27 Sep A to Z of having fun with your little one

Some ideas for dad and mom to have fun with your little one and will find that you have fun yourselves!

A = Art – let your little one experiment with finger paints outside in the garden, where being messy doesn’t matter and praise them for their creative efforts

B = Blow bubbles, and let your little one chase and catch them with glee

C = Climb – as your little one learns to climb lie on the floor and let him climb all over you as he experiments with this new found concept

C = Cuddles – openly shower your little one with cuddles. Before you know it he will be growing up and will not want cuddles in public and you then have to look for appropriate opportunities to give them

D = Dance around the room with your little one

E = Excitement – create excitement with your little one of expectation of doing something really fun together

E – Engage in early conversations, describe and tell your little one everything that you are doing while you are doing it

F = Fun with faces – little ones love to look at pictures of faces – place them in appropriate places in their environment. Have fun together pulling faces at each other

F = Floating catch – play floating catch with balloons (Balloons need to be supervised at all times in case they pop and your little one gets hold of the bits of balloon)

G = Go on fun outings to places like the zoo and park

G = Go for a walk – let you little one be mesmerised with nature around him – watch the leaves dance in the wind and the butterflies float from one flower to the next

H = Hosepipe – have fun together with water in the garden, teach him how to water the garden

I = Interaction – interact with your little one with all you do, even your daily chores so they can be your helpful assistant

 J = Jack-in-the-box – little ones love the excitement and anticipation of waiting for the jack-in-the-box to pop out again

K = Kisses – blow fun kisses on their chubby little tummies and it will keep you both rolling around in laughter

L = Love – let your little one know that he is loved, tell him often how precious he is

L = Lie on the grass together and watch the clouds go sailing by or the stars twinkling at night

M = Massage – calm your little one down after bath time by giving a massage

M = Music – expose your little one to different music styles, beats and tunes

N = Nursery rhymes – teach your little one nursery rhymes and do the actions together

N = Noise (make music) – let your little one develop his musical talent by banging and playing with noisy tins and dishes in the kitchen as he becomes aware of different sounds and pitches

O = Open and shut – the little ones love repeating it time and again, they don’t find repetition boring – it is rather fascinating to them and they master the concept through repetition

P = Peek-a-boo – play peek-a-boo behind the door or under a blanket. The little ones dissolve into fits of laughter time and time again as you reappear

P = Pointing – point to everything that passes you by so he can learn

Q = Quality time – be unhurried with your baby – do things at their pace, not your hurried adult pace

R = Rough and tumble – dads are particularly good at this – they are more boisterous than mom

R – Read – a lovely way to slow down at the end of the day

S = Sing songs

S = Smiley faces – babies are fascinated by pictures of smiley faces to look at and you can watch them smiling back!

 T = Texture crawl – make a blanket with different textures for your little one to experiment with – rough, soft, silky, smooth, crackly materials

T = Tickle – tickle your little one – their laughs will be infectious

T = Touch – loving touch to your little one is life giving. A little one can’t grow and develop without loving touch in their lives

U = Unwrap it – play unwrap the parcel one layer at a time, do it with expectation

V = Very much fun – make sure you share lots of it every day

W = Wheelbarrow fun – give your little one a ride in the wheelbarrow around the garden

W = Water play – on a hot summers day put a bucket of water outside to play with – it is cooling fun – just always be there to supervise the water

 X = X-tra time and energy into interaction with baby

Y = Your time is important with Your baby

Z = zzz – take a nap together at the end of a busy day interacting and having fun together