Peek-a-Boo and Laughing Fun Activities

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.

Activities for Infants

Peek-a-Boo

Playing “peek-a-boo” with an infant will reward you with smiles. It’s definitely a favorite game.

Why is peek-a-boo so important? This game makes connections between a child’s brain cells. The more they use these connections, the stronger these pathways become. 

Here are some different ways to play peek-a-boo.

• Cover your eyes with your hands.
• Put a towel over your face.
• Hide behind an object and pop out.
• Place a toy or stuffed animal under a cover and then pull away the cover.
• Draw a face on your thumb with magic marker and hide it under your other fingers.
• Make your own peek-a-boo pictures,
• Cut out pictures from a magazine and tape one picture each on a separate piece of cardboard.
• Cut out pieces of fabric that are bigger than the cardboard picture and tape it on one end of the cardboard to cover the picture. You should be able to lift the fabric and see the picture.
• Make up a story about the picture and then lift the fabric and show your baby the picture. For example: The little dog said “Bow Wow, Bow Wow, I want to see you.”
• Lift up the fabric and show the dog picture and say “Peek-a-boo.” Soon your little one will learn to lift up the fabric himself.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Play the game with your baby and praise him as he plays

For developing the idea - Try to switch roles. Put your baby’s hands over his eyes and take them away as you say “peek-a-boo.”

For moving forward –Show your infant how to play the game with a stuffed animal.

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Laughing Fun

Once you hear a baby's laugh, you won't be able to get enough

Laughter helps in releasing feel good chemicals and responses in the body, thereby increasing attachment and feelings of self-worth.

Baby's first smiles easily melt your heart. Soon your baby will learn to laugh out loud. Sometime between three and four months of age, she'll likely begin giggling along with her cooing.

What will inspire that first giggle?

The sight of your face, a silly grin, a favorite toy or a silly sound could stimulate the giggle.

Your baby is learning to recognize her voice and seeing how others react to it. She is also learning to move her mouth and tongue to produce different sounds.

Here are some ways to encourage your baby to laugh.

• Funny faces: Scrunch up your face and stick out your tongue. Your baby will laugh and soon try to imitate you.
• Peek-a-boo: Always guarantees a giggle.
• Silly sounds: Make up a silly sound of your own as you smile and laugh. This will tell the baby that she can smile and laugh at the sound.
• Fingerplay: Short poems that have a surprise.
• Jack in the box, you sit so still (hand folded with index finger of other hand tucked inside the folded hand). Say, "Won’t you come out?" and then say, "Yes, I will!" (say in a big voice as you pop out the index finger.)
• Looking in a Mirror: Look with the baby in a mirror and make funny faces.
• Dancing: Hold your baby and dance and glide around the room. If you add music, it makes it even more special.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Imitating and mimic your baby’s sounds.

For developing the idea - Play games that encourage laughter with your baby.

For moving forward – Laugh often and show spontaneous joy at what your baby can do.

Diddle Diddle Dumpling and The Blue Danube

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.

MUSIC
Diddle Diddle Dumpling
Poem – Anonymous
Song – by Jackie Silberg

This musical game is fun to sing or say and teaches beginning sounds.
Ask the children to each take off one of their shoes. Now say the following poem or sing the song.
Diddle diddle dumpling, dumpling , dumpling,
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
Went to bed with his stockings, stockings,
Went to bed with his stockings on.
One, one shoe off.
One, one shoe on.
Diddle diddle dumpling
Diddle diddle dumpling,
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
The words “Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling” are fun to say and to sing. “Dumpling” is a term of affection.
What other words are terms of affection? ...sweetie, cutie, honey? There will be a lot of laughing in this discussion.

Sing the song with different beginning sounds. Try a “b” sound: “biddle, biddle, bumpling.” Or a “z” sound: “ziddle, ziddle, zumpling.” 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Do you wear your shoes when you go to bed? What do you wear on your feet?
For developing the idea: Can you tell me what the boy did with one of his shoes?
For moving forward: The words “diddle diddle dumpling” all start with the same sound. What sound is it? Can you think of others words that start with that same sound?

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Waltzing- The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss

This is a video of the Vienna Philharmonic playing the Blue Danube. The children can see a symphony orchestra, watch a conductor, see dancers and hear the wonderful music.

You will need waltz music or you can play this wonderful YouTube video and use various stuffed animals.
Play waltz music and dance around the room..
Hold the stuffed animals and dance with them....swirling and twirling
When the music is over, fall to the ground and shout “viva le waltz!”

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: “That music makes me want to dance.” Let’s dance together.
For developing the idea: “Isn’t dancing fun? It makes me feel good.”
For moving forward: “Would you like to dance to a different kind of music?” "What kind of music do you like? Fast or slow?"

Products from Discount School Supply® that I recommend:Naptime Classics - 4 CDs (LULLABIES)
Happy Hands Farm Puppets - Set of 6  (FIRSTPUP)
Early Childhood Puzzles - Set of 12 (ECPUZ12)

Color Clothes

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.

FOR TODDLERS
Tell Me What it Says 

The brain likes novelty. By exploring and investigating new sounds, the brain seeks to connect the learning to an already existing pattern or begins the process of creating a new pattern for understanding.

You will need pictures of a baby, a clock, a bird, a drum, and water
The teacher asks the question and the children give the answer.
First, tell the child what the baby says. Then ask the question:
Tell me what the baby says.
Ma ma, ma, ma
Continue on telling the answer and then asking the question.

Tell me what the baby says
Da da da da
Tell me what the clock says
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Tell me what the birdie says
Tweet. Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tell me what the drum says
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Tell me what the water says
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle
Depending on the age of the baby, ask the appropriate number of questions.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s make these sounds again.
For developing the idea: Let’s look through magazines and find pictures of things with other sounds
For moving forward: What are some things in our classroom that make sounds? (door, water running, footsteps)

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Color ClothesSit the children in a circle.
Ask them to look at their clothes carefully to see the different colors that they are wearing.
Tell them that you are going to ask them questions about the color of their clothes.
If a question applies to them, they should stand up.
Sometimes more than one child will be standing.
Make up questions about their clothes.

Who is wearing black shoes?
Who has a jacket on?
Who is wearing a belt?
It is fun for them to see which children are similar to one another.
Once you have played the game awhile, ask if anyone else would like to ask a question about someone’s clothing. You will find that your older toddlers will volunteer.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Tell me about the shoes that you are wearing. What color are they?
For developing the idea: Does anyone else have on shoes that look like your shoes?
For moving forward: Let’s look through some magazines and try to find a hat, a belt, brown shoes, and a dress.

One, Two and I'm a Walking Activities

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.

FOR INFANTSThe newest brain research says that babies need touching experiences to “grow” the brain and grow the body. It is as critical as nutrients and vitamins. 

One, Two
Sit with your baby on the floor.
Make up rhymes as you hold your baby’s hand and let him or her touch different parts of your body.
Here are some ideas:

One, two, touch my shoe.
Yellow, red, touch my head.
Dippity dips, touch my lips.
Apples, pear, touch my hair.
Each time you say the body part, put your child’s hand on that part. When you say, “One, two, touch my shoe,” put your baby’s hand on your shoe.

Continue on with each rhyme.
Reverse the game and help your baby touch his shoe, head, etc.
Make up new rhymes for different parts of the body.
Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Say the rhyme with your little one and praise him as he touches the different parts of his body.
For developing the idea: Ask your little one “Where is your head? Where is your shoe?” Encourage him to touch his head and his shoe.
For moving forward: Using a doll or stuffed animal, find the head, shoes, lips and hair on the toy.

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I’m a Walking 

Movement unites all brain levels and integrates the right and left hemispheres. The locomotion centers of the brain are paired, facing one another along the top of the right and left hemispheres, so that the center controlling the left leg parallels the center controlling the right leg, and so forth. For this reason, movement ties in both hemispheres, allowing young children an opportunity to use both sides of the brain.

This song is on the CD: "Hello Rhythm" by Jackie Silberg and in the I Love Children Songbook by Jackie Silberg.

Sing or say the following words.
I’m a walking, walking, walking
I’m a walking, walking, walking
I’m a walking, walking, walking
Then I stop!
Walk around the room and on the word “stop” freeze in place.
Hold your child’s hand to walk or carry him if he isn’t walking.
You can also skip, hop, jump, skate, swim, run, tiptoe, swim and march.
Children adore playing this game…..especially the stop part.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Walk several times and practice the stop part. Make positive comments like "Isn’t this fun!” or “I like to walk with you.”
For developing the idea:  Repeat the activity using different motor skills.
For moving forward: Let’s sit down and crawl and scoot to the words.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the pathways of their brains to make new connections.
MUSIC
A favorite song with young children is “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
They love to make the animal sounds.
Read the book Old MacDonald in the City to introduce the idea of different kinds of jobs Old MacDonald could have and the different sounds they would make.
Try singing the song using other ideas.

Old MacDonald had a cold, e,i,e,i,o
And with his cold he had a cough

Think of sounds you have with a cold.
Old MacDonald could also have a yard, a house, a candy store, etc.
Changing the words will develop vocabulary.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s sing Old MacDonald together
For developing the idea: “If Old MacDonald had a candy store, what kind of candy would he have in the store?” Let’s sing about it.
For moving forward: Let’s sing "Old MacDonald Had a Car" and make up car sounds.”

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"Carnival of the Animals": By Camille Saint-Saens
This music tells the story about how the animals are having a carnival, and the guests are arriving. There's the majestic lion, the braying mules, the dancing elephant, and the graceful swan. There are also many other animals.

You probably will need to explain to the children what a carnival is.
I’ve selected two videos that you can show the children and then let them pretend they are the elephants and the swans as they listen to the music.
For your own personal interest, there are many, many videos of this delightful piece of music with poetry by Ogden Nash.
I urge you to expose your children and yourself to this lovely experience.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Show me how you walk like an elephant. Can you swim like a swan?
For developing the idea: What other animals do you think came to the Carnival? Let’s find out
For moving forward: If you had a carnival, who would you invite?

Products from Discount School Supply® that I recommend:
Naptime Classics - 4 CDs (LULLABIES)
Infant Poster Set - Set of 12 (BABYPIC)
Snuggle Me Tot Supporter (SNUGME)

What Shall I Wear?

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the pathways of their brains to make new connections.

FOR TODDLERS
Stories Come to Life 
Creating and acting out a story makes it come to life and helps children internalizes the concepts in the story.

Read The Three Little Pigs or another familiar story to the children.
Read the story out loud and as you read, find one word such as huff, and say it in a loud voice.
Ask the children to act out the "loud" word when they hear it (by huffing).
You can also use words that show emotion such as “happy” and “sad.”

Ideas to do to that will take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: “Who do you think has a loud voice in this story?”
For developing the idea: “Can you pretend you are one of the pigs? Can you pretend that you are the wolf?”
For moving forward: Could you tell me this story? What would come first in the story?”

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What Shall I Wear You will need a raincoat, heavy wool hat, bathing suit, and a lightweight jacket or dress.
Talk with the children about the kind of clothes you need for different kinds of weather and seasons.
Look at the articles of clothing and discuss when you would wear them. 

Say the following rhyme:

What shall I wear on a rainy day, rainy day, rainy day?
What shall I wear on a rainy day?
This is what I’ll wear.
(on the last line, choose a child to go to the clothing and hold up the correct item.
Continue with a new rhyme.
What shall I wear on a sunny day?
What shall I wear on a snowy day?
Download my song "Whatever the Weather" at Early Childhood News or at my website.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: What do you wear when it is cold outside?
For developing the idea: Clothes protect us from changes in the weather. What did you wear to school today? Why did you pick these clothes?
For moving forward: Let’s make up a story about a hot summer day at the swimming pool. What clothes shall we talk about?

Two Nice Fathers and Roll Olympics

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the pathways of their brains to make new connections.

FOR INFANTS
Two Nice Fathers

Say this finger play with your little one as you do the actions.

Two nice fathers met in the lane
(hold thumbs up)
Bowed most politely and bowed again.
(bend thumbs toward each other)
How do you do, how do you do
And how do you do again
(move thumbs as if they were talking to one another)
Repeat this verse while holding babies thumbs as you say the words.
Continue on with the finger play. You say it first and then move the babies fingers to repeat it.
Index finger - two nice mothers met in the lane....etc
Middle finger - two nice teachers....etc
Ring finger - two nice children....etc
Little fingers - two little babies....etc
On the "babies" it's fun to talk "baby talk." Try to make the sounds that the baby makes.

Ideas that you can to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s say the poem again as we move our fingers.

For developing the idea: I’ll say the words and you move your fingers. (depending on the age of your baby, you may need to help him with moving the fingers.)

For moving forward: Let’s pretend our fingers are kitties. What would they say to one another?

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Roll OlympicsHelping your baby roll over from tummy to back will develop the chest and arm muscles. Brain research says that using these muscles repeatedly gives babies’ the strength and elasticity for rolling over.

Here is a fun game to play while encouraging your baby to roll over.

Put your baby on her tummy on a soft and flat surface. Carpeted floors and the middle of beds are good for this game.

Hold up a teddy bear in front of your baby’s face and do antics with the bear. You might say the following poem as you make the teddy bear move around:

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn a round. (turn teddy bear around)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground. (make teddy fall down)

When you are sure that your baby is watching the teddy, move it to the side so that your baby’s eyes and hopefully her body will follow.

Repeat the poem, moving the teddy bear each time.

Ideas to do to that will take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: As you play the game, if your baby doesn’t roll over the first few times, move her physically to help her understand.

For developing the idea: Lay on the floor on your back. Put the baby on your tummy facing you. Rock from side to side and say the “teddy bear” poem.

For moving forward: Each time you baby is successful in rolling over, give her lots of praise and clap your hands.