What to do: Just when the baby is about to sleep or while feeding the baby say affirmations like 'you are kind', 'you are happy', 'you are developing all the intelligences', the food you receive is nourishing you physically and developing you mentally', etc.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Builds emotional intelligence, fosters joy, and reduces anxiety and stress.

Special Tips: Make sure that the person saying affirmations to the baby is calm / happy (for this one can take a few deep breaths and then think of a happy moment to feel happy) before saying the affirmations. The affirmations should always be in present tense and can reference a person Ito denote the quality. Eg. Say you have great music sense like 'AR Rahman' or you are a great visionary & Philanthropist like 'Ratan Tata', or you are physically fit like 'Virat Kohli'. , etc. However avoid comparison

What to do: Use Expressive, Lively Speech: Speak to the baby with clear, varied tones and expressive intonation to make conversations engaging. Avoid monotone; instead, vary your pitch, volume, and rhythm to capture the baby’s attention. Involve the Whole Family: Encourage everyone around the baby to speak with expression and enthusiasm. Maintain a lively tone when talking to the baby to create a stimulating auditory environment.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Auditory Development: Enhances the baby’s ability to detect tone, rhythm, and emphasis in sounds, which are foundational for language development. Attentiveness and Interest: Keeps the baby actively engaged in listening and aids in learning meaningful sounds and words.

Special Tips: Be Consistent and Natural: Talk to the baby as part of daily routines, such as dressing or feeding, using expressive language to make these moments engaging. Show Enthusiasm: Babies are highly responsive to enthusiasm, so infusing joy into interactions helps them stay attentive and builds a positive association with listening.

What to do: Place some edible items (1 item in each cavity) in icetray and hand it to the baby. Assist to make sure the baby does not invert the tray. Encourage the baby to pick up the item from each cavity. The baby might use only their index finger initially to prod / prick, which is normal. Give the baby some time to figure out themselves and avoid demonstrating.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity specifically develops their pincer grasp (fine motor skill) which is later important for activities which involve skillful use of index finger and thumb like drawing, writing, etc. This also develops their problem solving skills as no outcome is demonstrated.

Special Tips:

What to do: Introduce baby to different rhymes / baby appropriate songs by singing (Do not play on music system). Make sure to clap on beats (You can also gently nudge the baby to clap) or add any other instrument that the caregiver can play. Next time you say the same song, wait for baby to clap or to react by moving their body at the beat.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity further improves their Musical intelligence while strengthening the bond between care-giver and the baby.

Special Tips: Appreciate well as the baby catches the beat. Sometimes the baby might just enjoy the music and that's ok. However chose to sing to baby as that strengthens the bond instead of playing on system.

What to do: Take a couple of plastic bowls or glasses and pourable items (such as water, rice or grains). To get your child started, show them how to pour the item from one container to another. Then they will do it on their own.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity enhances their fine and gross motor skills as they learn to exercise more control over their hand muscles. This also develops their logical thinking and strengthens the concept of spatial awareness.

Special Tips: Closely supervise so that the infant does not put the items in their mouth / nose. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE MESS and let the baby manouver according to its wish. It might take a while till the baby does it remotely well. Do not assist by holding baby's hand or by demonstrating again and again. Demonstrate only 1-2 times before the activity begins.

What to do: Just place some fridge magnets on the fridge / metal cupboard about 4-5 inches above the infants height (when standing). Gently nudge the infant to grab the magnets. The child would stand-up with support and try to reach out to the magnets. (Refer to special tips if the baby isnt standing yet.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity helps with building the core muscles necessary for standing and walking without support. This also develops their gross motor skills involving hand muscles.

Special Tips: (Incase the baby isn't standing up, then place the magnets 4-5 inches above the infants height - when sitting, this would encourage them to stretch and strengthen their core muscles)

What to do: Stick some masking tape on a vertical surface like wall, cupborad or mirror about 3-4 inches above the infants height (when standing). The tape should be cut into 2-3 inches in length with the edge facing down slightly unstuck such that the baby can peell it. Let the baby explore first and try to get the concept on its own. (Do not rush to demonstrate) NOTE: Check the materials required section for what type of masking tape to use.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity helps with building the core muscles necessary for standing and walking without support. This also develops their gross motor & fine motor skills along.

Special Tips: You can use different coloured tapes - but avoid ones with glitter as that can be easily transfered to baby's skin. Incase the baby isn't standing up, then put the tape 4-5 inches on a vertical surface above the infants height - when sitting, this would encourage them to stretch resulting into core & neck muscle strenghtening.

What to do: Make the baby sit on soft real grass and let the baby explore the surface. Slowly Make the baby walk on the same grass by supporting it's torso.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This is an excellent multisensory activity which also helps the baby connect with nature. Walking on grass, stimulates and develops baby's vestibular system, proprioception and muscle tone required for unassisted walking.

Special Tips: Make sure the grass isn't pricking. Inspect the area for small insects before introducing the baby.

What to do: Take a medium or big sized bowl and place a toy inside it while closing the open side with a transparent cling foil. Hand it over to thebaby to play. Let the infant figure out how to get out the trapped toy.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn):

Special Tips: Closely supervise so that the infant does not put the items or cling foil in their mouth / nose.

What to do: Take some paper plates and 4-5 bowls / glasses / Cardboard tube each of different circumference. Cut out a circle of exact circumference of each item in each paper plate. Now place this setting in front of the infant when sitting and demonstrate once by placing the cut paper plate over the exact container. Let the baby take charge.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity improves their attention span, fine & gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, problem solving ability.

Special Tips: You could colour the plates in different colour or chose items of different shapes. You could also encourage the baby to walk ( wthe caregiver should hold baby's torso with both hands for support) and carry the plate for a few steps by placing the plates and cups away

What to do: Chose 3-4 toys that baby plays with everyday. Place all toys in a line about 12inches away from each other. Now ask the baby about one of the toys by naming it viz. Where is "Name of the toy?', OR Can you point at 'name of the toy?', OR Hand over "name of the toy". Now do the same with other toys.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity encourages baby to understand basic command and learn two-way communication. Develops fine & gross motor skills alongside hand-eye coordination. Encourages independence and determination in completing tasks with positive reinforcement.

Special Tips: Positive Reinforcement: Celebrate each right attempt by doing the clap clap activity as part of appreciation alongside verbal praise. Make sure to introduce the toys and a few times (5-6 times) if you are unsure of the familiarity of the toy with baby. Keep the commands simple. Demonstrate with another caregiver in front of the baby if required instead of explaining the process to the baby.

What to do: Hold your baby upright by supporting their torso (underarms or waist, depending on comfort and balance). Play a rhythmic, upbeat song — preferably one with repetitive beats or clear words like “bounce,” “up,” or “down.” Gently bounce the baby in sync with the rhythm — up and down on the beat or at specific cue words. After a minute of bouncing, pause and replay the song. Observe if your baby anticipates the rhythm or begins to “bounce” or move along when the music starts again.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This playful rhythmic activity strengthens the baby’s sense of timing, rhythm, and auditory processing, crucial for language and coordination development. The gentle bouncing enhances body awareness, balance, and motor control through vestibular stimulation. When the caregiver and baby engage face-to-face during the bouncing, it nurtures emotional bonding and social attunement, developing interpersonal intelligence. Over time, babies begin to predict patterns — an early sign of cognitive sequencing and memory building.

Special Tips: Safety First: Always support your baby’s torso securely and ensure a soft surface (like a play mat or carpeted floor). Music Choice: Pick songs with a steady beat — nursery rhymes like “Row Row Row Your Boat,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” or a rhythmic instrumental track. Follow the Baby’s Lead: If the baby starts smiling, cooing, or moving with the beat, encourage them verbally (“Yay! You’re bouncing to the song!”). Cue & Pause: Stop the music mid-way occasionally to build anticipation and attention span — see if the baby looks at you or moves, expecting the bounce again. Variation: As the baby grows, let them stand holding onto a stable surface (like a couch) and bounce slightly on their own to promote independence.

What to do: Place 3–5 colorful scrunchies already around a cylindrical tube (like an empty kitchen roll). Encourage your baby to pull each scrunchie off one by one. Say the action aloud (“Pull it off!”, “Yay, it came out!”) and hand it back for the next round.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Improves finger strength, grip control, and hand-eye coordination. Builds focus, confidence, and early language association (“pull,” “off,” “again”). Reinforces bonding through shared joy and praise.

Special Tips: Use soft, easy-to-grip scrunchies and a steady tube. Demonstrate once, then let baby try independently. Celebrate every pull with smiles or claps. Stop if baby seems tired or distracted.

What to do: Create a small basket with safe natural items — a leaf, flower petal, smooth pebble, coconut shell piece, or dry seed pod. Let your baby explore by touching, smelling, and holding each object as you name it (“This is a leaf,” “This is a stone”).

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Introduces baby to textures, colors, and natural elements, awakening sensory curiosity and environmental awareness. Builds vocabulary, attention, and fine-motor coordination.

Special Tips: Use large (cannot be swallowed easily), clean, baby-safe natural objects. Sit outdoors if possible for fresh sensory exposure. You can replace items weekly for novelty.

What to do: Fill a shallow tub with water and drop in lightweight floating objects — small bath toys, leaves, or flower petals. Give your baby a large ladle or cup and show how to scoop the floating items. Encourage them to fish the toys out one by one while naming or counting each (“You caught one!” “Here’s a leaf!”).

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Boosts fine-motor coordination, hand-eye precision, and focus as baby learns to aim and scoop. Introduces water play as sensory learning and builds observation of floating/sinking behavior — key to early scientific thinking.

Special Tips: • Always supervise closely during water play. • Use shallow water and unbreakable, baby-safe objects. • Add verbal cues (“Scoop it up!” “Splash-splash!”) to build language and rhythm. • Keep towels handy and end when baby loses interest.

What to do: Wrap 3–4 small toys in newspaper or soft wrapping paper. Place them in front of your baby and encourage them to tear, crumple, and unwrap to discover what’s inside. Add excitement by saying “What’s hiding inside?” or “Let’s open it!

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Builds fine-motor strength, problem-solving, and curiosity as baby learns to unwrap and reveal hidden toys. Encourages focus, sensory awareness, and early cause-effect understanding (“When I tear this, I find something!”). Boosts language development through simple, joyful phrases during play.

Special Tips: • Use soft, easy-to-tear paper and baby-safe toys. • Demonstrate the first unwrap if needed. You can also use different coloured & textured papers for further tactile stimulation. • Encourage verbal response (“What did you find?”). • Keep it eco-friendly with recycled or plain paper. • Clean up small paper bits right after play.

What to do: Play short clips of different musical instruments — like a drum, flute, guitar, or piano. As each sound plays, show a matching flashcard or picture of the instrument and say its name aloud (“This is a drum — boom boom!”). Pause briefly and replay to let baby connect the sound, image, and name.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Enhances auditory discrimination and sound recognition by linking what baby hears to what they see. Builds early language association and memory recall (“sound → image → word”). Fosters focus and strengthens listening skills — key foundations for music and speech development.

Special Tips: Use 3–4 distinct sounds per session; repeat often for familiarity. Add fun actions (tap hands for drum, sway for flute). Maintain good volume — not too loud for baby ears.

What to do: Place a small rolling toy or car on a sofa edge or low surface where your baby can hold on for support. Gently roll the toy forward to encourage your baby to move sideways. When they reach the end, roll it back or place another toy at the other side so baby learns to stop, turn, and continue.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Encourages supported walking, balance, and directional awareness. Strengthens leg, core, and coordination muscles while teaching problem-solving (how to turn or change direction). Helps develop the brain’s motor planning circuits and spatial orientation.

Special Tips: • Ensure the surface is stable and free from hazards. • Offer gentle verbal cues (“turn,” “stop,” “go”). • Use baby’s favorite toy for motivation. • Celebrate every attempt with claps or smiles — positive reinforcement boosts neural reward pathways linked to learning.

What to do: Use simple, consistent hand gestures (baby signs) for daily cues like hi, bye, milk, eat, more, or all done. Demonstrate the gesture every time you say the word in context. Encourage baby to imitate or respond using their version of the sign.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Supports early communication before speech develops. Builds word–action associations that strengthen language pathways and emotional expression. Encourages social connection and attention-sharing, important for emotional intelligence and pre-verbal bonding.

Special Tips: Start with 2–3 common signs; be consistent and patient. Always say the word aloud with the gesture. Respond warmly when baby signs — it reinforces confidence and trust. Use routines (feeding, bedtime, greeting) to repeat signs naturally.

What to do: Hide behind a scarf and pop out with expressions — happy, surprised, sad. Name each emotion.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Introduces emotional awareness and empathy foundations.

Special Tips: Use gentle exaggerated expressions, encourage baby to copy and appreciate when imitating right. You can also explain when you feel these emotions. Eg. when the baby smiles, mamma feels happy OR when I mumma gets hurt, she is sad

What to do: Place two bowls and small snack pieces (like banana and puff). Encourage baby to move each into a matching bowl, demonstrate first.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Strengthens hand control and early categorization skills.

Special Tips: You can use different shapes of snacks & reinforce shapes or colours by naming them as the baby sorts. Make sure the snacks a re safe for baby to consume and dont bother if its lands in baby's mouth instead of sorting bowl. Appreciate each successful attempt.

What to do: Give a rattle or shaker. Play music — baby shakes it while the music plays, stops when it pauses. Let the caregiver demonstrate and continue doing it with the baby with separate rattle.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Builds rhythm control, attention, and impulse regulation.

Special Tips: Begin with simple stop–start patterns, praise quick reactions and make sure to pause and enjoy when the baby expresses joy by giggling or in any other way.

What to do: Prepare a small batch of soft, edible dough (recipe below). Let your baby squeeze, pat, poke, and press the dough. Add simple tools like a spoon, cup, or cookie cutter. Talk to your baby about what they’re doing — “soft,” “press,” “roll.” Allow free exploration rather than structured play.

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity strengthens fine motor coordination, hand–eye control, and tactile awareness. Textural exploration helps babies understand cause and effect (“if I press, it flattens”), fostering cognitive and sensory integration. It also encourages creative expression and self-regulation through touch.

Special Tips: Special Tips: • Always supervise; do not leave baby alone with dough. • Use large cookie cutters or plastic spoons — no sharp tools. • Introduce color naturally (beetroot, spinach, turmeric) instead of artificial dyes. • Engage verbally — name colors, textures, and actions. Simple Edible Dough Recipes:
1️⃣ Oatmeal Dough: 1 cup baby oats + ½ cup warm water + 1 tbsp coconut oil
2️⃣ Salt-Free Playdough: 1 cup whole wheat flour + ½ cup hot water + 1 tsp coconut oil + natural color (optional)
3️⃣ Mashed Potato Dough: Boiled potato + a spoon of rice flour for texture (for short play sessions)
3️⃣ ground / powdered baby buiscuits or cookies

What to do: Offer your baby a clean wallet filled with expired cards (library, membership, or sample cards). Show how to pull out and insert cards into slots. Let your baby imitate, explore, and practice repeatedly. Describe actions — “take out,” “put in,” “slide.”

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity refines pincer grasp, finger strength, and hand–eye coordination — foundational for future writing and self-feeding. It introduces sequencing and problem-solving (“which slot fits”), while imitation builds focus and persistence. The sense of “doing what adults do” fosters confidence and autonomy.

Special Tips: •Choose a wallet with wide slots and no zippers or coins. •Demonstrate slowly; allow the baby to imitate at their pace. •Rotate different card textures for sensory variation. •Celebrate effort more than success — focus on exploration, not perfection.

What to do: Prepare edible paints (refer to materials). Spread a small amount on a large tray, silicone mat, or highchair surface or simply on paper. Let your baby explore by patting, smearing, and swirling the colors with bare hands. Encourage them by describing what they’re doing — “You made a circle!” or “Red and yellow made orange!”

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): This activity nurtures creativity, sensory exploration, and emotional expression. As your baby experiments with textures and colors, they build fine motor control, imagination, and early understanding of cause and effect. It strengthens focus, curiosity, and comfort with self-expression — essential for confidence and innovation later in life.

Special Tips: • Always use edible, non-toxic ingredients. • Dress your baby in old clothes or a bib — embrace the mess! • Name the colors aloud to build word association. • Let your baby lead — focus on exploration, not outcome. "tray or highchair surface, apron or bib, Prepare edible paints using safe, natural ingredients — for example: • Pink: Yogurt/curd + boiled & mashed • Yellow: Mashed banana + turmeric • Green: Spinach purée + a few drops of water + turmeric • orange : boiled and mashed pumpkin / mango or mashed papaya"

What to do: Collect a few big dry & fresh leaves (Make sure they are clean). Sit with your baby and gently drop one at a time from above. Encourage baby to watch, reach, and grab the falling leaf. Let them crumple or tear it while describing the motion (“Falling leaf!” “Crunchy leaf!”).

Purpose (How it helps your child to learn): Strengthens visual tracking, grip control, and cause-effect understanding. Builds curiosity about movement and nature’s patterns like falling leaves or wind motion.

Special Tips: Use clean, dry, non-toxic leaves. Play near a window or garden for real sunlight and breeze. You can also include edible leaves like spinach, amarath, etc. and explain how some leaves are edible while others are not.