TOP 10 DIY FOR BABIES BETWEEN ZERO- 1 YEAR OLD

Do it yourself, also known as DIY, is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things without the direct aid of experts or professionals. Academic research describes DIY as behaviors where "individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and component parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g. landscaping) Wolf & McQuitty (2011).

Below is a list of 31 DIY for infants between zero to 1 year old.

1. Sticky Ball Fine Motor Activities for Infants

Materials: plastic ball and masking tape

Procedure:

Wrap the masking tape, sticky-side out, around the ball in a few different directions to cover the entire ball with tape.

Skills learned: It engages a baby’s brain in some simple problem-solving that will be fun for you to see

2. Movable Fabric Road

Materials needed:

·        Old jeans or denim scrap

·        Yellow paint

·        Scissors

·        Paintbrush

Procedures:

·        Cut your denim into long strips

·        Hem the edges (optional)

·        Using a paint brush paint small yellow dashes down the material to make the stripes in the middle of the streets.

·        Once the paint is dry cut your material into pieces/shapes you desire. With one pair of jeans I was able to make two long roads, two shorter roads, two curved roads, and a four way intersection piece.

3. Crumb Writing

Materials needed: Baby rice cereal or finely crumbed crackers, cookie sheet

What to do: Spread the rice cereal or crumbled crackers on the cookie sheet, and show him how to use a finger to "write" in the crumbs. "This gives [children] the opportunity to imitate the adults and older siblings in their lives, which is a major meaningful activity of early childhood," says Rachel Coley, occupational therapist, author of Simple Play: Easy Fun For Babies, and founder of CanDoKiddo.com. Bonus: The "sand" is edible! (Of course, supervise your child closely.)

Skills learned: Early handwriting skills, understanding cause and effect.

4. Books for Babies

Materials: construction paper, black maker, clear packaging tape.

Procedure:

·        First step is to decide what you would like on each page of your book. I made a shape book, a book with the letters of my child’s name, and a book with numbers.

·        Cut a piece of construction paper into 4 parts. You can fold it lengthwise then width-wise, unfold it and use the fold lines to guide your cutting.

·        Choose the page order, and create a cover.

·        I wrote “How to Spell Henry” as the title for the book I made for my twin son. You can use that as a guide and write your child’s name or create your own title. Then flip the cover page over and write the first letter of your child’s name on the back.

·        Write the rest of the letters (one per page) flipping the pieces of paper to write one letter on the front and one letter on the back until you have all the letters written on the paper. You may need to cut an additional piece of paper to add more pages.

·        On the last page, write “That’s how you spell [write child’s name]” if you like. (This is a line from the Name Spelling song.)

·        Lay out the Ziploc® bags with the zipper side to the left.

·        Open a zipper bag and insert the cover page for your DIY book then close the zipper.

·        Continue filling the bags until each page is in a bag and facing the correct way.

·        Lay all of the bags in order with the zipper on the left.

·        Tear off (1) 4-inch long piece of packing tape and set it aside.

·        Fold over the zippers (all together) twice (as the photo above shows) and then tape down the zipper flap. (This creates the bind of your book.) The pictures show the bind folded towards the back. After trying two ways, it looks nicer to fold the zippers to the front and tape them down. Find out what you prefer!

Skills learned: it helps develop baby’s mental ability to read and identify symbols.

5. Pick A Boo Boxes for Babies

Materials: small cardboard box with a flap that opens on top, sheet of construction paper, black maker, packaging tape, 1-2 photos of your child.

Procedure:

·        Start by trimming any extra flaps from your box. A baby has to be able to open and close the top, so it has to be easy to open.

·        Fold your construction paper into 4 sections, or quarters, cut the 4 sections apart.

·        Write your infants name on one of the paper and tape that piece to the top of the box. Overlap pieces of packaging tape to cover the entire piece of paper.

·        Tape a photo of your child to the other piece of the paper. A photo 31/2x 5 inches works well depending on the size of the box that you are using.

·        Tape the photo on the inside of the box. If you want to use more than one photo, tape the other one under the flap so baby can see two photos when they open the box.

Skills learned: it encourage self awareness and object permanence using their own photo.

6. Sensory Crawl for Infants

Materials: packaging tape, baking cooling rack, pillow, duplo building mat, washed cloth, piece of fabric, clothing item, bubble wrap, rug grip, piece of cardboard.

Procedure:

·        First, choose the items you want to use.

·        Second, use strips of packing tape to secure each item to the floor. This is optional, but for walkers, it may be safer to secure anything slippery to help prevent falls.

·        Then, let your Little Mover loose to explore!

Skills learned: A sensory crawl activity is a great way to encourage infants and toddlers to crawl and walk by adding a safe focus for their exploration.

7. Build It Up: Toilet Roll Activity

Materials: toilet paper rolls or cardboard rolls from craft shop, stickers, coloured paper, glue, scissors, paints and brushes, tape.

Procedure:

This activity is good for children of varying ages, from toddler to preschool.

Decorate the rolls with stickers or paper shapes stuck on with tape or glue.

Allow to dry.

Little hands can work on creating colourful structures of different heights.

8. Water Play for Infants

Materials:

Lay a beach towel or several small kitchen towels on a water-safe floor like linoleum or tile.

Fill up a pitcher with water.

Place a non-breakable mixing bowl or a plastic dishpan on the towel.

Pour the water from the pitcher into the bowl or container.

Provide some spoons or measuring cups and your child can play!

Procedure:

·        Lay a towel on the floor and set a baking sheet on top.

·        Fill a pitcher with water.

·        Pour some water into the baking sheet.

·        Place child on their tummy near the baking sheet so they can reach the water with their hands.

Skills learned: it keep babies active

9. Baby Blocks

Cut the squares 4.5" x 4.5" for a 4" cube.

Sew the 6 squares together in a cross formation with a 1/4" seam allowance. At each corner stop 1/4" from the edge. Then sew the sides and top leaving one edge open. Turn right side out, stuff the foam block inside and hand stitch closed.

Skills learned: It improves baby’s dexterity.

10. Milk Carton Photo Blocks

Materials: 6 photographs, quart-sized milk or juice carton, scissors, clear packaging tape, scotch tape or masking tape, wrapping paper.

Procedure:

·        Make sure your cartons are clean and dry. I rinsed mine out with hot soapy water a few times.

·        Cut off the very top along the top most crease of the carton.

·        Cutting up the open end of the carton, cut half way up one corner.

·        Turn the scissors and cut around the carton perpendicular to the side cut. You should cut through only 3 sides.

·        When you have cut through the 3 sides as shown, cut up the crease to leave the fourth side on the box.

·        Fold down the remaining side to create a top to the box. Fold over any overlap.

·        Using two pieces of scotch tape or masking tape, tape down the flap to close the box and make a block.

·        Wrap the block with your choice of paper. I chose brown because it was plain and added some additional support to the box.

·        Using clear tape, tape your family photos to the sides of the block. You may have to trim them down to fit. I used two small pieces of scotch tape per photo.(You can use glue for this.)

·        Using the packing tape, wrap the block with strips of tape until it is completely covered on each side. (Clear contact paper can work too.)

·        This helps protect the block and your child. Any drool or wetness will cause the ink of the photos to run, and since infants and many toddlers put many items in their mouths, it is safer for your child to avoid getting ink and pieces of paper in their mouth.

·        Once your blocks are complete, they are ready for play! This is a great building block for infants and toddlers because they are lightweight and larger in size.

Skills learned: It is still fun for the kids to this day to look at the pictures and see what they looked like as babies, as well as remind them of their extended family.