Babies are constantly learning. From the moment they’re born, babies take in their world, whether it’s the blurry bubble of space immediately around them (for the first few weeks) or more detailed sites, sounds, smells, and tastes of both familiar and new environments (during the later months).
In the early days, babies may be fascinated just watching a mobile sway above their heads or chewing on a teething toy. But as they grow, their interests develop and become increasingly advanced. Here, we offer 10 activities for babies 6-12 months that will engage them and encourage healthy development.
In the early days, babies may be fascinated just watching a mobile sway above their heads or chewing on a teething toy. But as they grow, their interests develop and become increasingly advanced. Here, we offer 10 activities for babies 6-12 months that will engage them and encourage healthy development.
- Tummy time 180°. We’re all told how important tummy time is for our little ones — but sometimes it can get a bit dull. Give it a twist by placing five or six toys in a circle around your baby during tummy time and encouraging them to reach for items that aren’t directly in front of them.
- Pasta in a bottle. If you’ve got an empty plastic bottle and some pasta, you can create this activity for your babe. Just fill an empty bottle with pasta, glue the top back on (or firmly secure it into place), and let your little one go wild exploring the site and sound of this new rattle. Bonus points for colorful pasta, which will be even more exciting for them to watch.
- Stacking. If you’ve got nesting cups — or even just measuring cups from the kitchen — let your baby go wild stacking them and then knocking them down again. These simple objects can provide plenty of entertainment, as your little one can try rolling them, putting them in his mouth, and figuring out how they fit inside each other.
- Post-it exploring. If your little one is on the move (either crawling or starting to stand/walk), a simple activity is to place post-its on the wall around a room and encourage her to find them. For crawling babes, place the post-its close to the ground and go higher as they begin to move on their feet.
- Clapping together. Most babies learn how to clap around six to eight months — and once they figure it out, they’ll love doing it with you! There are plenty of fun nursery rhymes that involve clapping from Patty Cake to Clap, Clap, Clap, One, Two, Three.
- Exploration bag. Fill a clear, small bag with several toys or other items your little one can take out and explore. This is a great activity for sitting in waiting rooms, on car rides, or in any other situations where your baby is in the same place for awhile. Depending on how long you need to entertainment, bring along more objects than what fit in the bag and switch them out for more fun.
- Read a book. Even from a very young age, reading is incredibly important for developing language and listening skills. Help your little one experience the joy of reading by sharing all sorts of books with them. High-contrast books are usually popular so little ones can see what’s happening more clearly. As they grow, babies start to like turning the pages themselves as well as flipping any flaps in the books to discover what’s underneath. Your local library is a great resource for offering your little one a rotation of fun books to read together.
- Couch surfing. As your baby gets more mobile on his feet, you can give this activity a shot. Line up several of his favorite toys across the length of a sofa and encourage him to walk along the sofa, holding onto the sofa for support. He’ll love following along to see which toy is next.
- Colander play. Dig into your kitchen cabinets again for your colander. You’ll also want to have some pipe cleaners on hand, too. Stick the pipe cleaners into the colander (one or both sides of the pipe cleaner work just fine). Your little one can sit facing the colander and work on pulling out the pipe cleaners from the colander. As she gets older, you may help her try to stick the pipe cleaners back in, too.
- Find the block. For this one, you get to be a magician! All you’ll need is two cups (preferably different colors) and a block (other objects will work, too; just be mindful of choking hazards) that fits underneath the cups. Place the cups upside down in front of your baby, and put the object underneath one of them. Now slide the cups around and see if your little one can guess which cup it’s underneath. You can do a few rounds, switching the object back and forth between the cups.
Keep in mind that all of these baby development activities should be done with adult supervision. Do you have any fun activities for babies who are 6-12 months old? We’d love to hear them in the comments below!
