Search: Resources for Early Learning

Babble Talk

Get up close and engage in babble talk conversations with babies. Babies practice sounds by lip-reading, so let them watch your mouth as you talk.

Back and Forth, Up and Down

Move a baby’s arms up and down and back and forth or count his fingers and toes as you use songs, chants, and nursery rhymes to introduce patterns and counting games.

Bigger and Bigger

Support babies as they figure out how to fit smaller boxes into larger ones or stack objects on top of one another.

Count Your Fingers and Toes!

Use your baby’s fascination with fingers and toes to have fun counting.

Face to Face

You and your baby have a lot to talk about! Sit face to face to start the conversation.

Get "In Tune"

Engage in back-and-forth “talks” with a baby and get in tune with her voice, expressions, and body language as she communicates with you.

Hide and Seek

Play hide-and-seek games with babies to help them learn that things and people exist even when they can’t be seen.

How Does It Feel?

Introduce babies to new and different textures as you explore natural and man-made materials and objects together.

In the Mirror

Give a baby a mirror and join him in the fun. Make silly faces, clap to a tune, point out body parts, or watch as he babbles to his new “friend.”

Let’s Laugh

Ask family members to share what makes their baby laugh. Make a book of “laughing baby” ideas and share it with families and colleagues.

Make Your Mark

Have babies explore different materials with their hands, feet, fingers, and toes to help them exercise their pre-writing muscles.

More . . . More . . . Too Many

Hand a baby more objects than she can hold to help a baby develop a strong sense of numbers. Play the game as you use lots of math vocabulary—here’s one toy, here’s one more, let’s count how many, and so on.

Play and Explore

Guide a baby’s exploration—or just follow her lead—as she learns about her world with her eyes, ears, hands, mouths, and actions.

Reading Gestures

Tune into a baby’s gestures and imitate them. Give her the words to go along with the gestures and when she’s ready, she’ll be able to use the words on her own.