Tug-a-Toy: Gross Motor Game for Babies

Contributing Post from Jennie

Picture yourself sitting peacefully on the couch playing sweetly with your baby, then – ouch! – those tiny fingers grab a big chunk of your hair and hold on for dear life! Sound familiar? We all know how much babies LOVE to practice that strong grip, so let’s put it to the test. Let’s play Tug-a-Toy! Not only will this be fun for you and your baby, it will also be great gross motor practice for those arms!

Here’s what you’ll need: a soft toy that’s easy for your baby to grasp or a small piece of cloth (like a clean burp cloth) will work too.

Encourage your baby to hold the toy.

Then grab the other “end” and give it a little tug.

If your little one really enjoys the back-and-forth game then feel free to tug slightly harder each time, but try not to upset him/her.

Twin Boy decided he wanted a piece of the action. One of the great things about having twins is they have a built in buddy to play with!

Now if you’re little one really loves to play hard, then you can try the next step: You can try to raise him/her off of the ground just a little bit! My twins aren’t that brave!

What a good work out for those arms and shoulders! Next thing you know they’ll be 3 years old and asking you to help them hang on to the monkey bars at the playground!

 

Jennie is a stay-at-home mom to an almost-3 year old boy and 9 month old boy/girl twins. She received a degree in early childhood education and has several years of experience teaching both Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten prior to having children. While she jokes that she’s had a successful day if “no one goes hungry or gets hurt”, she realizes that it’s the little things we do that we might not even know we’re doing that make a BIG difference to our children!