Active Baby Ideas

The youngest member of the Spell household is almost 8 months old already! Goodness she’s growing up so fast! It’s exciting to see all the milestones being reached and to see her interested in her surroundings. Even at this young age I try to do some intentional play activities, but many times I draw a blank as what exactly to do. Just when I was needing a jump-start in our baby play time, Timberdoodle asked if I’d check out a component of their Baby Core Curriculum and I was sent the book Active Baby, Healthy Baby by Margaret Sasse for review.

Practicing creeping around a stationary object and reaching for a toy.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book is a reference book of ideas. This made it easy to read and easy to fit into my busy schedule. One thing I learned was how important movement is in the development of pathways in a young child’s brain. I knew movement was important, but this book opened up my eyes to many more movement possibilities. It also explained why and gave clear examples of how to do the activity with my child.

Active Baby, Healthy Brain includes 135 exercises and activities to do with your child that help stimulate brain development in the following areas:

• balance
• cross-pattern movement
• visualization
• vestibular (inner ear) stimulation
• laterality
• fine and gross motor skills

I was very interested in learning more about vestibular activities and cross-pattern movement as I never would have come up with the idea to do those activities with my child on my own.

The other aspect I liked about this book is that it included activities for toddlers too. Each activity is listed on its own page and has clear examples and instructions for implementing the game or exercise. Most of the activities take very little prep and time to do.

In fact, I was able to use activities in this book for  three of my children--- ages 7 months to 4 years old.  I love it when I can use something for more than one kid or when it is useful for a long period of time. The book  is full of ideas for babies through 5.5 years old.

If you are looking for additional items and activities to do with your young children, check out Timberdoodle’s Baby Core Curriculum and Toddler Core Curriculum.  I like that they have chosen products that encourage learning in a child’s natural environment. Except for the toddler workbooks, everything is reusable in these kits. You can request a free homeschool catalog to check out the other goodies Timberdoodle has to offer.

Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.