When it comes to baby stacking cups, you may find yourself staring at the cups questioning what exactly to do with them. Yes, you know to stack cups, but you wonder how to keep your baby engaged with this simple activity. Well, we’re here to help! The act of stacking is a great way for your child to develop their concentration and enhance their fine motor skills. Not only this, but your baby works on problem solving skills as well as developing balance! On top of this, work on baby’s creativity by thinking outside the box, or cup. Cups can be used for much more than their initial purpose of stacking! Stuck on what else to do? Keep reading for some helpful and fun suggestions! What is the point of baby stacking cups? Cup stacking displays a variety of developmental milestones that your baby is working on or has achieved! First of all, by stacking cups your baby will work on improving their fine motor skills. Baby must use their hands to place one cup on top of another with careful precision! When your baby is stacking, they start to understand the concept of spatial reasoning. Placing a cup directly on top of the other will work, but placing a cup unevenly on top of another will lead to an unsuccessful stacking. Depending on your cup stacking kit, you may have cups that vary in size, requiring specific cups to go on top of one another. If you have cups like these, your baby will learn that not all sizes stack or balance. With this, your baby will work on understanding the process of trial and error and problem solving. As you keep on playing with the cups, emphasize your baby’s imagination and get creative! In doing so, your baby will work on their sense of creativity and feel the freedom to experiment with their other toys! And of course, cup stacking allows you an opportunity to further bond with your baby in a hands-on way! Get your baby engaged with stacking cups Simply putting the cups in front of your baby may not work to peak your baby’s interest. If your baby is working on eye contact, assist them in stacking by making sure you hold your baby’s attention. Make sure that they hold your eye contact as you play. You may need to make noises or clink the cups together to keep your baby looking at you, but this will guarantee that they stay engaged, benefiting from the activity! When playing with your baby, talk through what you're doing, constantly keeping baby in the loop of every step that you or baby takes. This will further help them to stay involved and wanting to be a part of the cup stacking! If your child is older or if you don’t have the free time to actively play with your child, consider giving them challenges to complete. For example, ask them to build a castle with the cups or use the cups in a creative way in an art project! By giving your child a challenge, they will be motivated to finish the task and proudly display their results! What age are baby stacking cups for? Once your baby reaches 6 months, stacking cups is a great activity that they have the potential of understanding. They are able to sit up and have the curiosity to play with the objects around them! A little after a year is when your baby will really start to “stack” the cups, their intended purpose. Although 6 months is the starting point for stacking cups, this continues to be a great activity as your baby grows. As they age and gain more independence, using stacking cups can be a way for them to express their creativity and take on a form of play that is more than just the act of stacking! How many baby stacking cups to use in play? The number of cups you use depends on where your baby is at! When your baby is first starting to develop their stacking skills, too many cups may overwhelm them. Start small with two or three, allowing your baby to understand the idea of stacking and balance without overstimulating them. Once your baby seems to understand stacking with two to three cups, feel free to add in more! Unlimited ways to play with baby stacking cups … In addition to stacking, use your cups to create fun new activities, making the most out of your toy and money! Depending on your baby’s age, here are some fun and unique suggestions! Play question and answer with your baby stacking cups This activity is very dependent on the age of your baby! If your baby is just starting to talk, this can be a great way to help them in their vocabulary learning. As you stack a cup, either ask your baby a question or make a comment. It can be something you love that they are familiar with such as, “I love apples” or a question for them to answer such as, “What is your favorite color?”. Depending on their age, how much you assist your baby in answering will vary! Take this time to help your baby work on their verbal language while getting to know each other better! Work on object permanence Work on object permanence by using your cups as a way to hide a small object. For example, if you hide a marble, ask, “Where did the marble go?”. If they don’t comprehend that the marble is still under a cup, show them! Feel free to repeat this a couple of times to emphasize that an object does not disappear simply because they can no longer see it! If they do point to the cup the object is under, add the challenge of moving the cup around with other empty cups, forcing them to concentrate and utilize their knowledge of the cup the object started in! Baby stacking cups can help teach colors Depending on the cups you own, you may be able to utilize your child’s color knowledge while you play! Direct them on what cup to stack based on color. For example, say, “Let’s stack the red cup first then the blue cup”. Your baby is able to work on following simple directions while working on mastering their colors! Make sure that if they make a mistake to acknowledge their efforts and correct them by explaining the right answer. How about counting with baby stacking cups In whatever way you decide to play with your stackable cups, try to incorporate counting! It can be as simple as counting the cups as you stack them or as challenging as asking your baby to stack with a particular number of cups. For example, you could say, “Can you stack five cups?” or “Can you stack the number of cups for how old you are?”. Try building different structures If you're tired of simply stacking cups upward, try building in different forms! You can build a variety of different shapes with your cups! Consider making a story where your characters need a place to live! Using the cups, build a house for the characters! Allow your baby the freedom to be as silly as they want! If your baby feels safe and supported, they will be much more confident in expressing themselves verbally and physically! Unlimited ways to play with baby stacking cups We hope after reading this you have a better grasp on how to play with stacking cups and how this can help your baby in their development! An activity doesn’t have to be super complex for your baby to benefit from it. The truth is quite the opposite! Stacking cups is a fun activity that possesses a variety of different ways to play, engaging both you and your baby! Good luck with your play and feel free to tell us all about it in the comments below! Works Referenced: https://www.tandemspeechtherapy.com/2019/02/07/pwp-stacking-cups/ https://lovevery.com/community/blog/child-development/stacking-nesting-and-matching-when-do-they-happen/