Let's Play! The Aim Game & Floating Blocks

1.The Aim Game

Why is it so hard to keep a baby's attention focused on food long enough to get him to eat? Think about how tricky it is for him to even get a spoonful of food near his mouth, and it's easy to see why he loses interest and sends it all to the floor. But give him some new and unusual tools, and meals become fun occasions for practicing his technique.

Skills developed: fine motor, hand-eye coordination, eating with utensils
What you'll need: any utensils you have handy that are safe for your baby to eat with, including wooden spoons, measuring spoons, rubber spatulas, even very dull butter knives

Your cooking utensil drawer is full of things that look like toys to your baby. Show him how to use them for eating, and lunch or dinner becomes an exciting new game. Give them to him one at a time, pantomiming eating with each one, or feed him once yourself with each one. He may slather food all over himself with the spatula or flip it onto the walls with the wooden spoon, but he does that with his regular utensils anyway, right?

2.Floating Blocks

Once your baby is sitting securely in the tub, she's ready to use bath time for some seriously silly water play. A set of foam blocks lets her indulge her love of stacking and manipulating things.

Skills developed: fine motor
What you'll need: a package of sponges or bathtub blocks made of dense plastic foam; a sharp knife

To make your own bath blocks: Stiffen the sponges by wetting them and letting them dry, then use a sharp knife to cut them into a variety of interesting shapes and sizes. Make sure you cut at least one larger flat shape to use as a base for the others.

Show your baby how to press the blocks against the sides of the tub, squeeze the water out of them, push them down to the bottom of the tub and let them pop back up again, and stack them on top of each other. Sponge blocks are soft enough to safely throw against the wall or into the water for a resounding splash. With the plastic foam, which floats, she can try stacking smaller blocks on larger ones while they're floating on the water, an interesting challenge.

Note: If she's still at the stage where she's chewing on everything in sight, watch carefully to keep her from biting off pieces of foam.

Remember: Each baby develops at a different pace, so if yours isn't quite ready for this week's activities, don't worry — just try them again in a few weeks.

source from http://www.babycenter.com