MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Engage familiar adults and children in interactions (smiling, approaching, not withdrawing).
• Express desire to feed self.
• Select a book, toy, or item from several options.
• Point to desired people, places, objects and take action.
• Show likes and dislikes for activities, experiences, and interactions.
• Actively resist items or actions that are unwanted.

YOU CAN

• Play with child individually every day.
• Follow child’s lead and/or choices in daily activities.
• Provide opportunities for child to choose toys to play with and books to read.
• Provide opportunities for child to take reasonable and safe risks (stretch for an object beyond reach).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Remember where favorite items are stored.
• Attempt in self-help activities.
• Try different ways of doing things.
• Focus on caregiver, material or toy (such as a book) for short periods of time.

YOU CAN

• Provide games to promote predictable memories (memory games, add patterns and more complexity to the games).
• Communicate about tasks and experiences with simple words and conversations, include role playing.
• Point out interesting objects and events to focus attention.
• Promote routines.
• Provide child with opportunities to explore different characteristics of an object (the toy has several parts; a face has eyes, ears, nose, and mouth).
• Observe child to learn which activities increase or sustain his/her interest.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Express desire to feed self.
• Select a book, toy, or item from several options.
• Show likes and dislikes for activities, experiences, and interactions.

YOU CAN

• Provide opportunities for child to choose toys to play with and books to read.
• Provide opportunities for child to take reasonable and safe risks (e.g., to stretch for an object beyond reach).
• Provide many opportunities for active exploration.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Imitate action observed in another situation (try to stack blocks after watching another child stack blocks, bang on surface after watching drumming at a cultural event).
• Use items differently and creatively (a bucket is turned upside down to build a tower base or to be a drum).
• Play with dolls, stuffed animals, puppets.
• Pretend one object is really another (use a wood block as a telephone).

YOU CAN

• Play with child individually every day.
• Change the materials, toys, and objects in child’s environment regularly (rotate toys weekly).
• Provide child time and opportunities to be spontaneous, silly, and messy.
• Play with child in creative ways (use soft toys to create a puppet show, tell imaginative stories using familiar characters and the local environment).
• Follow child’s lead during play.
• Engage in songs and finger plays with child.
• Read picture books and tell stories.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Behave in consistent ways to elicit desired response (kick a mobile).
• Play games with primary caregiver that involve repetition (peek-a-boo).
• Experiment to see if similar objects will cause similar responses (shake stuffed animal in the same way as a rattle to hear noise).
• Display recognition and excitement about game or toys from previous day.
• Apply knowledge to new situations (bang on bucket instead of drum).

YOU CAN

• Play with child individually every day.
• Interact with child in consistent and predictable ways.
• Provide child with toys and objects that react to specific actions (sound-making toys).
• Provide opportunities for child to try same action on a different object (shake a rattle, shake a stuffed animal, shake a ball).
• Comment when child applies knowledge to new situations, using descriptive language.
• Provide sensory materials for exploration.