5 ways to use play to make your baby smart!

What if you could have fun with your bump, baby or toddler and know that you’re making them smarter in the process?

Well, you can!

Play is a brilliant way to help your baby learn. Whether you’re newly pregnant and in your first trimester, or if they are already a running and jumping toddler, you can use play to help them have fun and get clever at the same time!

Here are my 5 top tips for using play to help your baby’s brain.

Tip number #1: Your baby loves sensory play!

That’s play that uses any or all of their senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. They Love it because they’re super clever things who are hard-wired to develop and mature, all they need is a rich range of experiences.

When you play games that use any of their senses, you are actually building your baby’s brain, helping them reach their full potential!

You can start while you are still pregnant; simple things like having a bath and chatting to your baby bump, rubbing your tummy, brushing it with a feather or things with different textures is the beginning of introducing your baby to sensory play.

Once your baby is born; games such as brushing their hair with a brush and then a comb give them a variety of sensory stimulations to the head. Add in the right kind of chat, and you’ll not only be giving your baby a wonderful playtime, but you’ll also be helping them become smarter!

One mum told us how much fun she and her baby had while playing this brush and comb game from the Oliiki app and how it led to a whole day of sensory exploration for them both! She loved that the activity was really simple, used things from around the home and showed her WHY she was being asked to do it. She found that her baby was really captivated by the activities because they were right the level for her baby.

Because her baby responded so well to the sensory day, she found herself focusing on sensory play for the next little while. Baby’s learn through repetition so this developed her baby’s brain further! 

Top Tip #2: Who doesn’t love a story?

What’s nicer than the snuggling in with your baby on your knee as you explore a book together? Books can be a brilliant source of exploration and fun!

One of the most favourite books we had in our house when the children were little was one called Mrs. Wishy-Washy by Joy Cowley.

On the surface, this book is just a lovely, simple children’s book with clear text and pictures, but in our house, it became another wonky donkey book.

I would put on a greatly exaggerated northern accent to read it which would send the children into hysterics (and consequently us as well!). It was a constant source of fun for years. Out would come the book, and with it, the anticipation of giggles and sore tummies from too much laughter.

That book taught my children about obvious things like animals, mud, and keeping clean, but also more subtle things, such as that text has meaning and that books are fun. That in English, you read a book from left to right and that you start at the top of the page and read to the bottom.

It taught them to investigate the pictures and to take meaning from them (the beginning of being a reader).

It taught them the essence of character as well as the joy of sharing a book. It also led them to want to explore other books, and ultimately to learn to read. Through the fun, it encouraged them to keep going and keep exploring.

Reading books to your child develops language, but also can a sense of humour and so much more!

Top Tip #3: Playing in Nature

Finding a small hole inside the trunk of a tree or a branch that’s low enough to be able to climb is an invitation to explore and investigate. 

Nature is a classroom for children. It’s a place of untapped adventure, exploration, questioning and investigation. It is a place where we say yes rather than saying no. We need to enable our children to spend time in it and allow them to let their natural curiosity thrive.

An afternoon spent exploring a woodland is a good chance to enquire and scrutinize to look closely and develop curiosity. When we engage our children in the learning that nature offers, we enable them to grow, risk take and develop.

How we chat and help them on their journey of curiosity elevates the play from a simple activity to a learning opportunity. Seemingly simple activities often build complex skills. When we know how to look at activities, we can unlock the learning they hold the Oliiki app shows you how.

Tip Number #4: Singing Songs

Singing counting songs helps develop number, pattern, ryhthem and rhyme as well as giving children words in context. Who would have thought that the simple singing of a nursery rhyme would have so many benefits for our baby’s development?!

When you look at singing number songs, the learning is massive. From singing number songs to songs with made-up words, each one brings its own set of learning.

Singing is something you can start doing when you’re pregnant and goes on for years. So, sing loudly, sing often, and sing together. You’ll be supporting your baby’s development in so many ways!

Tip number #5: Taking time for you.

Making yourself happy helps ensures your baby is happy!

Amazingly, being happy is a set of habits that are actually learned. Focusing on being happy helps you teach your child how to be happy too!

When we feel happy, we tend to notice happier things and it rubs off on others around us too!

Playing with your bump, baby or toddler in a way that makes you feel confident that you are doing the right things for their age and stage supports their happiness too. As one mum of a then 4-month-old, who downloaded the Oliiki app, found out. “It gives me sunshine, the whole day! [when we play the games suggested in the Oliiki app, like oh, my God she reacted like this, she loves it!”

That sunshine and happiness has in turn helped that mum go from feeling a failure and a bit depressed to feeling happy and confident.

Want to know more? Download the Oliiki app and take advantage of the 7-day free trial.