Baby Play

Parents are natural teachers, but they often need inspiration to direct their babies' energies into interactive activities, as well as guidance on what games to play and how to play them. Baby Play offers parents, older siblings, grandparents, and other caregivers baby-friendly skill-building activities that are easy and fun to do. Developed exclusively by Gymboree's play experts, each activity is based on ideas pioneered in the Gymboree Play and Music Programs.

The one hundred activities in this book are for infants from birth to 12 months and are grouped by age-appropriateness. Activities range in scope from quiet observation and reading time to boisterous climbing games and music making. Each activity helps your baby develop a range of skills, whether physical, emotional, social, or cognitive.

Each activity was conceived first and foremost to be fun: development and learning naturally follow. Whether you're new to parenting or want to expand your existing repertoire of activities and songs, Baby Play is a wonderful tool. It will help you and your baby learn new ways to play together, help your baby develop skills and learn about the busy world, and—most important—give your family hours of fun.

For more than a quarter century, Gymboree has helped parents and children discover the many pleasures and benefits of play. Based on established principles of early childhood education and administered by trained teachers, Gymboree's Play and Music Programs emphasize the wonder of play in a nurturing, noncompetitive environment complete with colorful, child-safe equipment. Gymboree has contributed to the international awareness of theimportance of play and now runs its interactive parent-child Play and Music Programs in more than twenty-five countries.

Dr. Wendy S. Masi is a developmental psychologist specializing in early childhood. She has designed and implemented programs for preschools, families with young children, and early childhood professionals for more than twenty-five years. Dr. Masi is the dean of the Mailman Segal Institute of Early Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Florida and the mother of four children.

Dr. Roni Cohen Leiderman is a developmental psychologist specializing in emotional development, positive discipline, and play. For more than twenty-five years, she has worked with young children, families, and professionals. Dr. Leiderman is the associate dean of the Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Florida and the mother of two children.