Baby Safe yummy Painting With Yogurt

Baby Painting! Of course that will be messy right? But is it safe to expose babies to paint, after all most of it will end up in their mouth, all over their face and in their skin. 

Well even though there are many of alternatives like making your own paints using natural safe ingredients or non-toxic "safe" varieties many parents just won't go there. 

So here is an easy, not so messy way to introduce baby to colours, textures and paint play while they learn some hands on skills needed to self-feed.

I used a children yogurt that was baby safe and mixed it into 3 different containers, using one drop of natural food colouring I mixed a yellow, pink and blue shade of yogurt. I gave the containers to Miss Cherub when she was on her high chair so she could explore them safely on her table. It was a bit of an experiment and i wasn't sure how she would react but she loved it and it was easy to clean up and wash off after.

I left the spoons in the containers so she could get some practice using and handling the spoons. She is at the age now she is interested in self-feeding but needs to further develop her gross motor skills and hand/eye coordination in order to succeed. So she did enjoy some colourful yogurt but the majority of it was paint.



The splatters and drops she tipped out of the container on to her tray were poked out and smeared in every fashion possible. She explored the squishy texture between her fingers and payed close attention to the colours after she mixed them around with her hand.
It was a yummy bright Baby painting expedition.

Miss Cherub enjoyed herself tactfully experimenting with the containers; handling them, tipping and turning them to see the yogurt drop out, putting the spoon in to scoop it out and eating some, while some she flung and splattered on the tray. She used her fingers to scoop some out, and them in different ways she run her fingers through the different colours, some times with her pointer finger, sometimes trying to grab it in a pincer grip but mostly she rushed her palms through it smearing it together. 

Clean up was simple; wash the tray & containers in the sink, wipe the baby clean. done! 

Learning concepts:
First Colours & Colour mixing
Exploring Textures
Sensory Play
Confidence with food
Bilateral coordination
Hand/eye coordination
Self feeding skills
Developing pincer grip and handling containers
Gross Motor Skills

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Sensory Material Surprise - Baby Play in a Box

Baby Play is so much fun, when baby first starts playing it becomes apparent just how much they're learning through play. My minds going crazy with play ideas.

This little baby activity introduces  sensory learning by providing textures and different feeling materials that are visually appealing, while cognitively developing a babies understanding of objects and object permanence.

Babies learn through their senses so a great way to introduce a baby to play is through different textured materials. First, gather a bunch of material swatches trying to get different feeling materials, look for different materials, different textures, things that you just want to touch that are visually appealing as well. You can then "hide" them folded or rolled up into a box; I have used an ice-cream container with a hole in the lid and a stocking over it so that Miss Cherub can see through into the hole and stretch it to fit her hands in. You could easily use an empty tissue box.

Once all the materials are in the box leave a little corner poking out so they can see there is something to grab out. With no assistance Miss Cherub pulled the materials out one by one, she looked at them, flapped them around felt them and then tried to put them over her head and rub her cheeks on them, then they got thrown to the side as she put her hand in to see if there was more.

As she continued I put the materials in and out of the box so she could see them go in, or see a small end hanging out. This encouraged her to keep seeking out the materials whether she could see them or not.

Between the ages of 4-8 months babies develop what is known as the secondary circular reactions stage of object permanence; this begins by exploring objects, reaching and grasping objects and understanding that it is a real thing that can be handled, they learn distance and that objects right in front of them can in fact be touched, they learn that the object moves and start to reach for objects that were in a position or can partially be seen, then they learn the permanence of an object (that the object exists inside the box, whether they can see or hear it or not).

A great example of this is the game peek-a-boo and a great way to encourage this skill is activities like this.

I had some cool materials; fluffy pieces, leather, pvc, felt, shiny materials, sequined material, bright stripped materials, a New scourer dish cloth, lace, knitted wool daisies, a clean glass cloth, a small piece of outdoor course carpet, a small square of outdoor fake grass and her ribbon tickle toy.  Use your imagination & go on a texture hunt; If you have an older child get them to seek out funky materials & textures to fit in the container. 

Learning Concepts:
Learning by Touch
Exploring textures
Visual discrimination
Object permanence
Pulling, Pushing, Passing materials
Seeking out hiding materials

Ideas to extend:
Make a DIY Ribbon Tickle toy
Use a really large box with scarfs and other large materials
Tie or stitch materials together so they just keep coming out in one trail
Finish by making them into a texture book to keep

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Happy Adventures 

DIY Ribbon Tickle Time Baby Toy

Babies just adore having things brush over their face. A classic Baby play game that everyone has done before is to get a sheet or light scarf and throw it up over a baby letting it slowly drift down and brush over their face, or playing peek-a-boo with it - Lots of first giggles here! 

Miss Cherub loves these type of games and I love playing them with her because she giggles and smiles and coo's in excitement, she throws her arms and legs around as if she's going to take off. It is so funny to watch.

The other thing she loves doing at the moment, which shows her developing pincer grasp and fine motor skills, is to " read" the tags on any toys; carefully grabbing and inspecting with great focus the writing on tag and flicking back and forth if there is a few together. I remember Dimples doing this as a baby and I thought it was just so clever & adorable to watch. 

This DIY tag toy was made to conquer both the fun of tickle time and the sensory aspect of having soft things fall and brush over babies face and the fine motor aspect of flicking through 'tags'.

In her treasure basket shes been exploring a bunch of different materials and textures. I added this DIY taggy toy that she loves and plays with each day. It is a new favourite. 

It is a Link with ribbons tied to it. 

So easy- Make sure the link is baby safe and make sure all ribbons are double tied and of course, be aware that any long ribbons pose a strangulation hazard. I recommend always supervising and interacting with the baby as they play, its a great opportunity to foster a connection through play and watch them imitate you and learn through play. 

I limited the ribbons to about 10-15 cm long and I tried to find a variation of ribbons. 

Different colours, widths, textures, patterns, sizes and styles of ribbons make an interesting toy to explore. 

Miss Cherub had such a great time with it. She shook it and pulled it apart, swung it around, put it over her own head and then slowed down inspecting each ribbon in details, trying to grasp the ends and pull them into individual lengths, she passed it back and forth in her hands watching the way the ribbons fell. 

It was all so interesting time after time.

Peek-a-boo Baby!

We also used it as a tickle toy while she is both sitting and laying down; While Miss Cherub was sitting i put it over her head and she tensed as it tickled the back of her neck, she giggled and tried looking around. Her facial expressions were so funny to watch.

While she was laying she fluttered her eyes as it gently brushed over her face, then she was excited and kicking around in anticipation waiting for it to fall again. Lots of fun.

Baby Learning Concepts:
Sensory Play
Anticipation
Developing Pincer grasp
Fine motor skills
Exploring different colours, texture, patterns and size ribbons
Laughter & fun in play

Happy Adventures

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Baby Sound Discovery Tray

 

Miss Cherub (nearly 6 months old - Jeez that's gone quick) wants to grab at everything these days.

She isn't shy to express herself when something gets taken away from her either; call it spoilt, call it a temper but boy are we in for it.  She is almost sitting completely unassisted, still a little wobbly & growing up all too fast. Won't be long and she'll be following me wherever I go.

 

Each evening I throw a discovery tray together of things she is allowed to explore with some assistance. It really helps us get through the fussy time after tea but before bed.

 

I love watching how babies (& kids) first learn. I put this discovery tray together for Miss Cherub so that she could explore with making sounds, experiment with handling new objects and have her first play with some DIY instruments. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and it reminded me just how curious babies are and hoe the simplest things can aid in their development and learning.

I made 2 DIY Baby shakers by adding beads & lucky stones into plastic containers. These are much like discovery bottles but with the purpose of shaking to produce different sounds.

Do the lids up tight and enforce with scotch tape so there's no chance of a choking hazard & they're good to go. These are a great way to introduce babies first understanding of vocabulary, for instance " shake!" hold the bottle and shake it, pass it to your baby and help them shake it, then say shake as they do it. It didn't take long and Miss Cherub was shaking them with a big grin on her face.

Another shaker for babies just learning to hold objects is an easy maraca made from some dry pasta in a baby cup with handles, do the lid up tight and use it as a maraca that is easy to grip.

 

The baby discovery tray was a cooking pan. Inside it were a couple of metal egg cups to clang together or to bang onto the tray, a spoon to bang with as well as a wooden xylophone stick (be careful and supervise all the time as young babies may wave these towards their face) and a honey dipping stick.
There was also a bell to ding, the DIY maraca's and a bowl.

The egg cups and the bowl were definite favourites.
"Do you like my hat?" I asked with the bowl on my head & it wasn't long before she was trying to lift it on her head. Unsuccessful of course but it was a good gross motor experience, lifting and turning the bowl around.
Every time she lifted the bowl I put the egg cups in it and she was tipping them out, over and over and over. Babies do love repetition and learning through cause & effect.

Miss Cherub quickly learnt to bang things on the side of the cooking pan to produce sounds & found shaking the side of the pan rattling all that was in it quite amusing. I think she surprised herself when she lifted it up by the corner and everything slide out. 

The bowl was easiest to grab as it was largest so she explored this for a long while, banging it on the side and against the bell. She had a quick attempt of banging the spoons onto it but mostly enjoyed tipping things out of it, passing it between her hands and turning in back and forth.

Not only did she discover how to make sounds but it was a good way for her to explore with her grasp and practise handling, holding and manipulating a variety of objects in different shapes, sizes and weights. The bell was a tricky one to master but she gave a big grin when she worked out where she had to hit to produce the ding sound.

Who said babies can't have fun with every day objects. Sometimes the best toys are the ones you find in your cupboards and not only do they provide lots of amusement but they help with development in many ways.

Baby Learning Concepts:

Exploring every day objects

Making sounds

Imitating Parent

Cause & effect learning

Linking vocabulary to actions/objects

Exploring objects of different weight, size shape.

Gross Motor Skills

Developing grasp

 

Ideas for Extension:

Baby Maracas/Shakers can be made in different sized bottles with different objects inside to make a variety of different sounds.

Explore different objects made from different materials, for instance bowls in a variety of sizes (try a mix of plastic, metal, melamine)

 

 

Happy Adventures