PHYSICAL

Birth-12 months:

• Practice tummy time for a few minutes, increasing the time slowly as muscles get stronger.
• Place toys nearby so your baby can move and reach for them.
• Let your baby turn the pages of a book when you read with him/her.
• Provide toys with moving parts that stay attached.
• Play games and sing songs with movements that your child can imitate.
• Hold your baby’s hands or feet and clap them together as you sing.
• Change the positioning of your baby each time you put him down to sleep to encourage head-turning.
• Hold your baby to your chest so that you’re face-to-face and he uses his upper body muscles to look up at you.
• Hang a shiny or colorful mobile above your baby’s crib to encourage visual tracking and focus.
• Offer toys just out of reach to encourage stretching and moving.
• Place age-appropriate toys in his hands to practice grasping.
• Teach your baby how to roll, drop, or bounce balls.
• Play peek-a-boo or pat-a-cake using your baby’s hands.
• Introduce stacking toys such as rings or blocks.
• Practice blowing kisses, giving high fives, or clapping hands.
• Help your baby stand or provide push toys that allow supported walking.
• Put music on and encourage your baby to bounce or dance
• Roll a ball across the floor and urge your baby to crawl after it.
• Place your baby on his back, allowing him to move his arms and legs.
• Make different facial expressions—especially smiling—while changing your baby’s diaper.
• Hold toys or rattles above your baby’s head and encourage him to reach for them. 
• Provide items that your baby can see herself in, such as an unbreakable mirror or shiny object. Mimic her actions and the actions of others.
• Babies love sounds. Give him a rattle or similar safe, sound-producing object. Sing and shake and dance.

12-36 months:

Physical activity is important to a toddler’s development. Adding daily indoor and outdoor activity to your routine is a great way to encourage this development.  Take time to enjoy outdoor play for at least 20 minutes each day. Try to have outdoor time throughout the day and in different settings that your child can explore.  

• Encourage your child to build a tower of four or more blocks.
• Play parade or follow the leader with your child.
• Help your child to explore things around him by going on a walk or wagon ride.
• Gently roll a ball to your little one and ask him to roll it back.
• Use open physical spaces that encourage movement. Provide soft or oversized balls that are easy to manipulate. Set up objects that act as baskets to toss a soft ball into—like a medium to large box or laundry basket.
• Push and pull toys are a good way to move around and have some support as your child becomes a competent walker and navigator.
• Use large muscles to move and imitate familiar things: jump like a bunny, fly like a bird, or crawl like a worm.
• Use lids from pots and pans as cymbals, or a plastic bowl and spoon as a drum, for an impromptu parade. March around.
• Blow bubbles and let your child pop them. Talk with your child about how he can “pop them up high in the air” or “way down low on the ground.”
• Tape a line on the floor as a balance beam or tight rope. Have your child walk on it. Make up stories. Have her pretend she is on a bridge and crossing over cold water or hot lava that is all around.
• Provide balls for your child to kick, roll, and throw. Begin introducing games by using a plastic liter bottle and a soft ball to “bowl” or a basket to throw a ball into.
• Encourage your child to play make-believe by turning objects into other things, such as a basket into a train.
• Provide safe areas for your child to walk and move around. Play music or provide a rhythm that can help direct his movements.
• Toddlers can play simple, fun games by following basic instructions. Create some fun by using silly actions. For example, “open your eyes really wide while you run,” “close your eyes tight and twirl around,” or “cover your feet with your hands and walk across the yard.”
• Provide foot-driven riding toys, small wagons for pulling, or stand-up toys for pushing.
• Say the name of an animal. Then, have your child move around the yard mimicking the animal and demonstrating how the animal moves from one place to the next.
• Throw a lightweight scarf or dish towel in the air and have your child catch it.
• Set up a simple obstacle course by placing chairs or pillows around the room. Toddlers can practice crawling over or walking around the obstacle course.
• Encourage your child to practice jumping across the room or around chairs