Familiarize baby with loved ones through pictures.
Materials Needed:
- Family photos (individual family photos are best if possible)
- Blu Tak / masking tape
- Frames (optional) OR
- Digital photo frame OR
- Family photo album
What to do:
- Put up photos of immediate and extended family on the wall, above nappy change area, on the front of a door where baby can see, at baby’s eye level or in a digital picture frame.
- If adding pictures on a wall, as you pass the pictures with baby, point and name all the family members in the pictures. When sticking them at baby’s level, point to and name the pictures. When baby looks at the pictures themselves, name who they are looking at “Yes, that’s Uncle Sam” etc.
- Ask your baby where Grandpa is or where Uncle Brian is and see if your baby will point to their pictures, your baby may just look in the direction at the photo without pointing and babble. This shows that baby is able to recognize who you are referring too.
- As you make this a frequent activity, baby will begin to recognize, point and identify family members. It will also provide enhance memory skills as baby remembers each of the family members.
Hints and Tips:
- If you put pictures in your baby's room, you may want to hang some at baby's eye level to encourage standing. For those pictures just simply hang them on the wall using tape, a frame may fall and shatter causing injury to your baby.
- You could also cut these pictures out and hang them from the ceiling/cot (or make a mobile), directly over your baby's cot. Don't hang them to low because your baby might pull them off.
- When reading a story during the bedtime routine, have some pictures in an album, before reading the story, go through the album and name each person.
- When using a digital picture frame, put it somewhere the baby will see. Go through each picture and name each family member.