Infants are increasingly alert and curious during this time period, and will begin to initiate actions rather than just responding to overtures. Babies are capable of grasping and holding rattles and will begin to swat at and grasp favorite toys.

Parents are urged to provide babies of this age with colorful objects of various textures, shapes and sizes that can be explored. Infant gyms provide babies with objects that dangle. The baby will swat at these objects. Parents can hold toys just out of the baby’s reach and encourage the child to swat at or grab them. Toys should not be strung up onto cribs or other baby equipment, because the child may become tangled in them.

Parents can also encourage play by sitting the baby on a parent’s lap and gently clapping the baby’s hands together. Other techniques include stretching the arms overhead, or moving the baby’s legs in a pedaling motion. Parents are also encouraged to create games or songs that have a rhythmic pattern that suddenly change at the end. Over time, the child will learn to anticipate the change and may indicate this through laughing or a similar reaction.

Parents can also continue to engage in some of the play activities that they introduced when their child was a newborn, such as shaking and hiding a rattle for the child to find.

Babies should be able to almost hold their heads in line with their bodies by the end of their fourth month. To test this, lay the child on their back and use the baby’s arms to gently pull up to a sitting position. Watch to see where the head is in relation to the rest of the body as the child moves upright.