ABSTRACT
A baby's personal, social and emotional development relies heavily on the adults around them. Babies are innately social and seek contact with others from birth. This chapter provides five opportunities for practitioners to engage with babies to support them in discovering more about themselves, their identities and what their bodies can do. The great thing about this particular area of learning is that in order to be successful, practitioners really only need to be present and attentive and take their cues and responses from the baby. Water has a very calming effect on babies; whenever there are babies that are struggling to settle, perhaps in their first few days, the author's go-to activity is always water play. The feelings surrounding water, its calmness and the senses it stimulates, are relaxing. Using this as a basis, it is a very versatile, free resource that can be added to in order to create a range of experiences.
