Welcome back to another post in our Playful Baby series! This year we are hosting a new series about none
other than
baby play! From
playspaces to
heuristic play and even
paint…
we want you to feel comfortable playing with your baby. By the
end of the next 12 months you will have an arsenal of baby play ideas!
You will have the knowledge and
understanding to continue learning and growing with your baby through
play. This month we are sharing
nature ideas!
I often feel guilty about dragging JB around everywhere as we run around
after her two older sisters. I feel bad that I don't do as much with
her as I did her sisters. I worry constantly that I'm failing her.
However, just because an activity is for her sisters doesn't mean that
parts of it can't be beneficial and enjoyable for her too. Today I'm not
sharing with you an activity I planned for JB, rather I want to show
you how just being the part of the family can be enough.
In her post
Hiking with Kids, Ashlee told you how JB and Little A felt the
textures of the moss growing on the trees and the ferns between
their fingers while we were hiking, all from the safety of their carriers. What Ashlee didn't say was that it was Little A who discovered that if she held her hand out she could touch the mossy rocks and grab at the leaves.
At the beginning of our walk JB was content to keep her hands held tightly on her Daddy, safe in her wrap. After watching Little A for a bit though she began to cautiously reach out of the wrap and with a little encouragement from Daddy she soon was reaching for everything and anything she could get her hands on.
I've told you about our awesome Mother's Day Fairy Walk, but what I didn't say in that post was how JB experienced the walk. She was too little to help hide the fairy doors and plates but she wasn't too little to enjoy it.
JB spent most of our walk on her Daddy's back but almost as soon as we started walking I noticed JB mimicking how she and Little A had explored had explored their world on our Easter walk. She was reaching out and touching the leaves, the long grass, even the bark of the trees. Exploring nature as her sisters hid fairy treasures.
Even from on her Daddy's back JB was exploring the world with her senses. Using her sense of touch to explore the plants, her olfactory system to smell all the wonderful smells, her auditory sense to listen to the birds and nature sounds, aswell as the sound of her sisters' laughter which in turn made her laugh (developing those ever so important social emotionally skills).
She used her sense of sight to watch the leaves blowing in the breeze and the bubbles her sisters were blowing as they floated by her. At one stage she even used her gustation sense as she tasted a leaf she had pulled off a nearby tree!
We didn't keep her in the carrier the whole trip. We made sure to stop and let her out for a little bit but JB's not a huge fan of walking in shoes yet and I wasn't willing to let her walk on the gravelly path, so she was screaming for "up" almost as soon as we put her down.
While she was down though she got to explore all the plants even closer. She had a fantastic time despite the fact that she was essentially "dragged along."
This month we are giving away a set of
Grimm's 2017 Building Pebbles-Water.
All you have to do is share how your baby plays with or in nature on
Instagram (#playfulbabychallenge @squigglesandbubbles @loving_naturally
@squishelsandme @mummy_loz @xoxo_beautiful_chaos_xoxo) or on
Squiggles and Bubbles' Facebook Page before the 15th of June 2017, for all the fine print click
here.
If you liked this you may also like Bushwalking with Kids. Just click the picture to read all about it!
Please always supervise your
infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave
infants/children unattended. You know you're infant/child best, use
your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits,
behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.
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