What you need
- Your face, about 30 cm from theirs
- A quiet room — TV off, phone face down
How to play
- 1
Get close and level
Hold your baby facing you, or lie down beside them. Your face should be roughly an arm's length away, where a young baby can focus best.
- 2
Wait for them to start
Do not lead. Watch for a coo, a gurgle, a squeak, even a tongue movement. Whatever comes out first is your material.
- 3
Copy it exactly
Make the same sound back, in the same tone. Not a better version, not a word — the same sound. This is what tells them they were heard.
- 4
Then leave a gap
Stop and wait. Count to five silently. Most parents fill this gap too fast. The pause is the invitation for their next turn.
- 5
Add one small change
After a few rounds, say 'ba-ba' when they said 'ba'. A tiny stretch, not a lesson. If they do not follow, go back to copying.
- 6
Stop while they are still keen
Looking away and yawning mean the session is over. Five good minutes beats fifteen forced ones.
What your child is learning
Honestly stated — this is what the activity actually builds, not a list of everything it might touch.
- Turn-taking — the basic structure of conversation
- Hearing that their own sounds have an effect on you
- Practising the mouth movements that come before words
- Watching your lips and face while you speak
There is a long list of things that help a baby learn to talk, and almost all of them come down to one thing: someone answers them. Not a rhymes video, not a talking toy. A real person who waits, listens and replies.
Do this in whichever language you speak at home. Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali — it makes no difference to the baby’s brain, and you will be warmer and sillier in your own language than in a careful English.
Keep it safe
Nothing here is risky, but two practical points. Support your baby’s head and neck fully if they are under four months. And keep the room quiet — a background TV genuinely reduces how much back-and-forth happens, because you both stop noticing the small sounds.
When they get bored of it
- Change your voice. Whisper one round, sing the next. Babies orient strongly to a high, sing-song tone.
- Copy their movements too. Stick out your tongue when they do. Open your mouth wide. Copying is copying, whether it uses sound or not.
- Name what they are looking at. Around six months, follow their eyes and say the word. “Fan. The fan is going round.” Their attention picks the topic.
- Take it to the nappy change table. Chatting through a routine that happens eight times a day beats a special session you have to remember.
If your baby makes very few sounds by six months, does not turn towards your voice, or stops babbling after having started, mention it to your paediatrician. Early hearing checks are simple and worth doing.