Week 17: I Got Rhythm

Babies often bounce or clap to a rhythm when they're less than a year old. But scientists were unsure whether they learn beat perception early in life, or whether they're born with it.

To find out, a team led by István Winkler from the Institute for Psychology in Budapest, Hungary, and Henkjan Honing from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands tested beat perception in newborns using EEG. This can measure their electrical brain responses to sounds, even when the babies are sleeping.

The team played a rock drum rhythm to 14 sleeping babies two or three days old. Sometimes the sequence skipped a sound without disrupting the rhythm, while other omissions made the rhythm stumble.

When a missed note broke the rhythm, the babies had a key brain response indicating that their sensory expectations were contradicted. This suggests newborns can sense a rhythm and know when to expect the next beat. "Beat perception is there right from birth," Winkler concludes.

In the womb, fetuses rock out to the beat of their mother's heart, 40 weeks on the hit parade. And as early as seven months after birth, babies show a preference for rhythm patterns similar to the way they have been bounced on their parents' knees (one, two, three, four).

It has been suggested that rhythm plays a vital role in the development of speech and language. It has also been shown that the development of musical ability leads to greater skills of logic and math. Furthermore, early childhood is the time where preferences begin and children begin to create mental "boxes" for different subjects. Studies have suggested that without development of a "music box" in the brain, children may be less able to develop skills such as keeping the beat, or singing in tune.

This game will help baby develop her budding sense of rhythm and improve her eye hand coordination. It is her first step to sitting on the kitchen floor, happily banging out the beat to Wipe Out, or playing her first piano recital. :)



Clap your hands in a 1-2, 1-2 rhythm. Does Baby listen? Take baby's hands and attempt to clap them together. Exaggerate the sound. Take two spoons and tap them together in the 1-2 rhythm. Do this until Baby appears to listen and watch. Get a container (such as an oatmeal container, or #10 can with a plastic lid). Prop Baby in a sitting position and set the can in an upright position in front of Baby. With your hand, tap on the top of the plastic lid in a pattern or rhythm of 1-2. Repeat several times and encourage Baby to use her hand to tap. Do not expect Baby to make a pattern yet, but if you repeat this often enough Baby will make the rhythm when she is a little older. If you have a piano or keyboard, sit with baby on your lap. Play middle "C" in a 1-2 pattern. Say 1-2 as you play. Encourage Baby to mimic you. Let baby have some free play time with the keys.

This activity develops:
An awareness of sound
An awareness of rhythmical pattern
Listening skills
A sense of touch
An awareness of the origin of sounds
An awareness of cause and effect

Our Virtuoso:

Week 14 Tummy Time

With babies spending more time on their backs, pediatricians have noted an increase in cranial asymmetry, or misshapen heads. Babies' skulls are still somewhat soft, and constant back positioning with no break can sometimes cause a flattening effect on the back of the head.

Tummy time literally gets babies off their backs. It provides a break for the occipital area, or back of their heads, and gives babies a chance to strengthen their neck muscles to prepare them for crawling. It also helps them to get ready to push up, roll over, sit up, and eventually stand.

There are multiple forms of tummy time:
Hold Baby on your chest while you're reclined or lying flat.
Place Baby on a firm, safe surface, such as a blanket on the floor.
Hold Baby on your forearms (as opposed to a traditional cradle hold).
As your baby gains more head control, try using a nursing pillow or blanket to prop her up on her tummy.
Try using an exercise ball to help make it more fun: Place Baby on her tummy on top of the ball. While supporting her with your hand on her back or bottom, gently roll the ball lightly forward and backward.

The Benefits of Tummy Time
Tummy time helps with both fine and gross motor development:
Once on their tummies, babies tend to kick and flail, working their large motor muscles. Later, rolling onto their tummies will help babies strengthen neck and leg muscles.
Babies on their tummies tend to grasp at a parent's shirt or blanket, encouraging fine motor development.

What Tummy Time Looks Like




How Much Tummy Time and When
The current recommendation for time on the tummy is approximately 30 minutes a day, either all at once or broken up into short segments ranging from a few minutes to longer. Engage Baby in tummy time when she's content and alert. It is important not to insist on it if she's fussy: Forcing the issue will cause Baby to negatively associate this tummy time with being unhappy. Try again later when Baby is calm and willing.

My baby is always fussy when it's tummy time, however, so this game is what to do with a tummy time hating tot.

Take a ball or other easily mobile toy. Roll the ball encouraging baby to watch as you roll it. Does baby wiggle slightly to grasp the ball? Make sure the ball is in clear sight of baby. If baby attempts to reach for the rolling ball move it away slightly as to encourage baby to wiggle forward. You want to stimulate baby enough so she will attempt to stretch her arms, legs, and move towards the ball. Let baby explore independently for as long as interested. The idea is to motivate baby to attempt to grasp at the ball. It helps for you to lie down on your tummy and interact with Baby. Talk to, play with, and be silly with your child! A common tummy time problem is that Baby becomes frustrated with being simply placed on a blanket on the floor. So instead, make faces, sing songs, play with toys—you'll have more fun and this will keep Baby from getting fidgety.
These are baby's beginning attempts at crawling!

This activity develops:
Baby's body muscles by using a stimulus to initiate stretching and grasping.
An awareness of movement through the sense of touch
Motivation to move forward
A round head :)

Week 13: Peek-a-boo

I have been a Mommy for 13 weeks...Go Me! Now that I have passed survival mode and moved into a semi-comfortable level of Mommyhood I have started to wonder what to do with Chiara now that she is awake for longer periods of time. I found an awesome book called Slow and Steady Get Me Ready with activities for every week from birth to age five...the only thing is some of them are way old-school (like using spools from thread). I decided to adjust some of them and also start posting one game every week on this blog along with what it helps develop as a way to track what I'm doing with Chiara (and to use as a reference for baby #2). If anyone has suggestions on any of the games or has tried them let me know what you think. Also, just so you know...everything that I have read says that repetition is the key with babies so just know that these are games that can be(and should be) played over and over...sometimes many times a day...just because you are sick of it doesn't mean baby is! Additionally most of the material here is not my original idea...because let's face it, I am not the most creative person...this is just a chance for me to motivate myself to play with my baby and for that Mamarazzi part of me to have more opportunities for cute photo shoots!

Researcher Jean Piaget coined the term "object permanence" (also called "object constancy"), but parents have long recognized it as what puts the fun in peekaboo. Babies who've developed object permanence (typically between 4 and 12 months) look for a toy or person hidden under a blanket because they have come to realize it still exists even when they can't see it.

There are many ways to play peek-a-boo. The classic version is to cover your face with your hands for a few seconds and then open your hands and cry, "Peek-a-boo!" The full-body version involves hiding from a baby (by ducking under her crib or behind the door) and then popping out and yelling, "Peek-a-boo!". Blankets can be put over baby to teach her to pull it off (a safety plus to fight suffocation) or over Mommy's face. Another favorite is to walk around a sitting baby making silly noises increasing volume when coming into baby's vision.

Babies love peek-a-boo for a variety of reasons. First, who wouldn't like seeing a grown-up act so smiley, energetic, and ridiculous? The peek-a-boo-playing adult turns his whole attention to a baby, and all babies love receiving undivided attention. Babies are also naturally attracted to human faces, and peek-a-boo puts your face close to his. Babies also love smiles, which are a large part of the game, and babies love the sound of a grown-up's voice. That sing-song "peek-a-boo" is fun for them to hear. Additionally, peek-a-boo is fun because of the element of surprise. A baby doesn't know exactly where or when a beloved face will peek through closed fingers.

There is something positively thrilling to a baby about being surprised in this way.
Understanding this concept, also known as object permanence, is an important milestone, and signals that your baby is making leaps in cognitive development — both his memory and his ability to think abstractly are growing.

This week's game uses all the best parts of peek-a-boo. Draw a large face on a paper plate. The face can be funny and should only be on one side. Show baby the face. Turn it over and show the baby the blank side. Turn it back over (from left to right) and say "Peek-a-boo! I see (baby's name)." as the face gradually comes into view.



This simple game is making baby aware of the front and the back of an object. Also baby's eyes follow the movement of the face, thus visually training them from left to right (reading skills at 3 months!)

This activity develops:
More awareness of a face
Awareness of the concepts front and back
Motivation by initiating a purpose for observing
Visual tracking left to right
Awareness of name
SMILES :)