Easy Games to Play with Your Baby: Teach Motor Skills, Mental Development and Cognitive Skills

Babies adore time with their mom and dad. They will actually tune in and listen carefully when they hear their parents voices over the voices of strangers. They will listen intently and try not to miss a word. This means that game playing with your baby is a wonderful way to interact and teach baby many things because your baby will always give you their complete attention. Here are three wonderful early games to enjoy with your baby. They each teach motor skills, mental development and cognitive skills. I used to play all of three of these games with both my babies on an almost a daily basis. I began playing these games as soon as my babies could sit up on their own.

1) Early Baby Hide And Seek

Yes, you can play hide and seek with your baby! This game will teach your baby the permanence of things. They will come to understand that just because they cannot see an object does not mean that the object is not there. This will help them comprehend in small stages that when you leave the room that you will return. They will come to grasp the concept that just because you are or an object can no longer be seen does not mean that it will not return shortly.

Many babies suffer from severe separation anxiety when they cannot see or hear mom and Dad so this simple game will help your little one to slowly understand and it will alleviate their fears over time.

Simply sit down with your baby and take a small toy with a tiny blanket to sit in front of both of you. Show your baby the toy and let your baby play with it. When it your baby hands the toy back place it under the blanket. Then make a big deal out of whisking the blanket off to show your baby that even though he or she cannot see the item under the blanket it is still there. You can do this with a blanket and a toy or a bowl and a toy. This hide and seek game is a mix of peek a boo too. Make it fun and laugh a lot. Be sure to make funny noises and just have fun with your little one.

2) A Classic Game Of Blocks

Your baby doesn't have to walk or even crawl to enjoy a game of blocks. Sit down on the floor with your little one and build towers together. Yes, your baby will probably knock them down more then stack them but make it fun and exciting. When your little one finally manages to place one block on top of another be sure to offer up lots of praise and clapping. This is a wonderful way to help your little one learn motor skills. They will laugh and have a blast. Be sure to purchase baby safe blocks. Fisher Price makes a wide range of blocks that contain cute scenes of animals and other things inside. They are specifically made for baby hands and visually intrigue your little one as you place.

3) Ball

Purchase a medium size beach ball. Don't get a huge one. Just a medium size ball will do. Blow the ball up and sit on the floor with your baby. Now roll the ball towards baby or gently toss it. Your baby will adore this game. Try to roll it so it lands right between your little ones legs. This is a wonderful game for motor skills. Your baby will be so excited when he or she 'catches' the ball. This was always one of my babies favorite games to play with mom and dad. We used to have a blast doing this and even now that they are both toddlers they still get excited when I pull out the beach ball to toss to them. This game always elicits squeals of delight.

Just never let your baby play with the beach ball unsupervised in case they should pop it. You don't want them to accidentally get a small piece of plastic in their mouth.