If you follow Pediatricians’ recommendations, Tummy time (lying down in the prone position) will be the longest 3 minutes of your new baby’s life, too.

At about day three (postpartum for a baby carried to term), it’s time to give your infant the opportunity to develop even musculature in the neck, arms, and upper body.

If you’re like most new parents, you don’t even try to fight the urge to make it all better at the sound of the slightest whimper.    Well, tummy time will be one of your first tests of parenting resolve.  Babies don’t seem to like it much.  At first.  Expect mild protest.  That’s normal.

In my years of consulting experience (hundreds and hundreds of hours, sitting on living room floors, playing) the only babies who don’t mind tummy time are the ones who have mastered it.  There are ways of making the minutes move along.  Here’s a list.

What To Do During Tummy Time

• Tummy time is only for a few minutes.  A maximum of 3-5 minutes, a couple of times per day until your baby masters and enjoys this exercise;  then you can increase.
• Tummy time is for parents, too.  Your baby must be wide awake and you must supervise for the duration.
• Don’t practice tummy time in the crib — that’s where the research-endorsed position of back sleeping takes place.  Comfy blanket atop clean floor is perfect.  Pets behind closed doors — even better.
• Offer a toy.  It will distract your baby from the initial discomfort of this new activity.
• Offer a book.  A tiny, cardboard book with one well-defined image per page will help pass the tummy time.  Place book 8 inches from baby’s face, then tap a page and say the name of the item in the book to help baby learn to focus attention.
• Offer a sibling.  This new workout starts three days postpartum, remember?  All the way down to the floor and back up again?  You might need someone to spot you, Momma.  While parents supervise, older siblings can get acquainted with baby, and learn appropriate limits on play, personal space, and exuberance levels with your newborn.
• Use your judgment.  Your baby might complain bitterly about tummy time — and who knows the reason?  Just observe your baby, and respect those limits.  Try again tomorrow.

Really.  Try again.  Tomorrow would be a good time.  Due to important research leading to “Back to Sleep” recommendations for infants, parents will need to set aside time to create the tummy-only opportunities to build strength, sharpen depth perception, coordinate movements, and appreciate body awareness.  All of those abilities lead to the later milestones of crawling, cruising, walking, running, and playing sports.

Given the increasing rates of worrisome childhood obesity, it seems the responsible thing to do is to give a newborn bodies and brains the message that there is work to do in this life.  And that they can do it.

Yesterday was Monday. Tomorrow is Wednesday… That means today is ToesDay.

Whenever I host parent-child storytimes, I always include an art activity.  One of the biggest hits is footprint art.

Though charming to us adults, some kids won’t like it. Won’t tolerate it. Having a wet, slippery foot that needs to be washed will send some children running. Which is okay — you can make graffiti art from the footprints they leave behind.

For those whose children will enjoy ToesDay, here are some ways to jam it full of learning:

Make it seasonal.

• Brown footprint + red dot, scribble, or button on the heel of the footprint = our favorite reindeer! Twisty pretzels, broken just right, make 3-dimensional antlers that you can help your child glue onto the paper, on top of the big toe, and the little toe.
• Black paper + white paint = a Halloween ghost. The heel of the footprint becomes the ghost’s head, and stick-on stars make the black night shimmer.

Make it about the process.

• Involve children with gathering the supplies. Talk about what the purpose of each item you plan to use. Discuss the field trip to the school supply store you might make to purchase the paint, or the stickers.
• Parents often put on a show for kids, without letting kids be aware of the “before, during, and after” work.  In other words, the planning stage, the part of the process that requires following instructions and rules, and the equally important time devoted to responsibility and clean-up.

To keep these activities easy, simple, and fun, remember:

• Use a heavy paper, like construction paper or cardstock. Cardboard is a good medium, too.
• Use a sponge to dab paint onto your child’s foot. A brush will tickle too much.
• Use only non-toxic fingerpaint.
• Keep choking hazards away from younger kids. Independent completion is great, when a kid is developmentally ready to remember to be safe. Buttons, pretzels, marker tops, stickers, and construction paper cut-outs are suitable for independent use by children who are past the mouth exploration stage — that usually means 3 years and older.
• Let each child particpate on his or her own terms.
• Kids who don’t like to be painted might enjoy passing out the wet wipes to those who are in need of a tidy-up. It has always been interesting to me to see which kids want to help clean others’ tootsies.  That’s another topic for another day, but developing empathy is a milestone, too.

Display the art immediately after having your child sign his or her name (initial, squiggle, or drop of drool) — that’s what great artists do, they sign their work. Send some of the creations to grandparents, and safeguard some for a memory book. But most of all, enjoy your job as a parenting maestro.

Check back tomorrow for more on The Art and Work of Creative Parenting series.

Outdoor chalk play is a nearly perfect activity:

• Chalk can be a tool for art or for hopscotch.
• Children of different ages can create together, or
• Younger ones can color independently.
• Kids can practice writing.
• Cleanup with a hose is just as much fun as the activity.
• But — cleanup is optional!

Specific developmental benefits of playing with sidewalk chalk.

Motor development – Kids practice using their small muscles (fine motor skills) to grasp and hang on to the chalk. They use their larger muscles (gross motor development) to bend down, scribble HARD, hop back up to admire their work, run over to your hammock and drag you out to come and see their work. Oh yeh, that hopping on one leg thing? Then the other leg? While thinking? Beautiful electrical storms are lighting up their brains!

Intellectual or cognitive development - When you show your young children how to play games like hopscotch or bean bag toss, don’t focus on accuracy the first time out. What really matters is that they understand that there are rules to remember, and that there is a sequence to follow. Practice will ensure accuracy. For today, their attempts to participate in a group activity (social development) is enough. The confidence and enjoyment (emotional development) they gain from simply trying to participate will motivate them to continue working until they get it “right.”

Language development – Chalk play can enhance your child’s communication skills by simply giving her an opportunity to write letters, draw a picture that has meaning, invent letters that she wants to practice writing. Remember to take seriously whatever she decides to communicate. The sun is shining, and she is trying. She can’t get it wrong.

More language boosts will happen when your child needs to be able to

• listen to rules of a game,
• listen to the other players,
• respond to the words, “It’s your turn, now” or
• blurt out, “Hey! My turn!”

Parenting tip: if she recognizes that brother just took two turns, her sequencing ability (intellectual skill) is coming along, don’t you think??

Whew. Somebody’s gonna need a long afternoon nap, Mommy… yet another benefit of playing outside with chalk.

The best toys grow up with your kids.

The best toys are multi-purpose, versatile, and friendly. By “friendly” I mean that a good toy plays nicely with differing ability levels, developmental stages, and age groups.

For “Most Valuable Toy of All Time”  – a toy that stands up to being kicked around, a toy that is at its best when it is shared, an heirloom that can be passed down from sibling to sibling, I nominate:  The Ball.

Toddlers who develop at a typical rate will learn to throw and kick with a surprising amount of force for their size. A ball is perfect for the outdoor play that kids need to improve those skills.

Youngsters whose development is not typical (or is delayed) will be helped by having a variety of textures and sizes to choose from. In those situations, it is important to be attentive to your child’s preferences, because one’s own preferences usually align more closely with one’s own abilities. The small spongy ball that can be squeezed will strengthen the hand muscles and coordination, in preparation for learning to aim, throw, and hit the target at a later time.

Although learning to catch is an age-appropriate milestone for older 2’s and 3’s who are developing typically, a larger ball that can be pushed or rolled even with imprecise movements provides children with developmental delays an opportunity to be effective, too.

When your toddler’s kicking skills become more accurate, set up 10 plastic water bottles, half-filled (use food-coloring in the water if you want to make it really interesting) for an afternoon of bowling. Kicking, rolling, or tossing the ball will do. It’s always interesting to see children adjust their strategies to find their own way to succeed and knocking down the water bottles. And yes, there will always be one who prefers to walk over to the bottles and kick them directly. He’s the future chiropractor.

That big ole box from yesterday? If you followed my suggestions, it’s pretty worn out and raggedy by now. And it’s also pretty — you painted it, didn’t you? Don’t haul it out to your neighbor’s recycling bin just yet, Mommy. Use it to set up a goal box outside, soccer-like. Toddlers will love kicking, aiming, cheering — this activity is so much fun, they’ll even enjoy taking turns.

As our readership grows, we want to make sure the timeless posts from our archives get their fair share of attention.

While MommyGarten is on vacation this week, please enjoy these excerpts from popular blog posts.

From February 2010

“We’ve got to get her walkin’!” was Don’s battle cry upon hearing that his 14-month old granddaughter Lynn didn’t seem destined to begin walking any sooner than her mother or her uncle Rick had started — at the ripe age of 16 months.

Milestones are not mandatory….

Lynn’s mom (Don’s daughter) had just casually explained that little Lynn’s playgroup peers were already walking.  And snatching Lynn’s toys, then walking off with them.  The 14 month-old was helpless to do more than protest.

Visions of fifth-place finishes, runner-up trophies, and being picked last for teams swirled through Don’s anxious mind as he considered the future implications of his granddaughter’s missing milestone.  That Don’s own children has begun walking a little later then typical did not calm his fears.  Nor was his patience assisted by his medical training.  On most days Don, a doctor, understood (on an intellectual level) the wide range of normal human development.  But at that moment, Don was in Grandpa mode.

Sure, motor development milestones are important.  But parents can stress less, and enjoy their babies more if they use milestones to navigate, not rush the journey.

Is there a maximum tummy time? (from March 2010)

It will be the longest 3 minutes of your life. If you follow Pediatricians’ recommendations, Tummy time (lying down in the prone position) will be the longest 3 minutes of your new baby’s life, too.

At about day three (postpartum for a baby carried to term), it’s time to give your infant the opportunity to develop even musculature in the neck, arms, and upper body. If you’re like most new parents, you don’t even try to fight the urge to make it all better at the sound of the slightest whimper.    Well, tummy time will be one of your first tests of parenting resolve.  Babies don’t seem to like it much.  At first.  Expect mild protest.  That’s normal. In my years of consulting experience (hundreds and hundreds of hours, sitting on living room floors, playing) the only babies who don’t mind tummy time are the ones who have mastered it.

More recaps tomorrow and every day this week. Check back daily for specific, realistic, age-appropriate child development tips.

Earth Day is a good occasion to remember that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, most of it oceans.

Children of all ages love playing with water, in water, on water. You will love that they grow in multiple developmental areas with such a simple, inexpensive toy: H2O.

Infants will enjoy water play whether it happens inside or outside, and even if you insist on calling it a “bath.” Babies slap at the water to make splashes, to hear new sounds, and to investigate cause and effect (cognitive development). Bath time enhances body awareness and motor development — underwater kicks feel different, and the warm temperature of bathwater touches skin like no other substance can. To extend bath time (or wading pool) fun and learning, add:

• Plastic, non-breakable cups for filling, pouring, capturing soap suds.
• Brand-new sponges in different sizes for squeezing.
• Bath-size squirt toys.
• Large plastic spatulas for stirring and even bigger splashing than hands alone can accomplish.

Toddlers and young children definitely need to be outdoors to experience all that water and their imaginations will inspire them to do.

Offer them:

• Paint brushes. Kids this age will enjoy “painting” the driveway, sidewalks, the bricks on your house.  They will use fine motor skills, gross motor skills, thinking ahead and planning skills to complete their project.
• Hoses. Some nozzles have several spray patterns built in.  When your child tests different ones to find the best one for washing the remnants of yesterday’s chalk drawing off the sidewalk, she will engage in higher order thinking skills.
• Sponges. If you’re going to spend all that time outside, getting water in your crocs, don’t you at least deserve to have help getting your windows washed? Don’t be bashful — chores are an important part of self-care (emotional development) and responsibility (social development).
• Squirt bottles. When they play water tag (and you know they will), a squirt bottle helps them aim, and helps you make sure eyes, ears, and feelings don’t get water logged.

Check back tomorrow for more of Earth Day all week at MommyGarten.com!

Just because your baby isn’t walking yet — that doesn’t mean her feet are unemployed.

For several weeks, the newborn might notice her own feet, especially during diaper changes when they are handled and held near the line of sight between her face and yours.

But there’s not much she can do about this new discovery until her brain development and motor development catch up with her observation skills.

Why she yawns during “This Little Piggy.”

Parents, your instincts are right: babies love this game.  But not immediately. The first few rounds of this game are often uneventful. You get to the exciting part, and baby cracks nary a smile.  That’s because your new infant has not yet discovered the thrill of da feet (or the rest of her body), but she will.  Some fine day, she’ll grab those feet, admire them, babble to them, and taste test them with a thoroughness America’s Test Kitchen only aspires to.

She’ll learn to enjoy her body shortly after she learns to control her body.  A younger baby’s movements are either involuntary like reflexes, or voluntary, meaning that the movements are something she will learn to do at will. As neuronal connections in the brain multiply and strengthen, newborn reflexes recede. Then, voluntary movements increase.

Baby’s first voluntary movements ensure her well-being by stabilizing her torso, head, and neck. Limb motions that initially seem random and disorganized are actually developing muscles that will support baby’s next stage of movement: manipulation.

The root word “mani” means “hand” in Latin.  Your settled baby (3 months and older) will begin using her hands to reach for an interesting item, then grasp it, then probably bring it to her mouth.  By the age of 4 or 5 months, her own foot counts as an interesting item.

When she finally does show an interest in hand games and toe games, it will be because her maturing memory allows her to remember (therefore eagerly anticipate) the piggy who squeals all the way home.  It will be because her receptive language ability lets her follow the rhythm of the words. Expressive language skills will help baby do her part in playing the game — smiling, cooing, or laughing, to let you know she’s enjoying the game.  The sequence of playing the game will enhance her social development, her awareness that people do fun things together.

Baby feet are fun for parents, too.  They’re cute, still clean all day, and for now, unscented.

Instead, she sees this weekend’s Spring Equinox for what it is: THE season for outdoor play. There is a world of sensory lessons that await baby beyond your screen door.

New smells, new feelings, new sounds, and new colors will fascinate your baby, or returning toddler, as she experiences the her body in ways that she cannot when she’s inside.

It’s Elemental

Your baby, toddler, or preschooler can learn about Earth’s simple pleasures, like … um, earth. Barefoot and ticklish, your child can discover gentle blades of grass, playfully shifting sand, or the passive pleasure of a catching a breeze.  For children over the age of 3, who are less prone to sampling, mud pies are easy chemistry lessons:  What makes the mud easier to stir?  Why did brother’s mud pie melt when he added water?

Water is a ready resource for keeping multiple ages of kids busy.  Clean, too.  Especially after the mud pie buffet.  The younger ones (6 months to 24 months) will enjoy pouring water from cup to cup, bowl to bowl, or watering your budding spring flowers.  Older ones (2 years and up) will enjoy props like (brand-new) sponges for squeezing, “cleaning,” and let’s face it, sponge-bombing each other (much safer than water balloons if you have young children).

Developmental Benefits

Social and Emotional: A child’s keen interest in wildlife, even backyard wildlife, is an opportunity for parents to nurture empathy and responsibility.  Help your young children build these valuable character traits by “adopting” some of your neighborhood birds.  It’s win-win: A full feeder for the birds, free bird-watching for your family.

Language Skills along with Body Awareness and Self-Care: Give your toddlers and preschoolers words for what they are experiencing. “The sun is so bright. Here are your sunglasses. Put them on to protect your eyes.” or “Let’s put on sunscreen to protect our skin.” Remind them to drink water to replenish from all that panting and thirsting.  Large muscles will get a workout from the running, climbing, and bending to stalk a bug.  Smaller muscles will have to refine themselves for the demands of the season: picking flowers or grasping weeds to pull.

A mental workout awaits, too.  Thinking skills are on high alert, noticing animal sounds, keeping up with the flight path of a butterfly, and examining the fine details of favorite rocks.  If you keep a garden of vegetables or flowers, you will have a built-in lesson on colors and life cycles for the children who are old enough to be interested.

Next month in honor of Earth Week, MommyGarten.com will devote five days of blog posts to outdoor learning and playing.  We’ll cover Do-It-Yourself field trips, animal companions, and other living things.  We will also offer free, downloadable play plans to enhance outdoor activities.

At around 12 weeks of age, babies move both of their arms when you offer an object.  Yet by 16 weeks of age, most babies reach out for objects with the left hand…..

But at 24 weeks (6 months) they are back to the two-handed approach.  Hmmm….

At 28 weeks, a mere month later, babies will again show a preference, and it is ususally the right hand.  You ready for this?  The switching back and forth continues.

Fascinating.  Dizzying.  Some experts say that hand preference isn’t fully determined until the age of eight.

What does it all mean?  It means the best thing you can do is support this process of allowing your child to do what feels right and authentic to her.

When she is new, help her hold an object (a rattle, or even better — your finger) in her otherwise empty fist.  Gently place your finger at the edge of her fist, then work your way in a massaging motion toward the palm of her hand.  Later, she’ll catch on and happily participate in this kind of skin-to-skin contact.  She’ll even seek it out, or make it part of her nursing routine.

Next step:  Holding objects in both hands at the same time.  At least until her first birthday, make it a point to offer toys to her at the middle of her body, or midline.  Although hand preference may appear to switch back and forth, it won’t be set for many years and many skills to come.

Toys of different textures or shapes offer your baby endless intrigue.  Offer a variety of safe (non-choking, non-allergen) items for her to explore.  She’ll taste them, she’ll drop them (she won’t look for them at first — good thing you’re there to retrieve them for her!)  – and she’ll choose her favorites.  Pay attention to her choices, and try to imagine what appeals to her about the items she likes to touch.  You may learn an insight to your child that will serve you well years into the future.

As she grows, provide plenty of opportunities to use her hands in many ways.  Play pat-a-cake with her, for her.  Then play it again (if she wants to, and she’ll usually want to).  What seems like a lot of repetition to you, seems like stimulation and reinforcement to her brain.  Toward the end of her first year, age-appropriate musical toys are a great tool for upper body development, coordination, as well as brain-boosting creative play.

“We’ve got to get her walkin’!” was Don’s battle cry upon hearing that his 14-month old granddaughter Lynn didn’t seem destined to begin walking any sooner than her mother or her uncle Rick had started — at the ripe age of 16 months.  Lynn’s mom (Don’s daughter) had just casually explained that little Lynn’s playgroup peers were already walking.  And snatching Lynn’s toys, then walking off with them.  The 14 month-old was helpless to do more than protest.

Visions of fifth-place finishes, runner-up trophies, and being picked last for teams swirled through Don’s anxious mind as he considered the future implications of his granddaughter’s missing milestone.  That Don’s own children has begun walking a little later then typical did not calm his fears.  Nor was his patience assisted by his medical training.  On most days Don, a doctor, understood (on an intellectual level) the wide range of normal human development.  But at that moment, Don was in Grandpa mode.

Sure, motor development milestones are important.  But parents can stress less, and enjoy their babies more if they use milestones to navigate, not rush the journey.

Here is a list of key body milestones, and what parents should do about them:

Newborn:

• Has hands that remain fisted for the first few weeks of life. Gently help her to hold your finger during nursing or quiet-alert times.
• Has a wobbly head that needs support. Tummy time is the answer!  A couple of “floor workouts” per day (3-5 minutes each) will help baby’s neck, torso, and upper body become stronger.  She may protest, or she may become an early crawler!
• Wiggly-ness. Use a safe bumper pad in the crib to protect baby from hard surfaces.  Bonus:  Choose a pad that offers visual stimulation.

Settled baby:

• Can support head by leaning on forearms. Like I said… crawling.  Time to think about safety-proofing.
• Has open hands that can reach for and grab things. Attract her attention to toys by shaking them gently.
• Likes to look at her own hands, sometimes bring them together, and bring items to her mouth. Offer age-appropriate toys to her at midline (the middle of her body).

Older baby:

• Can sit up on her own. Give her interesting toys and small, cardboard books to touch, hold, grab while she enjoys the new view.
• Starts crawling. Like I said…. safety proofing. She doesn’t have to crawl before she walks.  Not all babies go through this stage.  Those who do deserve a completely safety- proofed home.  In fact, parents, I suggest you get down and crawl around and see the dangers or temptations from your curious baby’s point of view.  Remove them, and let the exploring begin!
• Stands up.  Wow. She’ll do this while holding on, at first.  She needs solid, stationary items to help her pull herself up to standing.  Her intellectual curiosity can be satisfied by her own actions.  THIS is a milestone.
• Likes cruising. Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with your car keys or insurance rates.  Yet.  This means your baby is beginning to take…. er, baby steps along your furniture.  Good time for goal-setting, too.  Place an enticing toy just beyond your child’s reach.  Let her work toward and earn that reward.
• Gets back down to sitting. From the standing position or the cruising position, baby can lower herself back to the floor.
• Begins walking. Oh, yes, that.  At first, your baby will appreciate a helping hand.  After all that your baby accomplished in the first year of owning a body, this event almost seems more pivotal for the parents than for the baby.  Don’t get me wrong.  This vital milestone is important.  But so is the journey.

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