Playing with new-born : An effective step towards all-round development

Playing is one of the most interesting and fun ways through which a newborn has all-around physical and mental development. It can be a major boost for developing significant skills and the required learning process in newborn babies. It can help them to perceive and learn more about the world around them and how to can interact, build and maintain relationships and be a part of it. 

Not only playing is beneficial for the babies, but it is also beneficial for the parents too, as it provides them a wonderful opportunity to strengthen their bond and to know and understand more about each other. 

The advantages of playing with the newborn: know the various perks

There are several underlying benefits of playing, which the parents may not be aware of. These are 

1. Physical development: Playing that requires the babies to move can help build bones and muscle strength and the development of gross motor skills and fine motor skills from an early age. 
2. Mental development: When parents play with their baby, it provides them a sense of comfort, security, and confidence to explore more of the world around them, which casts a positive impact on their mental health in the long term. Playing also help with the cognitive skills, that enables the brain to effectively carry out the activities such as reading, learning, thinking, reasoning, etc.
3. Language skills: Playing with the babies also helps to learn or pick up and understand new words from the parents, which may increase the process of talking.
4. Social skills: building the foundation of these skills from an early age will be beneficial for the babies in their later life as it will allow them to interact with others and develop meaningful relationships and friendships easily.

Play ideas for newborn babies: Interesting and fun ideas to try

Here are some of the play ideas the parents can try out.

1. Try making funny faces, and sounds, smiling, laughing, and singing songs and rhymes to the babies. Reading short stories to them will also be good but also try to point out the colorful illustrations and drawings too.
2. Try to take the baby for a regular walk so that they will be able to see the different sceneries, people, animals, etc.
3. Try lots of gentle physical affection and cuddles while playing with the soft toys and plushies. 
4. Try to give the baby, tummy time, that is placing a baby on its stomach for some time, so it may give them a different perspective while developing their neck and shoulder muscles.