book.
Creative Activity
Cookies for Mouse
Read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and have your baby use fingerprints to paint chocolate chips on a paper plate cookie!
Week 18 Lesson
Language Development:
Hot or Cold?
Hot or Cold? – Introduce the words hot and cold using water bottles. Fill one water bottle with ice cubes, another with room temperature water and another with hot (but not too hot!) water. Touch them and talk about the difference, naming hot, warm and cold.
Social Emotional Development
Gaining Confidence
Boosting social emotional skills like being confident is as easy as allowing your infant to try things on his or her own and praising their efforts!
Physical
Roll the Ball
Rolling a ball back and forth with your baby is a fun way to workout their muscles and develop turn taking and sharing skills. Rolling the ball also teaches them about physics. Babies are brilliant!
Cognitive Development
Sound Treasure Box
Explore sound with your baby by providing a basket or box of objects that produce different sounds – a squeak toy, a mini pot and wooden spoon, a maraca or shaker toy, a water bottle filled with beads, etc.
Creative Activity
Melting Art
Add paint to water and freeze in an ice cube tray or baby food silicone mold. Explore science and get creative by using them to paint on cardstock.
Week 17 Lesson
Language Development:
Keep Reading!
Eric Carle books offer wonderful opportunities to learn colors, counting, shapes, animals, food and so many other things important to your baby’s growing receptive language. Read every day for a couple of minutes at a time to keep your baby engaged and happy.
Social Emotional Development
Kangaroo Families
Read Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother too? and name the people in your family. Look at pictures, point and name the loved ones that your baby will come to know as their family.
Physical
From Head to Toe
Wiggle, pat, bend and stretch along with your baby as you follow along with From Head to Toe.
Cognitive Development
Exploring the Five Senses
Reading Eric Carle books are perfect for exploring the five senses. Hear along with Polar Bear, see along with Brown Bear, taste along with Caterpillar, etc. The five senses are how your baby learns about the world!
Creative Activity
Mixed Up Chameleon Art
Have some fun with color mixing in a mess free way! Draw a chameleon on a Ziploc bag, pour in some different colors and see what new shades you can create!
Week 16 Lesson
Language Development:
Children Around the World
Read some books that focus on children from all around the world this week. Talk to your child about what makes each of us unique and special! Some favorites are Babies Around the World by Puck and Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.
Social Emotional Development
Peek A Boo!
For babies, peek-a-boo never gets old! Use a colorful scarf and enjoy the smiles and laughs that come with increasing awareness of object permanence.
Physical
Global Dance Party
Listen to music from around the world and have an in-home dance party to get some energy out!
Cognitive Development
Texture Board
Glue items of different textures on a piece of cardboard to make your own texture board for baby. Try out different fabrics, feathers, carpet squares, sand paper, sponges, etc. Make it a Peek-A-Boo texture board by putting the objects behind wipe container lids that open and close.
Creative Activity
Shake It Up!
Place paint, paper and a small ball or some beans into a large plastic jar. Let your baby roll it, shake it, and toss it to make a mess free masterpiece.
Week 15 Lesson
Language Development:
Take Time to Read
Mo Willems has many different offerings that are appealing to our youngest learners. The Elephant and Piggie books tend to be favorites of older infants because they rely on short dialogue and silly sound effects. Read with expression, varying the tone in your voice to get your baby laughing right along with these characters.
Social Emotional Development
Knuffle Bunny
Knuffle Bunny is the story of toddler and her most beloved stuffed animal. Transitional objects like a stuffed animal or security blanket provide infants and young children with security and comfort as they begin to make the emotional transition from dependence to independence.
Physical
Can I Play Too?
Read this fun Elephant and Piggie book and see how many different ways you can play ball with your baby – tossing balls into a laundry basket, rolling a ball back and forth on the ground or scooping them up with a net in the bath.
Cognitive Development
The Pigeon Needs a Bath!
Give your baby a washcloth in the bath and see if he or she can give her rubber ducks a bath while you talk about the reason we take baths.
Creative Activity
Cookies
Read The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? and see if your baby can make some fingerprint chocolate chips on a brown circle cutout or paper plate.
Week 14 Lesson
Language Development:
Mr. Sun
Sing fun songs about the sun this week like Mr. Sun, You are my Sunshine and The Sun Song.
Social Emotional Development
Holding Your Baby
You can’t spoil a baby by holding her too much so don’t worry if being home with your infant has resulted in more cuddles, carrying, and holding. Rather than spoiling a baby, it promotes secure attachment and healthy social emotional development.
Physical
Fishing
Put fish toys in a baby pool with water and see if your baby can catch them in a net!
Cognitive Development
Beach Squishy Bags
Add some sand and blue hair gel to a Ziploc bag with some small shells to give your baby a safe and interactive beach experience in your own home.
Creative Activity
Beach Ball Painting
Roll a small beach ball into paint and onto paper. Older babies may enjoy rolling it down a paper covered slide!
Week 13 Lesson
Language Development:
Water Words
Water play offers an opportunity to introduce your baby to a lot of words! Cold, warm, slippery, wet, dry, empty, full, big and small are just a few examples.
Social Emotional Development
Calm
Water is often very soothing to babies whether it’s in the bath, trickling out of a faucet to wash hands, or in a sealed water bottle with glitter and food coloring.
Physical
Water Tray
Babies can have fun with safe water play and get some exercise doing tummy time if you add a bit of water to a shallow cookie sheet. Babies can lay on their tummies, splash and enjoy all the benefits of water play!
Cognitive Development
Pool Noodle Blocks
Slice a pool noodle into smaller cylinders and add to a baby pool or plastic bin. See if your baby can stack them and splash with them!
Creative Activity
Water Painting
Let your baby paint with water dipped pompoms for some mess free fun.
Week 12 Lesson
Language Development:
Lantern Reading
Change up your reading routine with your baby by adding a lantern or flashlight outside in the evening or inside under a blanket tent.
Social Emotional Development
Rock Me
Rocking is such a soothing movement for babies of all ages and it’s not just for bedtime! When you notice your baby begin to get upset, hold him tight and begin rocking. Sing a quiet song or create a gentle shushing sound.
Physical
Pillow Crawl
Strengthen those core muscles by placing some pillows or cushions in your baby’s crawling path on the ground. The pillows are a sensory experience as well as a gross motor movement challenge!
Cognitive Development
Texture Play
Place a variety of different fabric scraps in a basket and allow your baby to explore the different textures and colors. You can extend this activity by using descriptive words with your infant while he is exploring the fabrics i.e. rough, soft, smooth, silky, prickly, etc.
Creative Activity
Handprint Campfire
Using red and yellow finger paint, see if your baby can make some campfire flames with their handprints.
Week 11 Lesson
Language Development:
10 Little Dinosaurs
Sing along with this fun dinosaur baby song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjmGTbNLj6Q
Social Emotional Development
Transitions
Transitions are the hardest point of a baby’s day. Make them more pleasant by singing! Change up familiar tunes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to relate to what you’re doing (changing a diaper, getting in the bath, having a bottle, etc.)
Physical
Dinosaur Trail
Place dinosaur footprints in a line on the ground and see if your baby can crawl, walk, or stomp along the footprints to follow the trail!
Cognitive Development
Frozen Dinosaur Egg
Freeze a dinosaur toy in water. Let your older baby try to get the dinosaur out by melting the ice with his hands! This is a great way to cool off on a warm day.
Creative Activity
Lego Prints
Use Duplo blocks to stamp paint onto a dinosaur cutout.
Week 10 Lesson
Language Development:
Trucks
Look at books with trucks, cars, and construction vehicles this week. Point and name what you see.
Social Emotional Development
Growing Independence
When babies begin to realize they can do quite a bit on their own, from playing with toys to picking up food and finding their mouth, they gain a great sense of accomplishment and pride! Encourage this growing independence with a lot of talking, smiles and praise.
Physical
Pass It
Many babies can begin to pass objects such as blocks from hand to hand around 6-8 months. It requires muscle control and hand eye coordination. Exercise your baby’s hands and arms this week by modeling this and encouraging it!
Cognitive Development
Demolition
Infants can typically only hold and stack a couple of blocks on top of one another before it falls. They will however LOVE to knock down anything you create so build it up and let your baby knock it over. It teaches your baby about cause and effect and is fun!
Creative Activity
Paint with Trucks
Infants that don’t like the feel of paint can make truck tracks in a Ziploc bag. Add paint and paper inside of a large Ziploc, tape to the table or floor and see if your baby can make tracks by driving truck over the bag.
Week 9 Lesson
Language Development:
Sing a Song!
Songs are a fantastic way to boost language learning and infants love to hear your voice! Some fun ocean themed songs you can listen to and sing are Baby Shark, All the Little Fishies, A Sailor Went to Sea, Blippi’s Ocean Animal Song, and Five Little Fish.
Social Emotional Development
Routines
Infants thrive on routines and provide them with stability and security. Try to keep a consistent routine while you are at home but understand that there will be hiccups along the way – that’s OK too! As babies grow and change, their routine must change along with them. This too provides a sense of security and trust.
Physical
Bath Time
Squeezing fish bath toys is a great way to encourage motor skill development and teach your child about ocean animals. Show your baby how you squeeze the toys to fill and then again to squirt. Let your baby squeeze them as well to get a little workout!
Cognitive Development
Ocean Sensory Bag
Infants learn about their world through touch. Add blue hair gel or blue dyed water, sand and small ocean toys to a Ziploc bag and explore the ocean together.
Creative Activity
Finger Paint Ocean
Free finger painting can allow your infant to enjoy a sensory experience while creating art. Provide blue finger paint and paper, glue on fish cutouts if desired. It’s about the process, not the product.
Week 8 Lesson
Language Development:
Narrate your walks!
Build your baby’s language by narrating your daily outdoor adventures. Describe flowers and everything else you see, smell and hear. Narration helps your baby connect words with objects and actions.
Social Emotional Development
Process Oriented
When your baby makes attempts at doing new thing, praise every effort! With our youngest learners, process is valued over product! Every attempt is a success for an infant.
Physical
Tummy Time
Spending time on her belly helps your baby develop coordination between her upper and lower body, supporting her muscle and motor development. Place images of flowers in front of her this week and see if she’ll reach for them.
Cognitive Development
Flower Discovery Bottle
Fill an empty plastic bottle with flowers, leaves, and stems. Encourage your baby to roll the bottle and explore. Give your baby the words for what’s inside.
Creative Activity
Footprint Flowers
Paint your baby’s toes this week for a fun sensory experience. Stamp them onto paper and add a stem and some leaves.
Week 7 Lesson
Language Development:
Read!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a favorite book in all of our centers. Read it to your baby to introduce the life cycle of the butterfly in a fun way while exposing them to bright, beautiful illustrations.
Social Emotional Development
Be Kind to Bugs!
Babies and children learn fear of bugs from their role models. When you see bugs outside with your baby, point them out and talk about them without fear or annoyance.
Physical
Worm Crawl
Some infants only crawl with their bellies touching the floor, others find it to be fun physical activity. Model it for your baby and get a great core workout for yourself at the same time.
Cognitive Development
Catch a Bug
Catch a bug in a jar and let your baby observe it closely while you note the color, the number of legs, wings, and its activity (hopping, running, etc.)
Creative Activity
Handprint Butterflies
Even very young infants get a wonderful sensory experience from having their hands painted. Try out a handprint butterfly and hang in your window to brighten up the room.
Week 6 Lesson
Language Development:
As Simple as a Song!
Tap into your baby’s sense of hearing with some silly songs this week! Any type of music or song works here – pick a favorite tune, change up the words, add in your baby’s name – the possibilities are endless. Your baby will be so busy laughing and smiling at you that she won’t notice the language learning taking place.
Social Emotional Development
My Body
Stand or sit with your baby, talk about body parts and point to them – a hand on his tummy, on top of his head, and on his toes will teach your baby about his own body while also being comforted by your touch.
Physical Literacy
Get Outside
One place all babies can explore their world with their senses is outside! Talk about the smell and feel of the grass, the sound of the birds, the colors of the flowers, etc. Engage your baby in safe movement through the grass and enjoy some sunshine!
Cognitive Development
Sniff
Infants can’t differentiate between good smells and bad just yet, but you can help by talking about the sweet-smelling flowers, the freshly baked cookies, and the stinky garbage. Building this language into their experience with regard to smell will help them with association when they’re a bit older.
Creative Activity
Yummy Art
Older infants that have tasted a variety of foods can incorporate creativity into their tasty treats. You can make some edible paint at home by mixing yogurt, baby food puree (bright colors work best), and a bit of rice cereal to thicken it up. Your baby can spread it on paper, on the highchair tray, or just dig in!
Week 5 Lesson
Language Development:
Telephone
Play a game of telephone with your baby this week. Grab your phone, a block, a hairbrush, the remote or anything else you have around while you’re sitting with your child. Say “Hello! Yes, (your baby’s name) is here” and hand over the phone. Talk, talk, talk to your baby and have some fun passing the phone back and forth.
Social Emotional Development
Mirror Play
Babies of all ages love to look at themselves in the mirror. Typically, at around six months old, children begin to smile at their reflection. At
around nine months, children recognize their reflection. Encourage this development while you have some fun with mirror play this week – smile at your baby, call him by name, make a silly face, or play Peek-a-boo.
Physical Literacy
Cheerio Drop
Once your infant has mastered the art of picking up Cheerios or puffs for eating, provide an empty water bottle and see if he is willing to drop them in. This is a great test of hand-eye coordination in addition to practice for their pincer grasp.
Cognitive Development
Where is it?
Choose an object your child is familiar with and hide it under a blanket or in a bag while your baby watches. Ask “Where is it?” and see if your baby can look for it. This is a fun activity to teach object permanence. Very young babies will think the object is completely gone when hidden from view while older infants will seek it out with glee.
Creative Activity
Paint in a Bag
Infants can get creative without making a mess when you place paint in a Ziploc bag. You can tape the bag on the floor with young infants for tummy time. They can stretch and hit the bag to mix colors and create. Older infants can squish the bag or draw with their fingers. Have fun exploring art, science, and movement all in one mess free activity.
Week 4 Lesson
Most people don’t associate math with babies, but math is all around us even from a very young age! Here are a few very basic things to do at home to lay the foundation for math:
- One of the first and most important math concepts your infant will understand is “more”. “Do you want more milk?” “You have more Cheerios than your sister.” Reinforce this concept with sign language.
- Infants also quickly learn the concept of “zero”. “It’s all gone! There is nothing left”
- Count, count, count! Count your baby’s toes, her fingers, and her puffs! Count his legs, his socks, and his sippy cups!