7 Ways To Play With Your Newborn (0-12 weeks)

When I had my first baby, I wanted to help him start developing as soon as I could. When he was awake, I wanted to play with him, but I didn’t really know how. I was also really excited to see him react in anyway possible. I tried looking up ways to play with my newborn, but couldn’t find much.

First of all, the idea of “playtime” isn’t what you think when it comes to newborns. When newborns are awake and studying your face, that’s their playtime. They can’t grab toys yet, can’t make cooing noises, and can’t even smile at first. You have to adjust your idea of “playtime” when you’re wanting to play with a newborn.

I came up with several ways to make “playtime” more fun for me and my baby. These can all be done right from the start! Here are a few of the things that I did! Also, if you haven’t read my post Newborn Products that Make Momming Easier, be sure to check that out!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them, I might receive a small commission at no extra cost to you!

1. Do Bicycles to Play with Your Newborn

Movement is a really good way to play with your newborn! Aside from trying to get some kind of reaction out of them, this is great for a lot of reasons! When babies are gassy, bicycles and leg movements help that gas move out. Doing leg movements can really help to strengthen their muscles too.

2. Play with Your Newborn by Showing them Black and White Paper

Newborns can’t see colors very well yet, but they can see contrast! They love dark and light colors together. I often caught my newborn staring at the yellow, black and white warning sign in his car-seat. He loved the contrast, so I started showing him small squares of black and white scrapbook paper.

Something like THIS set would be great! I had about 4 sheets that I rotated between and my newborn loved it! He would follow it with his eyes around 2 weeks old, and that was a really fun first milestone to start playing with!

3. Tummy Time Play

Tummy Time is SO important for your newborn! Doing tummy time several times a day, helps them to develop muscles and skills that they can’t develop otherwise. They might hate it, but it is something that you should do when they are awake (remember, just being awake is their “playtime”). try to avoid doing it right after they eat though. I usually waited about 30 minutes after I fed my newborn and I noticed a lot less spit-up. Tummy time can be a good time to show your baby those black and white scrapbook pages too! Newborns really like to study that stuff out!

4. Massage Time with Your Newborn

After bath time, you’re supposed to rub your baby down in lotion to help keep their skin from getting dry. I loved to do this at other times of the day too, just to help calm my baby down. I would lay him on a blanket on top of a warm heating pad and rub his little back, legs arms, etc. If he wasn’t crying, he would just sit and stare at me and I felt like it was a really special bonding time! He was usually pretty happy about gettinga massage too!

5. Dance With and Sing to Your Newborn

Even if you don’t believe that you have a great voice, babies love to be sung to! They just want to hear your voice. As my newborn got a little older and started smiling, he would give me big smiles whenever I would sing to him. It melted my heart and I started to sing all the time! I would sing everything from lullabies, to my favorite music. This started becoming one of my favorite playtime activities!

It was fun to dance around with him too. He liked watching all the movement! Sometimes I would do that while singing, but it’s also fun to just turn on some music and waltz around in the kitchen! Newborns won’t care if you’re the worst singer or dancer, they will just love the unique activity and loving attention!

6. Stick Your Tongue Out to Play with Your Newborn

Another fun way to play with your newborn is to stick out your tongue and encourage them to copy you. This is one of the first things that they can mimic and it’s so fun! I would lay my newborn on the couch or my bed and just lean over him and stick my tongue out. I would move my tongue fast, slow, in circles, or pretty much whatever I was feeling like doing. He liked to watch all the movement and eventually started copying me!

7. Take Your Newborn Outside/Lay in the Sun

This is a good way to play with a newborn! Take them outside if it’s warm. Let them be exposed to the light (not directly), or let them lay in front of a warm, sunny window inside. This will help if your baby has any jaundice. It will also help your baby to know the difference between night and day (you want them to learn that REAL fast).

Hopefully these tips will help you feel like you have some ways to play with your newborn. It is hard for the first several weeks because they will mostly just sleep, but don’t worry. Before you know it, you’ll be non-stop entertaining them and probably wish they would sleep a little more 😉 Do you have any other ideas to play with newborns? Tell me in the comments!