[soImarriedAnerd]

I'm looking for idea/things to do with a newborn that is stimulating and entertaining for them. I realized today I don't know any nursery rhymes, I don't know the itsy-bitsy spider hand motions nor how to do the "this little piggies" on his feet! LOL So is there a website for all these typical baby games?

Also what do you do/have that keeps your little one stimulated/entertained?
Anyone have an recommendations for some good black/white (hard contrast) books to read them?

[ShannonMVT]

I'd love to see a website like that too. I don't know all of them either. But you know what? You can just make up whatever you want and it's entertaining to them at this stage! I sing Matthew all kinds of songs and not all of them are kiddie songs. We did "Twist and Shout" the other day, hehe. I also talk to him and tell him what I am doing (like washing dishes), etc. He just loves for me to look at him and talk to him.

Matthew's favorite toys right now are his Carter's stuffed lion, a little bunny chime thing, a toy football and his musical seahorse.

Ohhh I like this thread already!! Although if I act anything like I do with my dogs then I wont be singing nursery rhymes I like to make up stuff. My dog gets the stinky faced dog song sung to her while shes being bathed I can only imagine what Im gonna sing to Kennedi!

[ShannonMVT]

LOL Nikki at stinky faced dog song.

Matthew gets the poo poo pants song.

Oh oh! I nearly forgot and I need to write this stuff down or I'll forget.

So I couldn't remember all the words to "pop goes the weasel" and then Dh just starts singing his own version to Matthew in the bath....
"The monkey bites you in the butt
You run around the bushes
Something something something something
POP goes the weasel!"

Oh and after my milk came in I kept singing that Brittney Spears spoof song "Make my boobies one more size".

[~* Helen *~]

I just sang to her , made silly faces and silly sounds .. anything to get them paying attention ..... talking ... she has always led under her gym more or less from birth ... she has always loved the bight colours !!!

Aything !!! Let your imagination run wild!!!

Imagination is a good thing when it comes to babes!

[ANGWife]

Don't forget peek a boo!

I sing to Henry as well and make funny noises. I sing "BINGO" but use his name instead. And the most simple toys are what interest him. He loves his linking rings.

He seems to like to watch me do chores too. I sit him in his bouncy and he watches me clean the kitchen almost everyday.

[KatiInCT]

There are tons of baby songs and finger games out there and many variations of each. Thankfully the internet is a great source (do various searches on youtube to be able to see and listen!).

One tip that my husband (a music education major) told me which has stuck is with any music that you have on find the steady beat, put your hands palms up and baby's hands on top of yours and bounce the baby's hands upward. This motion will help them learn to react to the motion and slowly learn to initiate it themselves. (As compared to palm to palm clapping in front that you see elementary school kids do, baby's like to have gravity on their side.)

I'll try to pick his brain more later today when he wakes up. :-) He is actually in the process of putting together an infant/parent music curriculum.

[Mars]

You are the most entertaining and stimulating "toy" your baby is going to have. I guess you can do a search for baby songs and rhymes on the internet but I mainly used nursery rhyme and story books and acted out things my way. I made funny faces, sang songs, danced and just did anything silly.

I also made toys too. I tied a sting across her playyard and hung ribbons on it. Amara really loved to watch them blowing in the wind and then she tried reaching for them. You can do that with black and white ribbons or just anything.

Amara loved when I danced and spin her gently around. Right now, she loves "horsey" where I bounce her on my knee and go giddy-up, giddy-up.

It's an imagination thing. Just make it up as you go.

[Resi]

I made up most of my own songs and they have stuck. I'm sure you could google nursery songs and find something.