Intellectual Development means being able to communicate, to think both creatively and abstractly, to pay attention, solve problems, and develop keen judgment and a lifelong readiness to learn.

Comfort Through the comfort and responsiveness of an adult, babies will learn how to handle their emotions and how to seek help when needed. Parents Can: Give their baby lots of opportunities to chat – remember it takes two to talk! Child Will: Express her needs, interests and feelings through words, facial expressions or gestures Parents Can: Describe their baby's feelings with words Child Will: Know you are interested in communicating, and will gradually learn names for emotions Parents Can: Support their baby's efforts by describing what he is good at (for example, "good climbing," "what a good builder you are") Child Will: Feel good about his emerging skills Begin to feel more confident Parents Can: Invite their baby to help with simple tasks Child Will: Know you enjoy being with him

Play Through opportunities for play, babies will experience joyful, free, spontaneous moments of fun while learning about themselves and others. Parents Can: Encourage their baby to try out new skills and talk about these experiences Child Will: Have the opportunity to practice sharing feelings through sounds and gestures Parents Can: Be attentive to their baby's cues for things that interest her Comment on things their baby is involved in Child Will: Take the lead in playing or seeking experiences she finds interesting Make connections about what she is experiencing and learn about her surroundings Parents Can: Respond to their baby's requests, giving their baby a chance to respond back Child Will: Keep trying to communicate and have conversations with others

Teach Through routines and emotionally and physically safe and secure environments, babies can learn how to think, solve problems and communicate. Parents Can: Look at and converse about picture books and magazines Child Will: Begin to name and point out familiar pictures in a book Increase his comprehension Parents Can: Use toy telephones or dolls to support language development Child Will: Begin to imitate words (for example, "hi" or "bye-bye") Begin to connect words with actions Parents Can: Repeat and expand on words their baby is using Child Will: Become familiar with more and more objects and actions Begin to repeat words appropriately