Month 2: Top 10 Sensory Activities for 2 month old baby

As an Occupational Therapist and a Mom I have put together top activities for your 2 month old baby. They will focus on creating a bond between you and your little one as well provide opportunities to strengthen their brain and motor development.

I hope you enjoyed Josh’s 2nd month story. All 2 month old baby activities I suggest in this post are based on my professional OT experience & the play we engaged with Josh when he was 2 months young. This includes tummy time, talking, reading, cuddle time, floor time, movement to exploring through touch & vision. Enjoy!

Development

What to expect from your 2 month old baby

So it’s 2 months now. Time is flying fast. Here are a few developmental things that you might see your 2 month old baby do:

• They still love to sleep. At 2 months babies sleep 15-16 hours a day.
• Your 2 month old can hold their head a little steadier.  Make sure you continue with Newborn tummy time to keep making your little bub stronger.
• Many of the reflexes are still around, such as the sucking reflex. Sucking is also one of the best ways your baby can comfort themselves.
• You may start to see your 2 month old baby try to bat objects that you place in front of them.
• Their vision is still developing and they can see objects up to 18 inches away.
• They begin to follow things with their eyes.
• Your baby loves listening to you talk or sing so keep on talking to them.
• Their crying might include more grunts, gurgling or coos.
• Your baby can turn their head towards sounds.
• You may be lucky to get a smile.

Activities for your 2 month old baby

By now you have started to figure out your baby’s personality. You may know some of their likes, dislikes and understand their different cries. You may still not be getting enough sleep and walk around the house like a zombie. Just remember… this too will pass!

Whenever you and your baby are awake take the opportunity to play. Through play you can help your baby’s development both mentally and physically.

Here are my top 10 sensory activities for your 2 month old baby. These activities have been tried and tested.

1. Tummy Time

Yes… Again I am putting in this activity for your 2 month old baby. It continues to be an essential developmental activity in your baby’s everyday routine. It helps to build coordination and strengthens your baby’s neck, shoulders, arms and trunk. These muscles also help with the motor skills such as rolling over, crawling, pulling self up and sitting up. Read more about Tummy Time with your baby.

2. Talking to your baby

Any type of talking or singing will be beneficial. While your baby hears you talking he will start to lay down foundations for language development. It doesn’t matter what you say just as long as you talk to them. You can narrate your day, read them books or sing. Anything will do.

For more detail, here are a two recommended sites worth looking over:

• Talk with your baby and
• The Power of talking to your baby

3. Reading

It’s never too early to start reading to your baby. As babies love hearing their parents’ voices make sure both parents take turns reading. Reading has many benefits, so it’s great to get into a habit of reading every day.

Benefits

• Promote listening skills
• Increase language development
• Assist in the development of attention span and memory
• Promote bonding between you and your baby
• Instill the love of reading

Tips for parents

• Read to your baby in a quiet place
• You don’t have to read all the words in the book
• You can describe what you see on each page
• Have fun when reading. Use exaggerated faces, animated voices and just be silly, this will help your baby’s attention
• Use a variety of books: board books, lift a flap, or textured books.

For more information about benefits and principles on reading to your baby check out www.readtoyourbaby.com

4. Magic of Human Touch

A very important activity for you and your 2 month old baby. This is an easy sensory activity that has amazing benefits for you and your young baby.

How to do it?

• Skin to skin contact
• Cuddle time
• Rocking your baby
• Massaging your baby

Why do it?

Some of the benefits include:

• Building a bond between you and your baby
• Boost healthy psychological and physical development
• Improved sleep
• Massage helps babies manage their stress
• Massage improves autonomic functions such as heart rate and temperature
• It can also help with pain relief

For more information on the effects of touch I recommend you read:

• The Effect of Human Contact on Newborn Babies and
• Benefits of Infant Massage

5. Floor time play

An essential activity for our 2 month old baby. Give your baby the opportunity to move around. Try to avoid placing your baby for extended time in car seats, rockers or swings. Get them down onto the floor either on their tummy or on their back. Even though they don’t do much independent movement at this age, being on the ground has many benefits. While on the ground they are starting to strengthen important muscles. These muscles are needed for rolling, crawling, sitting and then walking.

6. Moving with your baby

So you have been getting your baby on the floor to work on those important muscles. While off the floor however, take the opportunity to move them in many different directions. Movement helps with development of the vestibular system. A system responsible for the awareness of our body in space.

So how can you move?

With this activity you can be very creative with your 2 month old. You can put on your favorite music and have a dance with your baby. Or what my husband used to do is play an airplane game. It included some smooth flying through the air with an addition of some turbulence. This can be done in many different ways. You can rock or lift your baby (up, down, side to side, round and round). You can move your baby fast and slow. Make sure you stop every minute or so. This will let the body register the movements and make sure your baby is not over stimulated.

7. Exploring through touch

The development of the tactile system is important. A baby learns about their body and their environment though the sense of touch. Remember that this is not only about touching through the use of hands. It includes their whole body. So whenever the temperature allows strip your baby down to a nappy and let their whole body explore the variety of textures. This helps in the development of many skills including gross and fine motor skills.

Here are some ideas on incorporating this activity with your 2 month old baby:

• Lay your baby on a variety of textured fabrics or blankets. It can include sheep skin, silk, cotton etc. Always supervise and ensure that your baby can breathe at all times.
• Place a variety of textured materials or toys in your baby’s hands. Examples can include different fabrics, rattles, textured rings, sponges. There are so many toys these days that can be smooth, bumpy, spikey, hard or squishy.
• Move different textured materials over their body (arms, feet, face, belly and back). Again it can include different fabrics or toys. My son Josh loved when I tickled him with a feather.
• Bath time! Water covers their whole body and it is yet another sensation. You may even use different textured towels each time to add some variety.

8. Let your fingers do the walking

At this age your baby can’t see far but there are many things that they enjoy looking at. Faces are of course one of their favorites. Another favorite is looking at moving fingers. I had so much fun with this!

What to do

You can let your imagination run wild. The main purpose is for your little one to watch your fingers dance. You can put some music on and move your fingers to the rhythm. Up, down, side to side, fast or slow. Anything goes.

You can get some finger puppets and do a simple puppet show. Get the puppets to go up, down, side to side.

Remember: Keep your hands no more then 18 inches away from their face.

How to position your baby

• Lying on their tummy
• Lying on their back
• Reclined while sitting on your tummy:
  • You: Lie on your back with a pillow behind your back for support. Slide your feet toward your hips so that your calves are near the back of your thighs.
  • Baby: Sit your baby on your tummy facing you so that his back is resting against your thighs.

9. Lets look at things

At 2 months your baby can see up to 18 inches away from his face. Your baby can also fixate on an object and follow it for a short time. You can promote this skill through play. Hold a toy or any object that you notice he finds interesting, in front of his face. Move it in different directions. Add some fun to it by singing, talking or making funny sound effects. Mobiles and Play Gyms are also fun. Get down with your baby inside the play gym and have some fun with all the dangling toys.

10. Swatting game

As you are dangling toys above your little one’s head you may notice that your baby will start swatting objects. This is an important skill that helps with hand-eye coordination. You can use your play gym or different rattles or toys. Things that make noise or are fun and shiny. Follow your baby’s lead in what motivates them to get swatting. Watch for that excitement when they get to hit the object.

Remember: Each baby develops at their own pace. If your child is not ready or not interested in these 2 month activities, just try them again in a few weeks.

Summary of Activities your 2 month old baby

There you have it. My top 10 Sensory Activities for your 2 month old baby. Many exciting activities you can do today to help your child develop better. Recapping those 10 sensory activities, they are:

1. Tummy Time
2. Talking to your baby
3. Reading
4. Magic of Human Touch
5. Floor time play
6. Moving with your baby
7. Exploring through touch
8. Let your fingers do the walking
9. Lets look at things
10. Swatting game

These are just a few activities for your 2 month old baby that are bound to spark other ideas. Just remember that every new sensory experience is helping your child’s growth and development.

For feedback or further questions please leave a comment below.

~ Urszula

Disclaimer: The activities in this blog are intended for sensory play. They are not a replacement for treatment of children with Sensory Processing Disorder, are not medical advice and should not be used in place of the care of a medical doctor or other qualified healthcare professional. These activities should be facilitated and supervised by an adult. All activities are to be performed at your own risk and in no event shall Sensory Lifestyle be liable for any damages.

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