A Parent’s Guide to Infant Development: 0-12 Month

LeCha Brown
Feb 15
9 min read

Updated: Feb 24

As a new parent, watching your little one grow and develop throughout that first year is an exciting and incredible journey as each experience for them is brand new. You are their guide to this big world around them and you are the one helping them make sense of it all. From their first tiny coos to wobbly first steps, every milestone is a celebration of their learning and development. I have put together a list of developmental guidelines for infants 0-12 months to help you understand where your baby is developmentally and to give you ideas on things you can do with them to help foster that growth. This is a guide ONLY and is simply meant to provide a framework to help you encourage meaningful interactions. Before moving on, it is extremely important to know that each baby will development at their own pace and rate.

Approaches to Learning

baby looking at camera holding sensory ball

Your little learns best through hands-on experiences, which provide the sensory input essential for healthy brain development. To feel secure while exploring their environment, babies rely on the support of a responsive caregiver. Learning styles will vary, with some children eagerly diving into new experiences, while others approach them with caution (my child). Some are naturally flexible, while others require encouragement to try new things. Regardless of a child's approach to learning, a nurturing caregiver can foster meaningful interactions, encourage problem-solving, and support perseverance. By offering age-appropriate toys, activities, and interactions, caregivers help children develop curiosity, confidence, and a love for learning.

Below are a list of things that you will begin to see within the first 12 months. The bold text below names the developmental category. The text within provides an example of how your baby might demonstrate that developmental category.

Engages and Interacts

Your baby will begin interacting playfully with you by looking into your eyes, cooing, and smiling. Encourage this by making eye contact, talking, and singing to them.
They will start showing awareness of familiar objects and may reach for toys, smile at them, or crawl toward items of interest.
Babies will also recognize familiar people and routines. Singing familiar songs and responding to their interactions helps reinforce these connections.

Flexibility and Inventiveness

Infants learn to transition between activities with little protest if given advance notice. Prepare them for routine changes by speaking gently before switching tasks.
They explore materials by mouthing, touching, and throwing objects, helping them understand different textures and weights. Provide a variety of safe items for exploration.

Problem Solving

Babies begin to recognize people and objects in their environment. Responding to their curiosity by talking and naming things helps strengthen their awareness and language development.
They show emerging awareness of cause and effect—like vocalizing for attention or expecting smiles in response to their own smiles.

Persistence

Your baby will start focusing on familiar sounds, activities, and people for longer periods. Encourage this by providing stimulating but manageable challenges, such as reaching for toys.
They will practice new skills repeatedly, such as pulling up to stand or turning book pages. Offer encouragement to build confidence and persistence.

Social-Emotional Development

baby sitting on moms lap imitating clapping

Children are naturally social and when they feel safe and secure with their caregivers, they gain the confidence to explore their environment and try new experiences. Young children rely on supportive adults to help them understand and manage their emotions, a skill known as self-regulation. Even in infancy, children begin to develop a sense of self and how they fit into the world around them. As they grow, they also recognize the significance of relationships and the role others play in their lives. These social connections develop through interactive experiences, particularly through play, which fosters cooperation. A strong foundation in social and emotional development is essential for future learning and overall well-being.

Below are a list of things that you will begin to see within the first 12 months in the area of social emotional devleopment. The bold text below names the developmental category. The text within provides an example of how your baby might demonstrate that developmental category.

Self-Awareness

Infants begin expressing preferences for caregivers and favorite objects. Comfort and consistency help them feel secure.
Babies also start recognizing emotions, often mirroring your expressions. Respond warmly to their emotional cues to support their social understanding.

Self-Regulation

Your baby may begin self-soothing by sucking their hand or seeking comfort from a familiar person. Provide a reassuring presence when they experience new situations.
They will show interest in other children, watching them play and responding with smiles or sounds.

Cooperation

Babies become aware of others and begin social play, such as Peek-a-Boo and Pat-a-Cake. Interactive games foster connection and engagement.
They will start imitating familiar adult actions, like pretending to talk on a phone or stirring a spoon. Demonstrating activities for them to mimic can be both fun and educational.

Language and Early Literacy

Developing language and communication skills are pivotal for your littles overall growth and development. From birth to age three, children thrive in environments rich in both verbal and non-verbal language. Infants communicate their needs through crying, cooing, and laughter, gradually learning to use gestures and facial expressions to engage with caregivers. When adults consistently respond to these early attempts at communication, children will begin to form words and sentences by age two.

Caregivers play a vital role in fostering language development by engaging in conversations, reading books, and exposing children to music. Introducing books and print materials early on helps children connect spoken and written language, laying the groundwork for literacy.

Below are a list of things that you will begin to see within the first 12 months in the area of language and early literacy. The bold text below names the developmental category. The text within provides an example of how your baby might demonstrate that developmental category.

Receptive Language

Your baby will respond to sounds and voices by turning toward them, smiling, or showing excitement. Talking, reading, and singing to them daily helps build language skills.

Expressive Language & Speech

Babies communicate through sounds and movements, making noises of comfort, joy, and distress. Encourage their vocalizations by responding and imitating their sounds.
They will being to develop making sounds and babble using utterances that are easy to produce using vowel sounds. They will vocalize to get attention and try to imitate familiar sounds and words.
By the end of this stage, they may say simple words like “Mama” or “Dada.” Repetition and encouragement help with early speech development.

Reading and Writing Skills

Babies show interest in books by looking at pictures and exploring physical properties like turning pages or chewing on them. Reading together fosters a lifelong love of books.
Introducing crayons and letting them make marks on paper supports early writing exploration.

Mathematical Thinking

baby sitting on floor play with hammer set

Everyday experiences play a crucial role in helping young children develop early math concepts. Through hands-on play, children explore objects by observing differences, similarities, size, shape, and texture. Consistent routines introduce an understanding of time, while activities like building with blocks teach pattern recognition (counting) and spatial awareness (geometry).

Children also begin to analyze data by grouping similar items and organizing them visually. In early childhood, math extends beyond counting, adding, and subtracting—it is deeply connected to sensory exploration, helping children classify, categorize, and sort information to make sense of the world around them.

Early Number Sense

Babies pay attention to their environment, showing excitement when they see familiar people or objects.
They begin experimenting with cause and effect, such as repeatedly dropping a toy to see what happens.
They beging become more aware of their surroundings and often unintentionally make things happen such as waving arms to touch a dangling toy overhead.

Spatial Sense

Infants start exploring containers by placing and removing items, which helps develop spatial understanding.
They begin understanding object permanence—searching for hidden toys and recognizing that things still exist even when out of sight.

Operations and Algebra

Infants will start to make things happen using their senses- sight, sound, taste and touch. They will enjoy putting items in and taking them out all while inspecting details of given objects.
They will begin to complete form board puzzles, use pounding/hammer toys

Measurement and Data

They will begin to experiment with containers and items by completing put in activities. They will like exploring with activities such as pulling tissues from a container.

Science Exploration

Babies naturally explore the world around them using their senses—tasting, touching, smelling, looking, and listening. This innate curiosity makes them eager young scientists in training. Parents and caregivers can nurture this curiosity by providing opportunities for hands-on exploration and science-related activities. By engaging their senses, children develop a deeper understanding of their surroundings.

Even the youngest infants can begin learning about the earth by experiencing natural elements, such as feeling the dirt beneath their feet. Encourage supervised observation opportunities for them to explore their environment.

In early childhood education, science is about fostering curiosity through outdoor experiences, exploring the properties of natural materials, and observing and caring for living things. Through these engaging and enjoyable activities, adults can cultivate a lifelong love of science in your little.

Sensory Awareness & Observation

Babies use all five senses to explore their world. Providing safe, diverse sensory experiences helps build their understanding of surroundings.
They will grasp objects, mouth toys, visually track objects and respond to familiar voices.

Problem Solving & Simple Tools

Infants learn through movement, using their full bodies to explore and reach desired objects. They will reach, turn, roll, crawl and cruise to move toward objects. They will begin to grasp at connected items to bring desired objects closer.
They start anticipating responses to their actions, such as knowing that crying will bring comfort or attention.

Physical Science

During this stage, your little will begin to recognize familiar animals and might look for a cat when asked "Where did the cat go?"
They will begin to recognize that familiar animals have needs that are similar to their own such as the dog needing to eat and sleep.
They will begin to develop objecy permanence and develop an awareness for objects in their enviroment. They might also show a preference for certain belongings.
They will develop an awareness of how things move by reaching for toys that roll away or batting for toys suspended overhead.

Social Studies

Family showing their baby part of their culture

Parents and caregivers play a key role in guiding children to recognize and appreciate the diversity of people, fostering an early appreciation of their own unique traits and abilities. Helping them understand their own identify in relation to others will help to guide them in their development.

By exposing children to different people, places, and experiences, they begin to develop an awareness of culture, geography, and history. These experiences lay the foundation for understanding their family, culture, community, and the broader world, fostering respect, curiosity, and a sense of belonging.

Interactions and Culture

Babies engage with familiar adults by babbling, smiling, and responding to facial expressions.
They show curiosity about new people while also demonstrating caution. A secure attachment with caregivers helps build confidence in social situations.

Creative Arts

Creative arts offer your little a meaningful way to express their feelings, ideas, and interests in a fun and engaging manner. Whether through drawing, singing, pretending, or dancing, babies develop a sense of self and discover what they enjoy. You will play a vital role in providing developmentally appropriate opportunities and materials for creative exploration. By giving them exposure to diverse music, musical instruments, art materials, and role-playing activities not only enhances physical development but also fosters self-esteem, creativity, and independence.

Music & Art

Infants respond to music by cooing, clapping, or bouncing. Singing and playing soft music can soothe and engage them.
They show fascination with colorful toys and may begin making marks with crayons, fostering early artistic expression.

Dramatic Play & Movement

Babies discover their bodies by reaching, kicking, and wiggling. Encouraging movement helps develop their motor skills.
They begin experimenting with their environment, such as pushing and pulling objects, learning how they interact with their surroundings.

Physical Development

Your little will experience rapid physical development, gaining control over their bodies as they grow. You will play a vital role in fostering a safe and healthy environment that encourages their movement and exploration. Infants should have the freedom to move, whether on the floor or outdoors on a blanket. As they progress to sitting, crawling, and walking, they need opportunities to develop gross motor skills like running, climbing, jumping, pushing, and pulling in a well-supervised setting. Additionally, a secure space should be provided for practicing fine motor skills, such as manipulating small objects like blocks, crayons, and puzzle pieces. Self-help skills are also essential to their physical growth.

Gross & Fine Motor Skills

Babies gain head and body control, progressing from lifting their heads to rolling, sitting, crawling, and eventually standing.
They refine fine motor skills by grasping toys, bringing objects to their mouths, and beginning to hold items like bottles or crayons.

Self-Help Skills

Infants show increased awareness of routines, reaching for bottles, pacifiers, and favorite comfort items.
They begin participating in daily activities by raising arms for dressing and showing anticipation for familiar routines like bath time.

As you can see, your baby’s first year is a time of rapid growth and discovery. By providing a nurturing environment filled with love, interaction, and opportunities for exploration, you can support their development in every area. Trust your instincts, celebrate the small moments, and enjoy the incredible journey of that first year! It truly goes by so fast!

-LeCha Brown

Co-founder of Play Based Learning Co.