Your 3-Month-Old Baby is Developing Through Play
Your 3-month-old baby has grown so much! Parents’ and caregivers’ emotions swing from exhaustion due to sleepless nights to times when you are amazed at the growth of your newborn baby.
Research Professor Anthony Norica and Faraz Farzin of Stanford Vision and Neuro-Development Lab suggest there is a physical basis for infants ogling. As early as four months, babies’ brains already process faces at nearly adult levels, even while other images are still being analyzed in lower levels of the visual system. “If anything’s going to develop earlier, it’s going to be face recognition,” she said. They also respond to your voice (especially a woman’s higher-pitched voice), touch, and smell.
Board Books, Body Parts, and Photos Interest your 3-Month-Old Baby
- Mimic your 3-month-old baby’s sounds.
- Read board books together! (See the cat… The cat says “Meow”)
- Identify body parts. (i.e., Point to the nose as you say, “I see your nose” …. eyes, mouth, ear, stomach, knees, etc.)
- Use photos to make a booklet of family and friends’ faces. (Say, “Look at Gregory.” “Here is Susan.” “Can you find Steven?”)
- You will be amazed at Your 3-Month-Old Baby’s Development!
Activities
- Hang toys from a ribbon and move the ribbon slightly as the baby reaches for the toy. Watch your 3 month-old baby track the toy as hand/eye coordination develops.
- Play with a pinwheel. Watch it turn.
- Provide small infant rattles and toys. He will gain control of the wrist, palm, and fingers, as well as develop his ability to judge distance and shapes.
Hide & Seek and other Games
- Play sound location games. (i.e., Find the toy that is squeaking.)
- A 3-month-old baby often enjoys playing with a jack-in-the-box. Note the cause and effect. (Please note that each child is different, and you need to respond to the temperament of your child. This activity could be too scary for some babies and yet cause uncontrollable laughter in others.)
Music and Sounds
This is a time to laugh, giggle, and play together. By 6 months of age, your baby will delight in a game of “Peek-a-boo!” Chant rhymes, sing songs, dance and move to music!
Now your baby is learning to sit with support, may reach for and grasp objects and may begin to mimic sounds and gestures.
He also makes random sounds like ‘ga-ga’ and ‘da-da’… and will begin to make connections to the world as you point to , and say… “daddy” … when he makes the ‘da-da’ sound!
Some great board books are:
- Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
- Peek-A-Boo by Jan Ormerod
- Moo, Baa, La, La, La by Sandra Boynton
- Wiggle and Move from Child’s Play Ltd.
- I like It When by Mary Murphy
- Carry Me! by Rosemary Wells
