Your baby is learning to notice sounds all around her more and more each day. Now that her hand and eye coordination is getting stronger, she is learning that she can manipulate and create sounds with not only her mouth, but also with her hands. Try making noisy socks to introduce her to the sounds of her world.
- 4 clean, thick socks
- 4 types of noise-making materials (e.g., crinkly plastic, small bells, keys, party beads, coins, buttons)
- rubber bands
Step 1: Arrange all of your items in front of you and your baby. You may want to sit with your baby on the carpet.
Step 2: Take one sock and place a set of keys, for example, in the sock. Tie a rubber band on top of the sock to keep the keys in place (this also helps to avoid your baby putting keys in her mouth). You may say something like this:
Look what I have. I am going to put these keys inside a sock. I wonder what sound it will make if I shake it. Oh, listen! These keys make a pretty sound.
Step 3: Continue to fill each of the remaining socks with other noise-making items. Let your child know what you are doing and describe the sound that each sock makes. Your child may want to take the sock away from you so she can make the sound as well. Give her some time to shake and explore the socks while you are sitting with her.
Step 4: After all of the socks are filled, revisit each sock, shake it and describe the sound to her. Recall the name of the item that was in the sock.
Repeat activity until your baby signals that she's ready for a different activity.
