Social and Emotional Development Activities for Infants

Babies begin to socialize and develop both socially and emotionally from birth. They are observing the world and learning how to react to everything around them. Parents can use activities to help their infant to grow into a socially and emotionally well-rounded child. Some of the activities are a common part of parenting, while others require a little more work.

  1. Daily Care

    • Especially in the earlier stages of an infant's life, daily care activities help the infant to learn how to interact socially with parents and also feed the emotional development. Simply feeding and holding your infant lets him know that you love and will take care of him. This security helps the infant to observe how people react to each other on a social level. When the parents respond to the child quickly, they are letting him know that he is important.

    Games

    • From a very young age, infants can begin interacting through simple games that encourage social and emotional development. Peek-a-boo is one of the earliest games that infants can understand. Once they are old enough, they may even be able to begin playing it themselves. "So Big" is another game that babies enjoy. To play this game, a parent or caregiver asks the baby how big she is and then answers, "So big!" while holding her arms over her head. Over time, the baby will learn to put up her own arms.

    Songs

    • Even infants enjoy hearing music. Singing silly songs that are accompanied by hand motions can help an infant to develop socially and emotionally. If the parent does not know the particular hand motions that belong to a song, he can make up his own. Songs such as "Wheels on the Bus," "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" are all good choices for parents to use with their infants.

    Facial Expressions

    • As a baby gets older, she is more able to recognize facial expressions and copy them. One of the earliest expression a baby can imitate is a smile. She will begin by smiling at random and then will smile in response to a smile from another person. A parent can make exaggerated facial expressions at her child. If she tells the baby repeatedly what each facial expression means, the baby will eventually begin to associate each expression with a feeling. Older infants may even be able to give the appropriate expression when prompted.

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