Lovely childcare

[Childcare] Play and games for 0-year-old babies: Fun developmental and educational activities

9 years of experience as a nursery school teacherShibata Risa
I am an active nursery school teacher with 9 years of experience. After graduating from university, I worked at a daycare center. The time I spent happily with children—playing piano, singing songs, and doing finger-play—are priceless memories to me. Currently, while raising three children of my own, I work at an after-school day service, engaging with children and providing individualized developmental support. Drawing on my diverse experiences as a childcare worker and as a mother, I hope to express and convey my thoughts through writing.
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICsasashina
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. During my student years at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, I studied a wide range of fields including sound, lighting, and video technology, building a foundation in comprehensive stage production and creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, consistently building experience in production and engaging in a variety of music-centered tasks. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting and what I feel and discover through daily interactions with my kids. I hope my work can be of help to you, even in a small way!

Just looking at tiny, adorable babies makes you feel happy, doesn’t it?

We tend to think that newborns spend most of their time sleeping, but it’s also a period of remarkable growth.

Interacting closely and playing together with familiar people provides babies with plenty of stimulation and has very positive effects on their physical and mental development, as well as on attachment formation.

Let’s actively incorporate lots of play not only at daycare but at home, too.

In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of activities you can enjoy together with your baby.

From bonding games and sensory play to activities using educational toys, a wide variety of play ideas are gathered here!

Find the perfect activities that match your baby’s age in months and developmental stage.

[Childcare] Play and games for 0-year-old babies: Fun developmental and educational activities (11–20)

Fluttering futon

The first thing that made the baby burst out laughing was this joke! Great laugh, baby.

Fluttering futon

This little game is all about fluttering a futon to make your baby laugh.

It’s simple—you just wave the futon gently—but the futon’s mysterious movement really captures their attention.

If you play peekaboo by hiding your face behind the futon and popping out with a “Boo!”, you’re almost guaranteed even bigger smiles! Using a futon makes it a larger-scale peekaboo than usual, and it might even spark your baby’s very first belly laugh.

It’s also fun to do it while singing a cheerful song!

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Hand play ‘Panda, Rabbit, Koala’

[Hand-play song] Panda, Rabbit, Koala

Hand play 'Panda, Rabbit, Koala'

A fun hand-play song that calls over various animals, “Panda, Bunny, Koala.” When you invite the animals to come here, you imitate each one using your hands.

For example, for a panda, you make a circle with each hand and place them over your eyes to represent the black patches around a panda’s eyes.

After calling the panda, bunny, and koala, you do each imitation in rhythm, one after another.

As a bunch of different animals appear all at once, even babies will gradually get excited!

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Fingerplay ‘Mickey Mouse March’

Hand Play 'Mickey Mouse March' ~Hand Play Taught by an Active Teacher~

Fingerplay 'Mickey Mouse March'

Some children are exposed to lots of Disney works and characters from the time they’re tiny babies! Among them, Mickey Mouse is of course a star.

To the melody of Mickey’s theme song, “Mickey Mouse March,” let’s have lots of Disney characters make an appearance! This game also works like a counting song: match the numbers with your fingers—one means holding up one finger on each hand, five means spreading all five fingers on both hands.

Characters that can be expressed with those finger shapes will appear.

Pinocchio and Donald show up, and of course, Mickey himself takes the spotlight at the end! It’s a playful activity that makes babies excited to see what will come next.

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Crawling race

A baby who evolved during the race

Crawling race

A “crawling race” that only babies can do right now.

These races, held at supermarkets and baby specialty stores, are designed just for babies who crawl.

At first glance it seems simple—crawl from the start to the goal—but the race often turns chaotic: some babies cry when Mom or Dad steps away, others stop in place because they don’t understand what’s going on.

From the finish line, parents show their baby’s favorite things to coax them forward, or call out their name… Even if the babies don’t know what’s happening, the moms and dads get surprisingly serious about it! Why not join this adorable, once-in-a-babyhood race while you still can?

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Interactive play: “Row the Boat”

Baby-mo April 2011 issue Hand-play song “Row the Boat” [Shufunotomo Co., Ltd.]

Interactive play: “Row the Boat”

Once your baby can hold their head up, a recommended bonding game is “Row the Boat.” While your baby lies on their back, gently hold both of their feet and, as you sing, move them up, down, left, and right—like the leg motion in the breaststroke.

Active play like this helps develop your baby’s motor skills, and the stimulation also supports emotional growth.

You might rotate with other play songs, such as ones where you touch both hands or gently touch the whole body.

Another idea is to keep the movements the same but change the song.

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