I’ve had so many lovely messages about my last baby play post that I thought I’d share another five simple baby play ideas with you guys.

What’s in the bag?

Whenever my Mum comes to visit, the first thing Florence does is empty her handbag of all of its contents and then popping it all back in. The same happens with the changing bag, my make up bag… basically, give my daughter a bag and it will keep her entertained for ages! It’s a great activity for teaching babies the words ‘in’ and ‘out’, as well as naming each item they pick up. It doesn’t have to be a bag either, a basket or box will do too.

Mama’s Purse

Similarly with bags, Florence loves a purse! If I need five minutes to clear up or keep her distracted while we’re travelling, I always pull my purse out (take all the change and my bank card out!) and let her play with the card section. My purse is always full of old train tickets & loyalty cards so she has great fun sliding them in and out of the slots and it’s a really good little fine motor skills builder.

Peekaboo!

‘Where’s Florence gone?’… ‘Boo!’. So she hasn’t quite grasped that you have to cover your eyes yet, but we probably play this about 5 times a day… at least! It’s a super simple game to play with your baby wherever you are and the bonus is you don’t need anything other than yourself & baby. Obviously, you can use a blanket or a toy to cover your face too, or even hide behind a bigger object, but when it comes to simple baby play, it doesn’t get much simpler than this.

Water Play

Give my baby a container of water and you can be sure she’ll play away for ages. We’ve bought her a water table for an early birthday present which is possibly the best purchase I’ve ever made as she has played with it almost every day since it arrived, but you don’t have to have a water table to be able to introduce your little one to water play. A tub, a large bowl, a plastic storage box or a paddling pool are all a good alternative… just add some bath toys or cups & spoons! It goes without saying that all play should be supervised, but please always keep a close eye on your baby while they’re playing with water!

Pick Up Sticks

Sticks, straws, pipe cleaners, they all work just the same for this little game. In fact, the more colourful the better! For this one I sat Florrie in her tuff spot (to contain the spread!) and poured out a packet of straws for her to play with. She spent ages rolling them around, picking them up in handfuls or just one at a time, blowing through them, spreading them out. Again, this is a fab activity for developing those fine motor skills as well as opening up an opportunity to teach your baby colours.

Check out these other 5 simple baby play ideas here.

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As you know, we’re working with Hape in the lead up to Christmas to share our thoughts on a selection of their baby toys. Last week, I told you all about all the fun we’ve been having with our Penguin wobbler and this week I wanted to share with you what we make of the Little Red Bus* we were sent.

The Hape Mini Vehicle range consists of a wide variety of wooden transport items including a car, a tractor, a school bus, a truck and more! We were lucky enough to receive a Little Red Bus* to test out. I’ve always loved the idea of Florence having cars & trains & planes to play with and so these bigger, baby friendly versions make the perfect introduction to this new world of play. 

The first thing that strikes you is how bright and bold in colour they are. The red of the ‘Little Red Bus*’ is similar to that of a London Bus and works in perfect contrast to its natural wooden wheels. The three window holes make it lovely and easy for little fingers to handle and grasp without any difficulty while also being extremely robust in design. The wheels move easily too, enabling your little one to push and pull the vehicle along. All great features for developing those early fine motor skills.

As Florence is only just six months, a lot of our play with this involves me moving the vehicle along for her to watch or rolling it over her legs and tummy which she finds very funny! We’ve also been using the visual word ‘beep’ to help build upon those early language skills which I read about here.

Like everything these days, the Little Red Bus*  ends up in her mouth more often than not. She has two teeth now which are incredibly cute but also super sharp! Despite her doing her best to gnaw her way through it, I am really impressed with how the red paint hasn’t even showed a hint of any damage. It’s a fab little toy to pop in the changing bag for on the go play too. 

For only £6.00 I feel like this little wooden bus is a lovely idea for a baby’s first stocking or Christmas gift. We’ve bought a helicopter from the range to pop in Flo’s.

*I am a member of Amazon Associates, which means I can earn commission from purchases through links in my posts. The use of “*” next to linked text indicates that by clicking on this link, should you purchase the item, I will receive a percentage of the purchase price.  As a new family, every little penny helps but if you would prefer not to use an affiliated link to purchase this item you can click here.

As mentioned before, we were sent this Little Red Bus by our friends at Hape in return for our honest feedback. All of the opinions published in this review are my own.

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