Help your baby become aware of shapes

During the first year of their life, your little one won’t be able to identify or name any shapes yet. However, there are certain activities you can do with them to expose them to various shapes so they become aware of these. Make sure your sweetie pie has a variety of toys of different shapes to play with. When playing with these, say for example: “The ball is a round circle and this block is a square.” Make your baby aware of different shapes as often as possible. Place specific shape toys, like balls, wooden blocks of different shapes and foam blocks, in a container. Unpack these with your munchkin while giving the name of each shape as you do. Hang mobiles or pictures with different shapes in your baby’s room, play area, above their changing station or on their car seat. Name the different shapes for them when you see them looking at or playing with these. Let your baby sit on your lap while you page through a book with different shapes. Be sure to name the shapes by saying: “The sun is a yellow circle. They live in a big square house.” By Susanne Hugo, a Mysmartkid expert and Occupational Therapist