When shown a photo of his big brother, Eli grins and waves his arms.  Soon, he recognizes that voice on video calls, too.  These excited moments show that Eli is learning who matters most in his world.  This matters for language arts development because recognizing familiar faces and voices builds social awareness and helps babies connect words and names to the people they love.

Aims:
Strengthen your baby’s recognition of familiar people and encourage early social skills.

Goals:

• Encourage your baby to look at and listen to family members.
• Support reactions to familiar voices and photos

Objectives:

• Show excitement (move, coo, smile) when seeing a familiar face.
• Turn or respond to a known voice.

Activities List:

• Hold up family photos, name each person, and describe something they love.
• Call to your baby from different parts of the room, then appear with a big smile.
• Play “Where’s Mama/Dada?” with photos or simple hiding games.

Materials:
Family photos, mirrors, favorite songs

Differentiation:

• For visually impaired babies, use extra voice and touch cues.
• For less responsive babies, bring faces close and use exaggerated talk.

Integration:

• Incorporate family names and greetings into everyday life.

Parent Simulation Tip:
Use video calls for faraway relatives—babies love hearing and seeing familiar faces.

Interactive Activities:

• Individual: Looking at a photo album with your baby
• Group: Video call with a distant family member

Activity Pack: Please print the accompanying activity pack for this lesson.