Play with your baby today

Talking to your baby is the most important thing that you can do to help them learn to talk and later learn to read.

Talk to your new baby

Congratulations, your little one has entered the world. They need you to talk to them to explain what this busy place is all about. Talk to your baby about what you are doing, what they can see, what they can hear, feel and smell. 

Respond to your baby’s cries. This will be one of the first, and a very important way that they communicate with you. When your baby cries and you talk to them in a soothing voice they know ‘I am important’, ‘I am loved’ and ‘I am safe’.

Talk to your baby during your everyday routines such as dressing, bathing, feeding and during play. It doesn’t matter what you say. They will be interested in you and your wonderful voice.

At about 8 weeks your baby will find their own voice. This is when they will want to start having mini conversations with you. Listen to your baby’s sounds. Wait for them to finish. Talk back to them and then wait again.

Touch your baby

We communicate so much through touch in our everyday lives – love, empathy, excitement. Being hands on with your baby will help them feel safe and secure.

Use touch during your everyday routines:

  • give you baby a gentle massage after bath time

  • play gentle tickle games with your baby

  • kiss their face, their hands, their feet

  • hold them close and rock them gently

Read to your baby

Reading to your baby is a great way to help them learn to talk, and later learn to read. Your baby loves the sound of your voice and will love hearing you read to them from the day they are born. Choose books that have short phrases and clear pictures. Books that rhyme and have a great rhythm will captivate your baby too. 

A great way to share books with your baby is to lie on the floor next to your baby and hold the book above you. Read to them using an expressive voice. Read the same books over and over. Babies learn through repetition.

Promise your baby that you will read to them everyday.

Sing to your baby

Your baby will be captivated when you sing to them. Songs engage babies (and all children) and are a great way for them to learn words. Children’s songs are fantastic because they:

  • repeat key words

  • often have actions that explain what a word means

  • talk about what is happening in the ‘here and now’

  • have catchy tunes that make babies pay attention to what you are saying

Use songs in your everyday routines. For example, bath time is a great time to sing ‘Everybody washing’ or ‘This is the way we wash your…’

Can’t remember any songs from your childhood? Check out our song and rhyme library for some great ideas.

Bath time

Bath time is usually a great time to talk to your baby. Your baby is likely to be relaxed and held in a way that they can see your face.

  • Explain what you are doing. ‘Daddy’s washing your tummy. Wash, wash, wash’.

  • Talk about what your baby can feel. ‘The water is warm. Nice and warm. Warm on your body’.

  • Sing a song about washing or water.

  • Talk about how your baby is moving in the water. ‘Kick your legs. Kick, kick, kick’, ‘You’re swimming. Swim, swim, swim’, ‘Splash, splash, splash.’

  • Tell them what is happening as you dry them with the towel.

  • Name your baby’s body parts and clothes as you dress them.