Play with my 7month old

After two kids, I think I've quasi-mastered the art of play with small children at different stages. I've picked up quite a bit from the very costly sessions at Gymboree and Kindermusik and other Play and Learn programs I've enrolled the kids into...from those classes, I've picked up the two top 2-3 activities:

These days, in addition to letting her play and explore free of mom on her play mat with her assortment of toys, me and 7month old play together by doing the following:

Making Faces in the Mirror: I sit in a long mirror with her in front of me and make funny faces. Then a straight emotionless one, then a wacky smile, then normal, then tongue dangling. It cracks her up!! She learns: it is her reflection and not another kid in the mirror.

Roll the ball: With her sitting on one side of the room a feet from me, I roll her a ball and encourage her to roll it back. She learns about cause and effect. These days tho, she's apt to pick up the ball and start suck/teething on it, but I think she's getting the concept anyway.

Fun with Scarves: I lay her on her back and dance around her swishing colorful scarves in her face. She learns to track objects with her eyes and appreciate depth.

Texture fun: We walk around the house and when an object catches her eyes, I let her feel it. She learns about the textures of different objects.

Dance with mom: She loves music and bounces up and down whenever its played overhead. I hold her hands and let her bounce on my lap or pick her up and get a little exercise of my own and dance with her. She gets the benefit of inner ear coordination from the whizzing about. We get the same effect when we play Tick Tock Tick Tock I'm a little cuckoo clock or Airplane.

Read with me: She loves to see the pictures and feel the texture books. She learns about variation in spoken/oral language and starts the process of learning to read and appreciate books.

Up under me: While she plays, I lay at her feet playing with her and her toys. She learns to appreciate having mommy at her level which is a different perspective from looking up at everything/one all the time.

That's it for this stage. I think I might enroll her in a Gymboree class this fall so she can have fun with all the cool soft indoor play gym equipment.