Today Tile Triggered Content

Many toys and household items contain batteries. The smaller ones – known as button batteries, or coin batteries – are particularly worth looking out for. Not only are they the size of certain sweets and chocolates so easily swallowed, but they are powerful lithium batteries that will cause damage. 

When your baby is playing, you may notice they are drawn to certain toys, types of play or particular things in the great outdoors. Following their interests is great for encouraging confidence and engaging play and conversation.  

Take notice 

Hide and Seek Pig is one of the wonderful stories from the well-loved Tales from Acorn Wood collection. Like the other books in the series, Hide and Seek Pig is a fun, rhyming story that is enjoyable for babies, toddlers and young children.  

While we want you to find all you could ever wish for here (!), we just had to share these five other apps with you. We think they're brilliant for keeping your mind and body enriched, as a parent and also as a person, beyond who you are as a Mum, Dad or carer.

Headspace

It’s likely that your baby will be chatting away to themselves by now: making lots of different noises like squeals, oohs and other vocal sounds.  

These different sounds all mean that your baby wants to chat to you. Chat back by repeating the noises they make, making up your own sounds or using words (or a mixture of all three of these sounds). 

Reaching, grasping and moving objects is a skill that is fundamental for life. We spend a lot of time reaching into bags and cupboards, picking items up and putting them back down again. Let’s investigate the skills your baby is gaining while playing with and exploring objects and containers. 

Cognitive planning 

Isn’t it fascinating what your baby can do now? All these months they have been practising and learning about how to move and coordinate their hands and fingers. Now they have such great control. Your baby has followed lots of different developmental processes to arrive here, let’s look at their progress so far... 

Up, up and away 

Look at that! Has your baby just stopped and picked up a moving object? They are mastering lots of tricky skills and your support and encouragement will help them to keep trying.    

Sometimes being close by, offering quiet, calm reassurance will be all the encouragement your baby needs as they are driven to master new skills. But here are some ideas for phrases that offer encouragement to keep trying. 

Your baby is exploring movement and emotions, discovering their voice and seeking attention... they literally never stop. Which means, you never stop. This TED Talk may encourage you to think about pausing for one moment, then consciously doing this – if only for one moment each year. Stopping to appreciate and cherish being a parent is most likely something you never have time to do. But you deserve to. 

Your baby's ability to control their head is one of the earliest physical skills they will learn. You might notice they are starting to tilt their head when looking at something close to them, which indicates they’re getting stronger. 

Beginning to control their head is an important part of your baby’s development as this is the first step to controlling their balance, posture and coordination.