What kind of controlled safe scientific experiments can I do with my baby?

Question

I have a 3 month old baby and I was wondering what kind of controlled and most importantly, safe home-made scientific experiments I can do with my baby to understand his development, his behavior and his learning curve at different stages of growth.

I know this is mostly done by experts, but considering we have been gifted with a baby and that it is such a unique opportunity to learn about little humans we have at home, I wanted to know what other parents do to learn about their kids without compromising their safety obviously.

Taking this one step further, wouldn't it be amazing that parents all over the world could do safe controlled experiments and share the results? It would be like a global, open-source way of contributing to baby science.

Some examples could be: their reaction to music, sounds, moving objects, animals, colors, textures, technology, human interaction. How far they can see at each stage, when they are able to recognize themselves in a mirror (Toddlers And The Mirror Test)?, when can they grab different type of things? when will they begin using tools?, lots of other experiments related to language learning, etc.

Answer 1

You could do almost anything, but I think you should set yourself some ground rules. Obviously you don't want to put your baby into any kind of potentially harmful situation. You want to avoid any experiments that cause undue stress... no witholding of food, sleep, or affection, no stress testing their capacity for discomfort, etc.

So what can you do? I would restrict myself to observational experiments. How does your child react to a new song? What about a familiar song? What toys are they interested in? How long do they look at thing X or thing Y?

Keep an object in the room for a week. Not an object they'll get attached to, like a teddy bear, but something neutral. Remove the object. Do they seem to notice? Repeat at intervals, record the results.

It is possible for this to be done globally, all you need is some kind of web site that people can register on and some forms for them to fill out the answers to different experimental questions and to suggest new experiments.

Answer 2

You will get very far by just observing. Children are very curious creatures, and they are doing a lot of experimenting on their own, without you trying to initialize specific experiments.

The main challenge is really to make the time to observe, and be able to recognize what actually happens in their different small experiments.

The most important is to have a notebook and a pen available at all times, so you can pick it up and make notes each time you notice something new. Make a note of what, when, and reflections on why he does it.

When you have time, you should sit down and collect the notes in a more systematic way, where you perhaps write a diary-like thing in a private blog or word-document or something where you go more in depth on each "experiment". This should be done on a regular base so you don't forget too much about each incident (although the notes will help you remember).

Answer 3

What you're describing is what every parent does: expose your child to different stimuli and see how they react, and what they like and do not like. That's not really experimenting on your child. Experimenting on your child requires that you a) control for all factors, b) follow the experimental method, and c) change one factor to see what the response is. In your home you're never going to be able to control for all factors, you need a lab to do that.

I'm not in favor of viewing one's child as a subject (and I have a degree in Psychology), you want your relationship to be loving parent, not mad scientist or god forbid BF Skinner! You're going to have ample opportunity to see how your child develops and what they like and don't like, and there's many web forums and local groups to share your experiences with. Try to enjoy the process as much as you can.

Answer 4

One of the best methods I know is to provide age-appropriate toys and then observe. Participate as much as you like (more is better) but don't lead too much so that the child isn't paced too hard.

Keep a diary if you like: You could record milestones like: able to turn from back to belly, able to turn back again, able to hold an item, able to sit, able to ... you get the idea.

Get some parenting books that include these milestones and compare against your notes. Get inspiration from the books on what things to look for.