MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Show he/she understands cause-and-effect relationships (pushing on a toy truck and watching it roll away). Stacks and then knocks down towers and then stacks them up again.
• Explore small openings and looks for items to put in the openings, including their fingers.
• Remember where to find favorite toys, pacifier, blanket.
• Show an understanding of object permanence, such as reaching under a blanket to retrieve a stuffed animal.
• Use objects as intended (pushes buttons on toy phone, drinks from cup). Understand how familiar objects are used in combination (spoon in bowl, socks on feet).
• Distinguish sounds and combinations of sounds.
• Follow the edge of objects in space, such as a blanket, bed, or room.
• Recognize different facial expressions.

YOU CAN

• Demonstrate and explain the relationships between things (“If you throw your toy out of the crib, you can’t reach it.”).
• Play turn-taking games with child (peek-a-boo).
• Provide child with different toys and objects from a variety of cultures to examine, compare, and contrast.
• Describe comparisons during playful interactions (“This pillow is soft, but your toy is hard”).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Use objects as a means to an end (uses a bucket to transport blocks from one room to another, uses spoon to reach for food).
• Solve simple problems independently (by climbing to retrieve an out-of-reach object).

YOU CAN

• Encourage child to try new things in different ways (stack blocks of different shapes and sizes, trying different combinations, such as square blocks on bottom, then round blocks on bottom).
• Compliment a child when he/she tries new things.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Recognize people, animals, or objects in pictures or photographs.

YOU CAN

• Model symbolic use of objects (“Drinks” from a toy cup).
• Ensure that pictures and books have children who look like the child as well as children from other cultural groups.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Begin make-believe play (rocking or feeding a baby doll).

YOU CAN

• Expose child to fantasy stories and songs from a variety of cultures.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Use words or gestures for action phrases (“all gone” and “more”).
• Recognize there are one or two of something.
• Demonstrate early one-to-one correspondence (filling containers with objects by dropping them in one at a time).
• Usually choose a set that has more of something they prefer over a set that has less, when given the option.
• Create larger and smaller sets of objects by grouping and ungrouping items (placing and removing rings on a vertical peg).

YOU CAN

• Count objects in child’s environment out loud.
• Sing songs, tell stories, and read books with numbers and counting.
• Provide number/numeral materials in child’s environment (magnetic numbers, numbers on blocks, books).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Notice size differences (if large) between two objects (pointing to the bigger ball).
• Use such words as “big” and “little” to differentiate sizes.
• Explore relative size by trying to squeeze a large object into a smaller container (putting a doll into doll stroller and then trying to fit themselves into the stroller).

YOU CAN

• Provide opportunities to develop an understanding of volume (filling and emptying).
• Describe size, weight, and length of people, toys, and objects (“This is a big bowl. Will it hold more blocks than the little bowl?”).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Identify objects or creatures by recognizing their similarities (canines are “doggies”; all felines are “kitties”).
• Place similar objects with each other (putting all of the dolls in one pile and all of the cars in another).
• Repeat some actions, such as filling and emptying containers.
• Make patterns by repeating songs and rhymes.
• Watch, bounce, or clap to rhythmic sounds or sing-alongs.

YOU CAN

• Help teach children to sort (“Pick up all of the toys that are animals.”).
• Point to different patterns and identify them (“red, black, red, black...”).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Use more than one sense at a time (uses sight, touch, and hearing by examining and shaking a toy).
• Use another object or person as a tool (expresses the desire to be picked up to reach something, use block to push buttons on a toy).

YOU CAN

• Follow child’s lead as he/she explores the environment.
• Show how objects can be manipulated to make them different and/or more useful.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Express a sense of wonder about the natural world (reach for objects, put objects in mouth or rub on cheek, roll objects in hands, drop objects on floor).

YOU CAN

• Explore objects and the environment together with child. Bring plants and animals into the environment for child to explore.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Explore characteristics of certain living things (pick up an earthworm, try to catch ants).
• Enjoy outdoor play.
• Enjoy playing with water, sand and mud.

YOU CAN

• Sing songs and reads books from a variety of cultures with child that describe plants and animals and how they grow and change.
• Take child on field trips to observe and explore living things (farm, park, beach, fish hatchery).
• Read non-fiction books and sing songs with child that describe the properties of the earth.
• Help child explore dirt, sand, and water.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Show anticipation for regularly scheduled daily events.
• Recall information about the immediate past (after eating, says “All done!”).

YOU CAN

• Label events and routines (use time words such as today, tomorrow, next, later, yesterday).
• Look at photo album or family videos with child.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Explore how differently shaped objects fit or do not fit together (nesting cups or stacking cones).
• Explore barriers to movement when not able to walk or push past something.
• Explore their spatial sense (by bumping into things; squeezing into a tight space; or looking at an adult or a toy from a different angle, when bending over, or with head turned).

YOU CAN

• Provide many opportunities for child to explore the environment.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Recognize some familiar places (home, store, grandparents’ house).
• Know where favorite toys or foods are stored in own home.

YOU CAN

• Describe what child sees and finds in the environment, such as local landforms or animals.
• Describe the weather outside when walking or looking out the window together.

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Depend on others to provide for wants and needs.

YOU CAN

• Read books to child about different types of occupations.
• Explain people’s different jobs in context (“I’m going to work now.”).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Point to, or in some other way indicates, familiar people and objects when they are named.
• Express interest in nature (flowers, a breeze, snow).
• Recognize trash as trash.
• Know location of trash can and recycle bin, if available, in own home or learning setting.

YOU CAN

• Provide child with regular outdoor play.
• Show environmentally responsible behavior (not littering, picking up trash on a walk).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Understand the use of people as “tools” for help (recognizing that an adult can reach an object for them on a high shelf),
• Enjoy listening to music.
• Enjoy using play technology objects (wind-up toy.)
• Turn light switch on and off.

YOU CAN

• Continue to discourage use of TV, tablets, phones and other screens.
• Help child understand using “tools” (places object on blanket, demonstrates how to pull blanket toward self to get the object).

MOBILE BABIES MAY

• Recognize and associate a certain song or sound with a particular meaning (hearing a nap-time song and thinking that it’s safe, secure, and time to nap).
• Make loud noises just for fun, such as screaming or yelling.
• Make movements and sounds in response to cues in songs and finger plays.
• Use facial expressions, sound (vocalizations, clapping), and movement to encourage singers or music to continue.

YOU CAN

• Offer daily musical activities, games, instruments, singing, and books.
• Display the work of artists through prints, posters, paintings, and books from child’s own and other cultural backgrounds.
• Provide multiple opportunities for child to listen to music of all cultures and styles.

BABIES MAY

• Respond to music by listening and moving their heads, arms, and legs.
• Make eye contact with singers.
• Gaze at pictures, photographs, and mirror images.

YOU CAN

• Expose child to a range of voice sounds (singing, speaking, humming).
• Expose child to music from a variety of cultures and styles (jazz, rock, world beat, Latin, classical).
• Show an enjoyment of music and participate in musical activities around child (sings, dances and moves to the beat).
• Take walks with child and explore shapes in the immediate environment.
• Comment aloud about interesting colors, pictures, or a nice view.