How Babies Learn Through Play

• Our baby's vision extends to just beyond arm's distance; he can see colors but prefers high contrasts.
• Palmar grasp reflex occurs, and he will clench anything you put in his hands.
• He listens to familiar voices as hearing develops.

Babies are interested in Mom's or Dad's face, simple black-and-white drawings of other faces, black-and-white geometric pictures (for contrast), and toys that are easy to grasp, such as thin, smooth rings. At this early stage, the best game may simply be interacting with another person, says Susan McQuiston, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist at Baystate Medical Center Children's Hospital, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Stay close so that your baby can focus on you. To encourage him to recognize your voice, talk and sing to him, even when you're not playing with him directly. He'll learn to track you by eye and ear. Holding your baby in an infant carrier allows him to hear the comforting sounds of both your voice and your familiar heartbeat while he's getting used to the world, according to Diane Wiessinger, a lactation consultant in Ithaca, New York.