A baby’s earliest learning happens through their senses. Sensory play encourages baby to explore and investigate while building body awareness, motor skills, and helping form strong neural connections in the brain. Use a silk scarf, a feather boa, or a soft toy to lightly caress baby’s face and body. Baby may find these interactions calming and soothing or they may become more alert as they track the object and delight in a new sensation. Young babies often respond to touch with a full body reflex. If you tickle one foot, both feet may start to move and baby may start to squirm in response. As babies develop, they increasingly gain muscular control and control over their reflexes, allowing them to respond with more targeted responses. Gentle massage is another way to engage their senses while making them feel safe and loved.

Tummy Time is time for exploration and play. Tummy time is important for baby’s visual, motor, and sensory development. It also helps develop muscles in the neck, back, and shoulders. Getting started is as easy as introducing your newborn to even a short session of Tummy Time (3-5 minutes) when they are alert and well-rested. Over time, this can easily be increased, since there’s really no limit to Tummy Time other than making sure that it’s only done while you and baby are alert and engaged. Make Tummy Time fun by using rattles (not too loud), toys, and mirrors to encourage reaching and visual tracking. Get down on the floor at baby’s eye level. Baby loves your face! Sing a song to calm and soothe if baby gets fussy. Don’t forget to give baby lots of words of encouragement and smiles!

Take a walk. Remember every single thing a baby sees is a new experience. Talk about the colors you see, the smells and noises you hear. A lawn mower, a dog barking or a squirrel in a tree are astounding to a baby. Stop and point them out. As baby gets older, simple things like picking up a leaf and letting baby hold (but not eat) it can make walks all the more interesting and engaging. When you are out walking, try also to put away your phone. Your undivided attention will help make you the greatest teacher and playmate your baby has ever known, because the truth is, you are.

This is an old fave at Yoee Baby HQ because we love how many parents intuit this. Maybe it's because we all have books we love? But, the science is in and it's wild. The roots of language are developing in a baby’s brain long before they start to talk. The more words your baby hears over time starting from the day they are born (if not before!), the more words they learn and the better they’ll ultimately be able to communicate with the world, so go ahead and start reading! In the early months, hold your baby close as you read, talk and sing to them. While it will definitely take time for baby to understand exactly what you’re saying, the rhythm, tones and inflections of your voice will all be valuable for their learning. By 3-6 months of age, your baby will start to enjoy looking at mirrors and pictures of faces, shapes and colors. Enjoy as baby begins to make more sounds, reach out, and touch the pictures. Reading can also be a fun bonding activity for babies and their older siblings!

Babies rely on all sorts of sensory experiences to learn about their bodies and how to move them in deliberate ways. From your gentle caresses and the kicking of feet, to putting hands to mouths and learning to roll, babies are gaining valuable body awareness. The key to nurturing body awareness is to give your little one lots of opportunities to move and stretch their bodies as they interact with their surroundings. Naming body parts while giving baby a massage, caressing with the soft material of a toy, and allowing plenty of tummy time exploration when awake are all excellent ways for baby to learn body awareness.

Talking with baby from birth is one of the easiest and best things you can do to help nurture your baby’s cognitive and social-emotional skills while laying a strong foundation for later language development. Turning playtime into talk time is as simple as narrating what you’re doing. “This is your stuffie named Mr. Monkey. He’s happy today because he gets to kiss you on the tummy.” (Kiss baby on the tummy with Mr. Monkey.) Your baby is sure to love hearing the lilting, sing-song of your voice, which is why playtime talking is such a great way to enhance bonding. Make it a habit to talk to your baby throughout the day —while doing housework, taking a walk, preparing meals or simply responding to your baby’s coos, actions and interests. “Did you hear something? What was that sound? Was that a bird?” When you don’t know what to do, you can always just have fun talking!

Babies use their ears to learn about the world around them and new sounds stimulate brain development. Use baby safe rattles, crinkle fabric, instruments, or other object to make interesting (but not too loud) sounds for baby. Mix it up by making sounds in different locations around your baby: Shake it on the right, and then on the left, ask baby, “Where did it go?” Notice over time how your baby develops the ability to localize sound and eventually even find hidden toys. Hide it in a box and gently shake it. Let baby explore the box. If baby can’t open the box, open it and encourage/help baby to reach for it. As your baby becomes more mobile, try hiding the noise maker behind your back and ask baby to Find It. Start revealing the noise maker if baby doesn’t know where it went to encourage their engagement and sense of discovery. Thanks to Dr. Laura Jana for her help with this project.

BOULDER, Colo. (October 6, 2020) — Yoee Baby, the award-winning interactive baby toy designed for playing together from Day One, recently surpassed another milestone by joining Target’s online marketplace. The invitation to join one of the most selective e-commerce retailers, coupled with the brand’s early sales success in its first few months on Target.com, marks an exciting moment in Yoee Baby’s meteoric rise as the next must-have baby product. “Since the beginning, Yoee Baby has experienced a warm welcome from the parenting community, who love the toy for how easy it engages babies, as well as early childhood development specialists and pediatric scientists, who appreciate the toy’s research-backed design,” said Jillian Lakritz, CEO and founder of Yoee Baby. “To see this early success on Target’s online marketplace is another great milepost for our company, and proof that we are filling a much needed-gap in the market.” Launched on Target.com in late July, Yoee Baby is a Colorado-based toy brand that was introduced to the world on Kickstarter in 2016. In just thirty days, it became Kickstarter’s most-funded baby toy ever. Today, Yoee Baby is available at boutique retailers, specialty toy stores worldwide, Amazon, Target and yoeebaby.com. “We’re thrilled to be invited to Target.com, which is a top-tier, highly-curated online marketplace,” added Bill Donavan, co-owner of Yoee Baby. “It’s a confirmation that Yoee Baby’s thoughtful product features are resonating with consumers looking for a way to engage with their newborn in the earliest days. We’re thankful for this opportunity with Target.” Yoee Baby comes in a variety of cute characters that each feature a soft, feather-like tail designed to caress baby, stimulate their senses and make them giggle, smile and coo. Each character includes an easy-to-grab handle, crinkles, a gentle rattle and a silicone teether. Spending “Yoee Time” with baby helps promote sensory development, body awareness, language development, gross motor skills and fine motor skills, making it a tool disguised as a toy. About Yoee Baby Inspired by equal parts love and science, Yoee Baby was founded in 2015 after new mom, Jillian Lakritz, realized that the baby toys that were currently on the market were either not age-appropriate for a newborn or only created one-sided interactions with her baby. Noting an increasing body of research that affirms babies are born to play, Jillian created a toy that allows parents and babies to play together in ways that foster early childhood development skills that last a lifetime. For more information, visit YoeeBaby.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

BOULDER, CO - Mom-designed, American born Yoee Baby continues to prove it’s appeal at the intersection of pop culture and science. The latest accolades come from the internationally-renowned Good Play Guide. The Good Play Guide is the leading source of expert, independent advice on play and child development. Upon receiving the news, Founder Jillian Lakritz said “We are honored, this is a highly-respected organization, and we’re in great company.” The Colorado-based Yoee Baby team is breaking through the clutter because of their research into Pediatric Neuroscience and countless interviews with parents. The result is a toy that encourages early bonding between a new baby and caregiver. Without lights or batteries, the all-in-one baby toy is recognized the world’s first bonding toy for a tiny baby who cannot yet sit up or move around. Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide is an organization dedicated to helping children develop skills through play. They provide independent expert advice on a range of topics including play, toys, apps, children’s tech, e-safety, child development, special needs and other parenting issues. They quickly assessed that this is a tool disguised as a toy. From its launch last fall on Kickstarter, where it holds the title of most-funded baby toy launch ever, to accolades among some of the United States’ most popular mommy bloggers, Yoee Baby continues to offer proof that while millennial moms are reigning in on tech, they still seek to provide their babies toys that are at once innovative, yet sweetly nostalgic. ABOUT. Launched from Boulder, CO in 2016, mom-inspired and mom-designed Yoee Baby is a developmental baby toy that takes its cues from science to help parents play, connect and bond with their babies. A plush, a rattle, a developmental toy, sensory toy, and a teether all in one, Yoee Baby is everything caregivers need for playtime with baby at home or on-the- go. They offer a no-hassle guarantee that if this isn’t your baby’s favorite toy, they will give you your money back. To see all the media accolades, learn more and buy direct online, visit YoeeBaby.com MEDIA CONTACT: Bill Donavan 719.539.0177 or bill@yoeebaby.com