How to start with a baby?

[ninny]

Ok i have a nine month old daughter. Im wondering what can i do with her? I read to her when i can. Shes evil and just trys to eat the books at the monment though. So i play books on tape. We say colors and count things. I've started signing ASL to her as well. Im learning it slowly so she is too. Going to start saying words in spanish once i learn some. Any good learning games?

 

[patandchickens]

Life.

Life is an excellent learning game. Conveniently it is the game that human babies come pre-programmed to respond best to *anyhow*

Just talk to her as you go thru your day, let her experience new textures and sounds and tastes and sights and activities as opportunity and her development permit.

I really think it's a big mistake to get into trying to TEACH babies and young children. Just gets in the way of the natural learning processes unfolding properly.

So, just live, enjoy your baby, show her the world and talk with her about it

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[dacjohns]

Play with her.

I would stick with books instead of tapes. Books have pictures and colors and printed words and you can act things out.

Don't rush things, have fun and enjoy.

 

[Wifezilla]

Don't be afraid to let your kid get dirty!!!!

This is more a summer thing, but water and sand with different sized buckets and containers....spoons...shovels....pouring thing from on container to another....

Not only will it be fun they will learn cause and effect, coordination, physics

My grandma used to have a little magnetic board with different shapes (circle, square, triangle, etc...) and I used to play with that for hours. Grandma would have me say what the shapes were and after we did the "lesson" type stuff for a while, I got to just use the shapes to make stuff.

Magnetic letters on a refrigerator were another thing grandma used to use for teaching and fun.

My favorite book to read with grandma was One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Grandma babysat me while mom and dad worked. Because of her I was way ahead of the other kids by the time I went to preschool

 

[Wannabefree]

I have to agree with pat to a large degree on this one. However, you do not want to OVERstimulate the child at this age...they'll almost never take a nap then and be cranky as a teenager with a major breakout during senior pictures!! Funny how those two relate so well....anyway, yeah, not too much too soon. Sounds like she has plenty of stimuli without going overboard. Next year, give her a bit more, and add to it as she gets older. If you push too hard, she'll quit responding and I think it stifles their WANT to learn more. Just my opinion though. I've only raised two, and they weren't quite that young when I got them off the side of the road

 

[patandchickens]

At her current age, IMO safe kitchen utensils make excellent (supervised) playthings... ladles, spatulas, bowls, pots, pans, lids, turkey baster, serving spoons, colanders, etc.

When she gets a year or two older, you can't beat cardboard boxes (like the ones supermarkets throw out)... they can become anything, ANYTHING, and are great material to let kids exercise their creativity and imagination. Free is good too

Pat, whose kids (3 and 6) still have her best canning funnel somewhere, and go thru a *lot* of cardboard boxes one way or another

 

[Wifezilla]

I second the cardboard boxes

It's a castle...no it's a fort...no it's a train...no it's a jail! My boys would play them to death. It was a riot.

 

[Wannabefree]

I second the kitchen items. At that age my niece was a stout little thing and played with her unopened Juicy Juice bottles in the kitchen floor. She rearranged and stacked(or tried) them and beat the crap outta them with a spoon. And shoeboxes?!? Every shoebox was a new toy. Nevermind those boring new shoes, let's have the box!!!

 

[SKR8PN]

I started all my children out, by NOT ever having them!
I can lock my pups in the crate and go away for a few hours. Try doing that with your kids, and NOT go to jail.

 

[Woodland Woman]

I would have conversations. Even if she can't talk yet, pause as if she will say something. Don't always be instructing her either. Wait for her to point or initiate learning herself. You are trying to raise an intelligent capable person and part of that is letting them discover things them self. Reading is excellent. I would continue reading but at 9 months I wouldn't expect too much. As she gets older I am sure that will be very special time spent together.