A playful app by a University of Hawaii professor suggests games to stimulate babies’ development

When educator Norma Jean Stodden had her first daughter in 1981, she was working full time at at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and wished she had more time to spend with her baby. When her second daughter was born four years later, she took 10 years off to be home with her and played developmental games. These experiences led her to create a new app called Baby’s Daily Play.

Stodden, 67, recently retired as an associate professor from the education department at UH but still has a passion for it. She has more than 30 years as an educator under her belt and started working on the baby app two years ago as a project for her retirement.

In the first year a baby’s brain is developing rapidly. Building critical language skills should start right away, she said, to set a foundation for later years.

"What you really want to do with a baby is to provide really rich conversation, and you can build that around games," she said. "The more varied the vocabulary, and the longer, more complex the sentences, the better it is for baby. You’re really trying to build upon their language."

The app is based on "Baby’s First Year," an educational calendar that she first published in 1988 with fun, easy games for each of baby’s first year (still available for $12.95 at simplyuniversal.net). The calendar received the Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

With an app as a platform, Stodden said, she could add more information than the calendar could fit.

Baby’s Daily Play ($1.99 on iTunes and Google Play) includes 365 educational games designed to stimulate baby’s intellectual, physical, social and emotional development.

On baby’s first day, for instance, the app recommends that you "rock, hold, and kiss baby" and let baby "hear, feel, see and smell you." Talk about baby’s new family and say baby’s new name often. The app also features an interactive family tree.

In baby’s fifth month, the app suggests holding baby in front of a mirror, then touching, naming and describing your nose and then the baby’s nose, followed by other body parts.

Though the concepts are simple, it can be difficult for sleep-deprived new parents to think of different ways to stimulate a baby’s developing brain.

"It’s just good, solid play that is fun for both parent and child," she said. "The games are actually designed to stimulate all the baby’s senses."

Stodden, now a grandmother of three, said it was fun to rewrite the games for an app. When she learned there were push notifications that would say, "Do you want to play a new game?" she was thrilled.

"I thought, ‘Oh, technology is just so cool,’" she said.

The app allows users to add photos and virtual milestone stickers and record memories in an online journal.

The games featured in the app cover a wide range of development skills, including gross motor coordination, sound awareness and social development. They can even be played while diapering baby, and do not require any additional materials.

They are designed to be fun for the baby and parents, said Stodden, as well as for grandparents and caregivers, with an emphasis on natural, joyful and responsive interactions.