Tell Fairy Non Bio about your experience of play with your baby - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

As part of our partnership with Fairy Non Bio, we’ve produced the Mumsnet Babies Podcast. There are ten episodes in the series, and episode six is about play - you can listen to it here. Whenever you get the chance, Fairy Non Bio would like you to have a listen to the podcast and join the discussion on this thread.

As babies grow and develop, their experience of play is constantly changing thanks to their still-developing perceptions of colour and sound and awareness of the world around them.

Fairy Non Bio would like you to share your experiences of playing with your baby, whether you can’t get enough of role playing games, or you force yourself into fancy dress with gritted teeth. Perhaps your baby can easily amuse her/himself with everyday household items such as wooden spoons, or maybe you invest in elaborate mobiles and brightly coloured floor mats, in the hope to keep them occupied while you have some ‘me time’.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

If you’d like to rate the Mumsnet Babies Podcast, please go to the iTunes store to add a review.

Thanks, and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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My daughter loved to put things in bags and boxes then take them out again! She loved a good rummage to see what she could find. As she got older crafts and painting are favourites.

My daughter loved to put things in bags and boxes then take them out again! She loved a good rummage to see what she could find. As she got older crafts and painting are favourites.

My oldest got spoilt rotten on her first Christmas but all she was interested in was a yellow plastic spoon and a cardboard box. Even now she isn't that bothered about expensive toys and tends to play 'make-believe' instead.

I loved playing with mine when they were little. Favourite games were tickling games/ singing silly songs.

Play mats are a hit in our house, they are easy to set up just throw it down and they have a world of fun using their imaginations.

My 9 mo DD will happily amuse herself for about half an hour picking up her toys and flinging them but she loves nothing more than crawling around the room and making a beeline for the most dangerous thing she can find!! To distract her we play peekaboo for hours (or maybe it feels like hours...) using our floor length curtains. She laughs like a drain every time (a very cute drain though!)

I think in the early days there's not much they can really play with. I just talk or sing to my baby and give him lots of kisses. When my eldest started crawling I remember he used to really love chasing me around the coffee table.
When he was a toddler he went through a phase of wanting to play in the car. It was quite nice really, I got to sit and read a magazine while he pretended he was driving!

I love lying on the floor with my baby DD. She crawls up to my face and we stare at each other and giggle a lot. I tickle her and she squeals and crawls away ... before coming back for more.

An empty crisp packet was so much fun early on (not unsupervised). A laundry basket filled with treasure.

When my little lad wasn't quite able to walk, but able to stand up, his favourite game was to stand up on the sofa with me sitting next to him, then falling forward and landing on me. I would then make fake groaning noises as if I'd been body slammed by a wrestler. He loved this and every time I groaned he would laugh hysterically, get up and do it over and over again.

she makes a village out of the dvds and her little cuddly toys live and play in them.
uses book cases to devide her windowsill up into little house for her toys.
always playing vet or schools with cuddly toys.
loves role play.
loves the cardboard box den more than the thing inside!
lego
marbles.
making rice shakers.
loves role playing the people in her books.

I have just bought dd a pack of play balls. She absolutely loves rolling around in them and they are keeping dcat happy too.

It was good to keep things simple, just using household objects like boxes, wooden spoons, cushions. Anything can be an adventure when the world is new. It was also good to use everywhere in the house as a playground - some time in the bathroom, playing with tupperware and pans in the kitchen, running races down the hall.

DD 9 months loves to play with building blocks and teddies and loves being read to.

DD loves to play with her bath water toys

I adored playing with the kids when they were small but as they developed their own crazy tastes I had to often play through gritted teeth as they came up with crazy ideas. That been said I adore playing with my nieces and nephews - maybe I learnt the hard way round?

Love a bit of imaginary role-play to see how her mind is working!

I love playing with my children although it doesnt seem to come naturally to me and I am much better at organised activities like board games and arts and crafts however when i get into it a game of houses, airports or vets is very rewarding. I enjoy most when an everyday thing becomes a game like tonight when i was having a shower dd and ds both decided to join me and play in the water like it was a bath. We had such a giggle and all enjoyed ourselves.

Play doh had always been a favourite thing to play with, we make and colour our own.
My daughter also loves playing with water outside and in. Kicking leaves and muddy puddles simple pleasures!

We love playing outside! At 18 months sand and water are our favourite activities.

My 17 month old loves to play with his soft football. He will spend a good half hour kicking it around, through my legs and at his older brother. When he can't be kicking it he likes to just hug it, some nights he even takes it to bed with him.

Oh and trains. Lots and lots of trains.

My DS has, since very very tiny, played with his own hands. I promise he's not neglected! Just has always made little hand puppets out of his hands and talked to himself with their little characters! So sweet joining in, and when I showed him how to make shadow puppets he was blown away!

My 3 year old has lots of additional needs. And sensory toys for sight therapy are a great help . Her favorite is toothpaste or glue and glitter in a zip lock bag . She loves the texture

I loved playing with her as a baby, just simple thinks like pulling faces and doing silly moves with teddies. I loved how she giggled