How to Make Your Baby Happy

9 ways to optimize your baby’s brain

All parents have the responsibility to teach their children. Teaching can start as early as pregnancy. Here are some tips on how to optimize your baby's brain. This is a translation of Indonesian Parenting magazine.

Peek a boo
How to play: Cover your face with a blanket and ask your baby, “where is mommy?” Don’t lower the blanket, wait until your baby try to remove the blanket him/her self. If he/she succeed then say, “Here is mommy”

Why baby love it: finding you – someone who is close and loved by your baby – is a nice surprise. This won’t be the first and last time you play this game with your baby. The funny faces you make when your baby removes the blanket might be responsible for it, and your baby will try to imitate you.

What is taught: the skill to manipulate. This game will teach your baby that if he/she acts others will react. For example, laughing when he/she makes funny faces. He/she will learn that by removing the blanket he/she can control what he/she sees.

When to start playing: 6 – 9 months, when the baby already learns motoric skill.

Hi baby, hi baby!
How to play: stand in one side of the box and call his/her name until he/she moves his/her head toward your voice. Then move to the other side and call his/her name again. Do this until he/she looks at you.

Why baby love it: your voice is the most beautiful and nicest voice that he/she ever hears. Hearing you calling his/her name makes him/her really happy.

What is taught: the skill to concentrate. Your baby has to process your voice and the brain will have to learn to combine hearing and seeing which will help your baby to learn how to concentrate. It will help babies to learn to localize something within its environment by hearing from a close.

When to play: from birth until 6 months, when the baby’s sight is still fuzzy and he/she won’t use his/her eyes to follow your voice.

Baby crawl race
How to play: use pillows, sheets, blankets and door mat to build various track for your baby to crawl.

Why baby love it: When the usual playing ground becomes a big and challenging play ground it gives your baby chance to have endless fun.

What is taught: motivation. As soon as they are in the tunnel and climbing the steeps, your baby will feel motivated to know how they get into the tunnel and how to get out of it, thus will make them exercise their physics and cognitive thinking.

When to play: from 8 months, when your baby start to crawl and lift his/her body.