Biosocial Activities in Infants
In the first two years of life, infants undergo rapid physical and social changes, including development of the brain and five senses, fine and gross motor skills and reflexes. Undertaking biosocial activities, which encourage this physical and social development with your child, will complement this natural process and ensure he gets the best start in life. As biosocial activities don't require any specialist knowledge or equipment, they can be easily integrated into your daily routine, according to Kathleen Stassen Berger's "The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence."
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Sensory
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Sensory activities will stimulate and improve your infant's ability to touch, smell, taste, hear and see. Allow your infant to explore an array of textures like silky clothing or warm air from a hair dryer to stimulate touch. Combine with calm music and soft talking for a full sensory experience.
Stimulate the taste sense by experimenting with a range of food and drink, like freshly squeezed orange juice and the crunchy texture of breakfast cereal, Alice Sterling Honig wrote for "Early Childhood Today."
Fine Motor
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Improve your infant's small muscle movement with fine motor skill activities. Encourage your child to reach out for objects and practice grasping them with the hands or feet. Banging toys together will not only aid fine motor skill development, but also acts as sensory play. As your child progresses through infancy, make these activities more challenging to include holding a pen or pencil, drawing on paper and holding a spoon while feeding himself (See References 1 & 3).
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Gross Motor
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Develop your infant's large muscle movements with activities to enhance his gross motor skills. Helping your infant to support his own head is a great place to start. Move on to laying him on his side and encouraging him to practice rolling over onto his back. Practice sitting upright for short periods of time. The Grey Bruce Health Unit in Owen Sound, Ontario, suggests hiding toys under a blanket and helping your infant to crawl under and find them is another way of developing these skills
Social
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Social skills are critical in your infant's communication and emotional development. Social skill activities in early infancy should focus on sound mimicking, gurgling and imitating facial expressions. As your baby reaches the end of her first year, encourage her to imitate body actions, finger feed, drink from a cup and say her first words. Playing with other children, at a parent and baby group, for example, will also improve her social and communication skills.
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