Balloon Kicking Fun

I was searching Pinterest again for a simple way to entertain my baby and found another winner from CanDo Kiddo. This balloon kicking activity is so much fun and a wonderful learning opportunity for your little one. The activity hones your child’s ability to recognize cause and effect, and gross motor skills.

This activity is recommended for babies one-month-old to five-months-old. Considering all babies reach developmental milestones at different times, it should be noted this activity is recommended for those babies who are not yet truly mobile and grasping/mouthing objects. If you have a crawler on your hands, this activity isn’t for her.

It is important to supervise your baby while doing this activity. Do not leave her unattended!

For this activity, you need one or two helium balloons with around three feet of string tied to each of them. I picked these balloons up at the local grocery store for $1 each. Then make a loop in each of the strings and place them around each of your baby’s feet. After that, sit back and watch her go!

This activity targets gross motor skills through kicking. Kicking is important to strengthen your baby’s leg and belly muscles.

The movement of the balloons addresses a baby’s understanding of cause and effect. Cause and effect is the relationship between an action and its outcome. So, each time your baby kicks, it causes the balloons to move. Through this type of play, your baby will learn that her actions cause things to change in her environment. Understanding cause and effect is important in developing language skills, because it is the foundation of communicating intentionally, verbally and non-verbally. When your baby is three to six-months-old, she begins to learn that her behavior results in a response from her parent. For example, when she cries (action) she will then be changed or fed (outcome).

My baby had so much fun kicking the balloons around…and as you can see from the picture above, our cat had a wonderful time, too!

Have fun building your baby’s gross motor skills, and cause and effect understanding!