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Brain Builders

Stimulating Activities for Your 5-month-old Baby

By Tammy Morey

s that if she reaches for the Bumpy ball, she can touch it, manipulate it into her grasp and pull it toward her so that she can explore it more closely both visually and through the tactile stimulation of putting it in her mouth. The perfect types of balls are the "Easy Grip Bumpy Balls" that come in primary colors. These types of games and toys also will promote the growth of her memory ability.

Her memory ability is so important because it allows her to understand the concept of object permanence, meaning that when she can't see Mommy, Mommy isn't gone forever (which causes anxiety), but is merely temporarily out of sight and will return. By now, she will have developed memory traces that last from seven to nine seconds, which allow her to make conscious and guided movements. For example, when she sees her bumpy ball and turns her focus away for a period of no longer than nine seconds, she will remember its existence and return back to playing with the ball.

The fifth month is also the perfect time to introduce Baby to the skill of dumping and filling containers. Not only will this entertain her but it also teaches her about the relative weights, shapes and sizes of different objects. These types of games enhance her awareness of spatial concepts like small and large and full and empty. The actual process of the games that engage her in dumping out and putting back are exercises that address both fine and gross motor skills. You may have already noticed that she seems to find anything and everything in the house that she can already empty out.

By the fifth month, your baby is also quite good at grasping objects, but she may not be as adept at passing from one hand to the other. Passing involves moving both hands at once and can be a difficult task to master. In order to pass the toy, she will need to learn how to grasp and release simultaneously. Bilateral coordination is a prerequisite to her crawling and eventually walking.

Want to see more?

• Brain Builders: An Introduction
• Brain Builders: Stimulating Activities for Your 1-month-old Baby
• Brain Builders: Stimulating Activities for Your 2-month-old Baby
• Talk about it!