Playing with baby

One of the joys of babies and young children is that you get to introduce them to the world, first through your voice and touch, then through giving them safe things to play with and talking with them about the things you see, hear, touch, smell, and taste together. Through play, children develop their minds and bodies and learn skills that will help them be successful their whole lives long. Playing with our children, having fun with our children, makes them smarter! 

Last night I gave eight month old River a lime to play with. She examined it carefully, turing it over in her hands, discovering that she could hold it better with two hands than with one, banging it on the table to see what sound it made. After a while I gave her a satsuma, too. She repeated her process with the satsuma, then picked up the lime again. She examined the lime, then the satsuma. I could tell she was comparing them, noticing how they were the same and how they were different. She won't have the language to express the differences until much later, but she's already examining the world with the eye of a scientist.

I'm doing a series of pastels and watercolors of children and their adults playing together. Here River is enjoying the way her mother is blowing on her cheek, and expressing her pleasure with a smile.