My First Ball

Materials You Need: Large inflatable ball (You can replace it with a cylinder-shaped pillow or a cardboard cylinder)

What You Can Do Together: Large inflatable balls are helpful for many games with tiny babies. One of the games you can do with this type of ball is to rock your baby on top of it.

As a first step, you should put a diaper on your little one so that her or his body does not slip on the ball. Put the ball in the center of the mat or soft surface and place your little one with his or her tummy against the ball while holding it by the sides with both hands. You must sit in front and allow him or her to keep your hands with his or her little hand to convey confidence and security.

Roll the ball slowly forward, backward, and sideways. As you roll, you can look into his or her eyes and sing him or her a song like the following to the tune of “I have a doll”:

The ball rolls,

I will roll it to you,

If you were on wheels,

You’d roll like that too.

You can repeat this activity daily, increasing a few minutes each day.

What Your Child is Learning: This fun game helps activate circulation, tone muscles, increase flexibility, and learn to control body movements such as keeping the head upright. By placing your little one on a ball, you will be helping him to get to know his or her body, practice the grip with the hands and develop balance.