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• When your baby spends time on their tummy, they strengthen their core muscles and gain the body control that they will eventually need for writing!
• Encourage your baby to use their fingers to explore food, making marks in yogurt or sauce
• Help your little one practise controlling their arms by singing action songs like Wind the bobbin up and Row row row your boat and Wheels on the bus
• Play rolling and throwing with a ball
• Playing with play-dough strengthens little fingers
• When playing outside, provide a pot of water and a large brush to “paint”
• Encourage your child to write for a purpose, writing their own shopping lists, notes and letters

• Let your baby explore objects from around the house such as wooden spoons, metal pots and soft brushes. Introduce words such as hard, soft and shiny
• Have fun filling and emptying containers at bath-time
• Blow bubbles, talk about their colours and how they float, try to catch them… POP!
• Chase your shadows when you are outside, try to catch them, can you make them bigger and smaller?
• Let your child help you in the kitchen, stirring, mixing, pouring, rolling, peeling, chopping, washing and cleaning!
• Bake and cook together! Talking about the ingredients and the changes that happen when they are mixed and cooked
• Explore the smell, taste and feel of the fruit and vegetables that you eat together

• Join a parent and toddler group so that you and your baby can make new friends. Your local Children’s Centre will have all the information about activities in your area
• Play matching and simple turn taking games such as picture dominoes and picture lotto. You can make these very easily by cutting up logos from familiar food boxes
• Play board games together to learn about following instructions and taking turns
• Talk about emotions with your child so they learn how to tell you how they are feeling and to explore how others may feel too

• Make counting part of your daily routine – count fingers and toes when changing your baby
• Count wooden bricks as you build them into a tower and watch your baby’s enjoyment in knocking it down
• Use tissue boxes and snack tubes for a posting game using small toys. Introduce new words about sizes and shapes
• Sing counting songs with actions – e.g. 5 little ducks and 5 little monkeys
• Count every day – stairs as you climb them, toys when you tidy up…
• Point out numbers and shapes at home and when you are out and about, on road signs, doors and when shopping
• Play counting board games together such as snakes and ladders, ludo and dominoes

• Join your local library. Your child can join at any age!
• Your baby is never too young to enjoy books. Choose simple board books with just a few words and pictures to talk about
• Babies will enjoy the familiarity of sharing the same book lots of times
• Sing nursery rhymes together every day. Research has shown that the children who do best at primary school are often the ones who know lots of nursery rhymes!
• Encourage your child to tell you the story using the pictures in the book
• Help your child to spot letters and words on packaging and signs
• Play with words together. Make up funny rhymes and silly stories
• Can your child hear words that begin with the same sound? e.g. Baby, ball, bottle…

You are your child’s first playmate and teacher! Babies and young children learn through:

• Playing! This might be the same thing repeated over and over again!
• Being curious and exploring the world around them
• Real experiences and objects to stimulate their senses, like collecting leaves in the woods
• Being involved in daily routines, like helping to lay the table, sorting the washing, and matching socks
• Talking about the things that you do and see together