What shall we do next?

I’m a big believer in unstructured play for children. I love to let Little Man explore and pick something he wants to play with. I think he learns a lot this way – not just what’s fun and what isn’t, but it encourages him to figure out how things work for himself.

I also like to include some structured play in Little Man’s day. Generally I’m pretty good at thinking up things to do – basic things like stacking blocks, and singing nursery rhymes, playing peek-a-boo, clap-handies, and all that fun stuff. But every so often, especially when Little Man is just after a developmental leap, I draw a blank, and need a little inspiration for new ways to entertain him. Obviously I can search online for ideas, and I often have. But the best resource I’ve found is a book from Gymboree called The Parents Guide to Play: 170 Activities to Stimulate Imaginations, Expand Vocabularies, Build Skills and More! (Gymboree Play & Music) by Dr. Wendy Masi and Dr. Roni Cohen Leiderman.

This book contains 170 activities organised by age. It starts at 0 months and up, and then works through 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, and 30 months and up. In each age group, the book provides ideas for imaginative games, music games, physical games, sensory games, and many more. Many of the suggestions seem obvious – like pass the ball for a one year old, or dumping things out of containers for six month olds. But together with each game description is a skill description, which explains how the game stimulates baby and what skills it helps baby develop. For example, did you know that playing “Where’s the toy?” or peekaboo with toys with a six month old, you are developing baby’s fine motor skills and understanding of object permanence?

I’ve had this book since before Little Man was born. I bought it on impulse while browsing through a bookstore while I was pregnant. It’s not the kind of book that I open every day or even every week, but month after month I find myself going back to it, and I always find something new in it.