HOW TO PLAY WITH 6-12 MONTH OLD BABY - BRAIN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

hi you guys and welcome back to another edition of baby play this episode is allabout infant brain development between the ages of 6 and 12 months by six months old your baby is seeing the world in a whole new light he or she is most likely sitting up tasting new foods and might even be on the move rolling or crawling from place to place with all of these big changes you may have noticed that the way you interact with your baby is changing to your child's personality and preferences are becoming more apparent their curiosity is exploding and their ability to explore theirenvironment is growing by the day in today's video I'm going to show you some fun and easy ways to engage with your 6 to 12 month old baby these age-appropriate activities are designed to encourage bonding stimulate neural development and give you an inside look into what's actually going on in your baby's brain so let's hop to it and talk about some baby play I'm going to kick this off with some info about your baby's cognitive abilities around 6 months of age your baby's brain will begin to shift from a more reflex driven mode into actual cognitive learning what this means is that your baby is no longer just reacting to simulation with in and around them but they are actually beginning to contemplate and learn things about the world babies like most people learn through repetition so you may notice that your child is repeating the same actions over and over again for instance if you hand your baby a spoon while they are in their high chair they may drop it over the side and lean over to watch it fall in doing so they are learning about gravity the sounds and the mess that may occur and yes they are learning that you can be a predictable tool to return thespoon back to them only to repeat the process over again you might also noticebehavior repetition in your child's motor development for instance before learning to walk your child will pull up on various pieces of furniture over and over again not only creating muscle memory for the movements but also gaining awareness of balance and inevitably recognizing the risk of falling down one idea playing off of this repetition and learning cause and effect is to ask your child to help you turn on and off the lights whenever you enter a room allow them time to repeat the action and observe the light coming on or off it can be fun to watch your baby throughout the different months and notes about what activities they are repeating and inevitably learning about around 8 months old your baby will also begin to understand the concept of object permanence or the ability to recognize that an object still existseven if it's hidden from view one fun game to hone in on the skill is to take a towel and use it to cover a toy while your baby is watching give them time to examine the towel and see how long it takes them to remove it and reveal the toy they'll have fun exposing the toy to you and showing you that it's still there you can also make this game a little more challenging by having your baby make a choice using two different cups take one cup and cover an object and then leave the other cup empty watch as your baby exposes the hidden toy again and again you can also expand onthe idea of object permanence by playing peek-a-boo with your child as they will find it especially entertaining at this age your baby is also developing awareness of their own body so make sure to name and teach their body parts to them by using conversation or fun games like this little piggy or a head and shoulders knees and toes the next major area of development for your little one involves movement it maysurprise you to know that when your baby was younger most of their movements were spontaneous and not at all intentional however by around six months of age your baby is starting to move with more purpose and control babies develop motorcontrol from the head down in concordance with the growth of myelin sheaths around their nerves the typical flow of movement milestones goes from rolling to sitting to crawling and while you can't rush these milestones you can help your baby to reach them by offering opportunities to strengthen the necessary muscles and movement patterns present your child with a challenge and then offer them time to meet it one fun game when your baby begins to crawl or scoot is to make a mini baby obstacle course use pillows toys or other safe objects and watch as your child attempts to navigate the challenges if your little one does not yet take it off you can place desired objects just out of reach and watches your child and Vince ways to obtain them I once witnessed my daughter roll across our entire living room to grab a stuffed animal so you'll be surprised at how mobile even the smallest human can be if you give them an opportunity to try for early sitters you can place pillows behind your baby to protect them from Falls and then tree to giclee place a few toys in front of them as they leaned forward to grasp the toy and then attempt to return to aseated position they will be strengthening their muscles and balancing abilities you can also dangle a toy overhead and allow them to reach up to grab it thus engaging their abdominal muscles and challenging them to remain upright moving on your child is also working on their language development and this is a biggie all there are areas of your baby's brain related to language that are more active now than they ever will be your baby's mind is like a sponge soaking up everything that you say and sing right now so be sure to talk with your child as often as you can replace pronouns like it that and this with actual names of objects for instance instead ofsaying do you want it say do you want the ball or instead of saying let's go there say let's go to the living room point at objects while you say their names to these simple modifications can help to drastically increase your child's vocabulary over time you also might notice your child beginning to mimic you and start to point to objects in order to ask about or for them if you have been working on baby sign language now is the time that you will start to see your efforts paying off if you haven't started showing your baby signs yet don't fret it's never too late to start incorporating them into your daily routine and you will be amazed when your baby starts to communicate with you babies develop language understanding long before they have the motor control to speak so signing is a great way to assist your baby and communicating their needs here are a few simple signs that have really helped our days to go more smoothly around here and note that these are not American sign language signs necessarily but they are easy ones for your baby to do and easy for you to understand so we do milk eat change more and all done lastly this is the perfect time to incorporate a book or two into your bedtime routine if you haven'talready done so books offer opportunities to encounter new words and new objects and they are a nice way to wind down after a busy day the final topic we're going to discuss today involves your baby's social and emotional growth you should begin tonotice your child reckon familiar faces and even initiating their own social interactions around this time this is due to a growth spurt occurring in the frontal lobe of your baby's brain that strengthens their abilities to form bonds and relationships with others it also helps them to identify stranger so don't be surprised if an unfamiliar face elicits a few tears from your little one except that separation anxiety is a normal part of development and be sure to offer comfort and support to your child when they inevitably become more clingy to help your child recognize that you always come back when you leave you can play a game called coming and going simply place your child in a seated position with a view of a door pop your head or your body in and out of their line of sight and occasionally increase the amount of time you have spent gone by a few seconds this usually plays out like an elaborate game of peekaboo and babies love it this is also a key time to form safe attachment and emotional bonds with your child so be sure to spend some extra time studying theiremotional patterns and know that they will be studying yours respond to and reflect your child's happy and sad moments appropriately cuddle and laugh and let them feel your love soak it all in because this first year will truly fly by in a blur and it won't be long until you look back and you wonder where your baby went and who this new walking talking wondrous kid is that took his place so hope you guys enjoyed thisvideo and if you did please be sure to give it a thumbs up and make sure you'resubscribed to my channel because I will be continuing this series on throughbabysitting you may have noticed that YouTube is periodically turning the comments section on and off in my videos the Lighting's bad there we go on and off in my videos and that's because they are doing a safety review of any videos that feature minors before they'll allow commenting again so if you do have any comments or questions for me just know that you can reach me on my Instagram or through email so don't be afraid to reach out to me that way and until next time we'll see you in the next video adios say bye bye say bye bye say bye bye or not