Ways to Play

Intermediate floor play & tummy time.

Expected Age Range: 2 months, or so.

You and your baby are already familiarized with the foundational sensory systems that support gross motor development, and some ways engage them through play. 

In this intermediate level, you’ll learn how to create opportunities for meaningful movement based on the position that your baby is in. Including on their back, side, tummy, or in supported standing. Each play idea continues to engage those same sensory systems in different ways, eliciting movement responses from your baby. Because that’s how motor development occurs! 

Create Opportunities for Meaningful Movement

On Their Back

Visual Tracking to the Sides

Increase the focus on visual tracking. Hold an object of interest about 9 inches from your baby’s face, give it a little shake to get their attention. Once your baby establishes visual contact with the object, slowly move it to the left or right. If your baby looks away, stop moving the object and start over. With practice, your baby should start tracking objects to the left and right, equally, maintaining contact for longer periods of time.   

Bring Awareness to Spontaneous Movements

Bring your baby’s attention to the random and spontaneous movements of their arms and legs with the principle of “cause and effect.” Place objects around your baby’s arms and legs that make a noise when your baby randomly makes contact with the object. Items that work well for this activity include: crinkle books, rattles, and bells.

Encourage Sweeping Reaches

Dangle a rattle or bells over your baby in their line of sight that encourages sweeping attempts to reach the toy. They will not be able to intentionally reach out and grab the toy. But, if they accidentally make contact with the toy, they will hear the toy make a sound. This encourages your baby to try to repeat the same movement. You can also do this by dangling the toy from your baby play gym.

Lay the Groundwork for Bringing Hands to Midline

Place an object or toy of interest on your baby’s chest to encourage attempts to bring hands together. Your baby is not expected to be able to bring their hands together, yet. But, this activity helps them begin to practice. A stuffed animal works well, since your baby can make contact with the stuffed animal with large random movements of their arms. 

Play with Depth Perception and Anticipatory Timing

Hold a toy up high over your baby, about 2 feet. Slowly lower it down onto their chest as they watch. Make a noise to go along with the movement. They may not reach out for the toy, yet. But, with repetition and predictability, this helps your baby develop anticipatory timing for reaching and grabbing toys. 

Practice Grasping

Use a toy like linking rings to make contact with the palm of your baby’s hand. They will reflexively grasp the ring. Linking rings are easy for babies to wrap their whole hand around, so they are reflexively able to hold onto it. Soon, this grasping of a toy will be intentional, and no longer reflexive. 

Bring Awareness to Hands and Feet

Begin bringing awareness to your baby’s hands and feet by gently bringing them through the following motions: clapping hands together, clapping feet together, touching opposite hand to foot. Vary the speed of these movements (fast and slow) and pressure upon contact (light and firm). Use songs, words, and sounds to coordinate with movements of the body. Gently clap your baby’s hands together rhythmically while saying “clap, clap, clap!” 

Rock Side to Side

Cradle your baby’s hips and buttocks in your hands. Lift up so that their legs come up off the floor, and gently rock side to side, and up and down as tolerated. This provides your baby with gentle trunk rotation, a movement that will be necessary for rolling. 

On Their Side

Make a Bolster for Support

Roll up a towel and use it as a bolster behind your baby’s back in sidelying. This will make it easier for you to be face to face with your baby while they are on their side. 

Introduce a Toy to Their Hands

While your baby is lying on their side, with both hands resting in front of their body, place a toy in their hands. This is a great time to introduce the objects that you’ve picked out that have a variety of textures. In this position, your baby can see their hands and the object at the same time. And the object is more likely to stay in place as opposed to when they are lying on their back and the toy is on their tummy. 

Remove the Support for Rolling Back

Remove the support from behind your baby’s back and allow them to roll from side lying to their back. This will be an uncontrolled roll. It prepares your baby’s vestibular system for the feeling of rolling from tummy to back, when the time comes. 

In Supported Standing

Hold Your Baby in Supported Standing

Hold your baby in a supported standing position with your hands under their arms, around their trunk, with their head supported. Your baby will likely not be accepting too much weight though their feet yet, but this prepares them for weight bearing.

Tummy Time Suggestions

The Floor Should Be The Primary Location

Now that you have a daily routine that involves tummy time, your baby should be able to tolerate it for increasingly longer periods of time, with less need for modifications. That means, the floor should be the primary place where you practice tummy time. Not primarily on your chest, or on the bed. 

Tummy Time Should Be Enjoyable

Tummy time should be an enjoyable experience for your baby, and they should be making progress toward tolerating 30 minutes per day. These 30 minutes can be split up into smaller increments throughout the day.  

Gently Roll Into Position

Continue gently rolling your baby from their back to tummy, instead of picking them up and placing them on their tummy.

Set Their Sight Higher

Slowly raise a toy or object of interest a few inches up from the floor. This encourages your baby to begin lifting their head up for brief periods of time.

Practice on a Variety of Surfaces

Consider practicing on surfaces with different levels of firmness (soft to firm), inclines and declines, and uneven surfaces (like a blanket over grass).

Tummy Time Modifications

Many of these modifications are from the beginner stage, and may still be helpful at the intermediate stage. 

Held in Prone Position 

This is a great way to sneak in modified tummy time. It’s ideal for babies that are not tolerating being placed on their tummy on the floor, yet. Hold your baby with their tummy facing down, toward the floor. The underside of your forearm will be supporting their whole body (and head, as needed), like they are flying. You can walk around the house or outside together like this. Your baby will likely be looking down at the floor, but as their neck gets stronger, they will start lifting their head to look around. This may help them better tolerate tummy time on the floor. 

On an Exercise Ball

This is a hands-on way to ease your baby from inclined tummy time to tummy time on a level surface. If you have an exercise ball at home, give this one a try. Sit on the floor behind, or in front of, the exercise ball. Place your baby on their tummy on the ball. With two hands holding your baby’s lower trunk and pelvis, slowly and gently move your baby forward and backward on the ball. You can increase or decrease the degree of incline that your baby is experiencing. For example, if your baby is horizontal on the ball, they will be working harder to hold their head up. If they are not tolerating this well, you can roll them backward on the ball, so that their head is raised above their hips. You can adjust between these two positions, according to what your baby is tolerating. 

On an Inclined Pillow or Cushion

This is another way to modify tummy time and practice with your baby’s body on an incline. With the pillow or cushion on the floor, be sure to position your baby so that their head and chest are raised slightly higher than their hips. You may need to stabilize your baby with your hands so that they don’t roll off the pillow. You can also achieve this inclined position by placing your baby on their tummy over your lap. 

With a Rolled Towel Under Their Chest

Give your baby a boost with a rolled towel under their chest. Raising your baby’s chest slightly off the floor can make tummy time much more tolerable. One way to do this is by tightly rolling a small-medium towel about 4 inches thick, and placing it under your baby’s chest. Arms should be forward, in front of the towel, elbows under or slightly in front of shoulders. This is best for babies that are starting to lift their head on their own for several seconds at a time, but get fussy easily. By raising your baby’s head above their hips, their weight is shifted to their lower body. This makes their head feel lighter and easier to lift. 

Anchor Your Baby’s Hips With Your Hand

When your baby is on their tummy, place your hand in a “C” shape over their hips to gently anchor their pelvis. This will make it much easier for them to lift their head. This can be done in conjunction with the rolled towel trick. 

If You Can’t Comfortably Lie on the Floor With Your Baby

If getting down onto the floor is not comfortable, try these two alternatives. You can lay on the bed, face to face with your baby, while they practice tummy time on the bed. You can also try sitting on the floor in front of the couch, face to face with your baby, while they practice tummy time on the sofa.