Play and Social Skills in the First Six Months

These early days can feel like they’re never going to end when you’re in the thick of it, but boy does it fly by once you’re on the other side. The time I’m talking about is between birth and six months. In these first months of life your new baby is getting used to the world around them and how they can interact with it. Believe it or not even at this age a baby is beginning to lay foundations for the development of play and social skills.

Play at this early age is primarily made up a baby exploring their sensory systems and developing relationships with their parents.

Socially, they will express discomfort through crying and communicate a range of emotions through smiles and other facial expressions. You baby will also begin to explore noises including cooing then squealing. These tend to develop more so towards the end of this age range.

To support play and social development at this age provide your baby with lots of opportunities to experience a range of different sensation across all systems. Take them out into the world expose them to a range of sights, sounds and smells. Talk to them about what they are experiencing- this helps strengthen that social bonds and helps your baby feel safe and comfortable with all of the new information they are processing. Expose them to many different types of textures to explore be sure to keep a close eye on them as things will most often end up in their mouth. Don’t be worried that is a normal way for a baby to explore objects!

Socially, talk to your baby as much as possible. Tell them what is happening around them. You might feel a little silly but this is a great way to build a connection with your baby as well as expose them to a good variety of language. Towards the end of this age range babies begin to enjoy silly sounds and songs so get down to their level, blow raspberries, make silly sounds and see how much your little one enjoys socially interacting with you.