Easy Ways To Help Siblings Play Together: The Baby Edition

I love the sitcom The Middle. (If you haven’t seen it and need a light hearted sitcom in your life- I definitely recommend checking it out.) But there’s an episode that stands out to me where the mom is lamenting that her children don’t really play together that much. It’s hilarious how they choose to address it- but it reminded me of the importance of helping siblings learn to play together as early as possible.

But it can be challenging to help siblings play together- especially when your children are in different developmental stages. After all, even a year or two makes a HUGE difference in the early years.  

When we found out we were having our second child, my toddler was so excited for a playmate. And then the reality hit her- babies play VERY differently than toddlers and preschoolers.

The playmate that she had been anticipating wasn’t quite here yet.

But there ARE a lot of ways for babies to play with their older siblings AND a lot of toys that they can share.  (If I can find a way to buy less, have less clutter, AND teach them how to share- that’s a good day for me.)

So here’s some of our favorite toys and activities to help our girls play together AND are developmentally beneficial for BOTH of them- while the youngest is a baby.

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1. Help With Tummy Time

From the earliest days at home, you can get your older children to help with tummy time.  Our oldest LOVED getting down on her baby sister’s level and making silly faces at her.  It was great- they started to bond AND it helped keep our baby engaged with tummy time.

While tummy time can certainly happen with just a simple blanket or mat, we did decide to splurge on the Lovevery play mat.  Totally a personal preference, but we do really love it- especially for helping our girls play together.  (And being completely honest- if there is one thing I’m glad I splurged on during the first six months, it’s this play gym.)

I think my toddler enjoyed the textures and colors on it even more than the baby.  (And as they got older, we added the tent feature to it to add more play options for them). It’s available on Amazon here.

2. Reading Together

My oldest daughter can’t actually read independently yet, but that hasn’t stopped her from reading to her baby sister.  Initially, she read to her from little high contrast crinkle books (available here).  There’s not actually any words, so she just told her what the pictures were of.

My toddler loved feeling important; my baby loved the images.  

As they’ve gotten older, my oldest daughter now reads simple rhyming books to her sister that she’s memorized (Sandra Boynton and Llama Llama for Little Ones books are great for this.)  This also helped my preschooler with reading out loud- even though she’s reciting the words still, she’s working on intonation, pacing, expressiveness, etc.

3. Magnetic Tiles

Of all of the building materials, these are possibly the most friendly for babies.  It doesn’t require too much dexterity for the baby to get the pieces to connect (and older babies LOVE working on fine motor skills.)

PLUS, they’re pretty, colorful, and fun to look through to play some rounds of peek-a-boo.

One last thing we do with all building materials- we play “baby monster.”

My preschooler will build elaborate structures (great for preschool development!)  Once she’s done and she’s ready to start over, she invites the “baby monster” to come in and knock it all down.

My preschooler thinks it’s hilarious and my baby loves creating chaos. (By turning it into a game, it also helps prevent meltdowns on my preschooler’s part when her creations inevitably get knocked over anyways.)

4. “Baby School”

It took me a while to adjust to balancing two children.  With my first, I was so intentional about toy rotations and having toys that matched her developmental skills available to her on her toy shelf.  

And then when my second was about eight months old- I realized I wasn’t being nearly as intentional with giving her time to really work on her developmental skills.  I wanted to be just as intentional with my second baby as I had been when I only had one baby to focus on, but what to do with my preschooler who also needs my attention and needs time to play?

Enter- BABY SCHOOL.

Every day we try to set aside time for designated “baby school.”  My baby gets to play with toys in her room that are designed for her developmental age.  My preschooler gets to be the teacher and pretend play that we’re in a school (for preschoolers- pretend play is KEY.)  

They’re both playing in a way that supports their developmental needs, but they’re doing it together.

My preschooler also LOVES to teach her sister how to use the toys or how to basic things like colors, shapes, etc.

And bonus- it’s been a great chance for me to help my preschooler learn that her baby sister is in fact an autonomous little person who deserves to play, learn, and grow at her own pace.

(A great activity for baby school is to give your baby treasure baskets.  My preschooler loves putting these together for her little sister.  You can read more about treasure baskets in my post here.)

5. Animal Figurines

These go hand in hand with treasure baskets, but of all the treasure basket themes you can make, it’s the animal figurines that seem to offer the most engagement to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers alike.

Babies can explore them in their treasure baskets. Preschoolers can create miniature worlds with them. And your kids can play side by side.

We love our Safari LTD figurines so much that they are NEVER out of rotation.

6. Play Food and a Container or Picnic Basket

Play food is another great treasure basket theme that also offers a lot of imaginative play for preschoolers.

However, if you’re looking to go beyond just treasure basket activities for your baby, offer them a container to transfer the play food into.  Babies will at some point love to transfer objects from one container to the next.

We gave our girls a shape sorter picnic basket.  The baby loves to transfer the food; my preschooler loves to pretend they’re on a picnic.

7. Musical Instruments

Grab a set of play instruments and let them have at it.  My preschooler pretends they’re in a band and tries to play real songs (she’s also learning about rhythm and keeping a beat.)  My baby loves clanging the cymbals together and making all sorts of racket. 

We LOVE our Melissa and Doug instrument set, available here.

8. DIY Ball Pit

Once our baby could sit up, we made a ball pit out of plastic balls and an inflatable kiddie pool.  The baby loves crawling in and out of it and throwing the balls in and out.  (When she’s older we’ll introduce more skills like sorting by color.)

My preschooler loves getting her energy out on a rainy day by being silly in the ball pit.  It’s a great gross motor activity for BOTH of them (more on gross motor toys here).

We put ours together with one simple purchase from Amazon.

9. Crawl Through Tunnel

This one is for older babies, but once they can crawl, I HIGHLY recommend a crawl through tunnel.  They’re fairly cheap, they collapse into a small storage bag, and it’s a great gross motor toy for babies, toddlers, and kids alike.  

Our girls LOVE chasing each other through it and it’s an activity that’s helped them really transition from just playing side by side to actually playing TOGETHER.

(Bonus- add it to the ball pit for an awesome obstacle course on rainy days.)

We got ours here and despite experiencing some pretty serious rough and tumble play, it’s held up great.

Closing Thoughts

We love seeing our girls grow together and bond with one another.  If you’re also looking for ways to help your older children play with their baby sibling, I hope there’s an idea on here for you.

And if your youngest is already a toddler, check back soon for the toddler edition of helping siblings play together. (And be sure to sign up for email updates to not miss anything!)