Sitting Table Activity for Infants

Your baby enters toddlerhood from infancy when she turns 1. She is constantly learning by playing, developing her social, cognitive, language and movement, and hand and finger skills. Take time to sit at the table with her before or after meals, as this time provides an ideal opportunity for you to help with her developmental milestones by playing certain games with her.

Sing to Him

Sit your infant at the table in front of you and recite a rhyme where you can act out the movements. Julie Joy from Classroom Ideas recommends reciting the following: "Some families are BIG (hold his hands out wide and speak loudly on "big"), some families are small (bring his hands together and whisper "small"), but I love my family best of all (tickle his tummy)." Repeat this a couple of times. Then pause before "best of all" and watch to see if your baby waits to be tickled. This game stimulates a baby's senses, gross motor skills and his sense of humor.

Stacking Games

Infants love building things up and knocking them down. Sit her at the table and put some stackable objects in front of her, such as foam, wooden or cardboard boxes, board books, cereal boxes and plastic cups. This is a great age for stacking rings, but don't be alarmed when she stacks them in the wrong order -- just trying to get the rings on the pole teaches her valuable lessons such as problem solving, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Flashlight Fun

The What to Expect website has some great ideas, such as putting a piece of colored crepe paper over the light of a flashlight and hold in place with cello tape or a rubber band. With the rest of the room in darkness, shine the colored beam around the room, giving a running commentary on the objects the light lands on. Shine it around fast, take it slow, run it up the wall and back down again, all the while informing him of what you are doing. This helps your child learn how to track objects as well as boosting her sensory development and increasing her vocabulary.

Puppet Play

Using a puppet to interact with your infant may inspire you to be a different person to your infant for a while. You can speak in funny voices, act out stories and play peek-a-boo. Especially useful for fussy eaters, a puppet can be a stand-in for you. If you do not have any puppets, just use a sock with buttons sewed on for eyes and a mouth. It is a great way to build your infant's social skills.