Hey everyone! I've been meaning to share E's learning activities with you for awhile. In fact, it was my first intent in starting the blog. Guess I'm a bit slow over here... Oh well! Here are some of the best activities I've found for his current developmental stage (10 months, cruising, crawling, pulling to stand, trying to walk). Some of these we've already tried, and some just sound really cool. I'll be adding more details as we try each out. I'll also add more activities as I find them, so check back! Please share any fun activities you like to do with your babies!
Sensory bins
Inspiration: Play, Create, Explore
Supports: Fine motor development, exploration, free play, independence, new sensory experiences, developing understanding of cause and effect and gravity, developing understanding of categories (mental leap 6 in Wonder Weeks)
Quick Description: Place items of different sizes, shapes and textures in a bin. Encourage your baby to explore the items. NOTE: This can get messy. Also, make sure to watch your little guy- some sensory bin items are not meant to be ingested!
Cardboard box tunnels
Inspiration: The 50+ boxes in my garage from our recent move and Play, Create, Explore
Supports: Crawling, exploration, free play, independence, developing understanding of relationships (mental leap 5 in Wonder Weeks- distance between things)
Quick Description: Encourage baby to crawl through the box tunnel. As your baby gets more comfortable, tape a series of boxes together to increase the challenge and fun.
Gravity drop box
Inspiration: Aforementioned garage full of boxes and Play at Home Mom
Supports: developing understanding of putting things together to get desired outcome (mental leap 7 in Wonder Weeks- sequences), fine motor skills
Quick Description: Use a razor blade to cut holes in the top of an empty cardboard box. You can vary this depending on the age/ interests/ skill level of your child. Baby can drop objects through the holes and watch them fall. If your baby likes auditory stimulation, you can put something in the bottom of the box to make the drop a bit noisier.
Themed bath
Inspiration: E's love of all things watery and Play, Create, Explore
Supports: depends on the theme
Quick Description: This site has lots of interesting ideas for things you could do to spice up bath time. I am afraid of/ too lazy to attempt most of them, but it could be fun for other people!
Come Find Me!
Inspiration: My desire for 5 seconds of independence
Supports: independence, decrease in separation anxiety, developing understanding of object permanence (ie: just because you can't see an object doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore), language development,
Quick Description: Tell your baby, "I'll be right back!" or whatever you generally say when you leave. Then walk slowly away and hide behind something (in the beginning you'll want to make your hiding place very obvious). At first E would start screaming the second I moved away from him, so I'd repeat, "Come find me!" while he crawled his screaming little self toward me. When he found my hiding spot, I'd say something like, "I'm back!" and we'd celebrate. In time, he became more comfortable with me leaving him and even occasionally let me pee alone. Score one for mama!
Where's the ... ?
Inspiration: Bloggin About Babies
Supports: developing understanding of object permanence (ie: just because you can't see an object doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore), language development
Quick Description: Introduce your baby to an object (show and name it). Hide the object (under a blanket, behind something, etc). Ask baby, "Where's the...?" Clap when baby finds it (or do the happy dance. Take your pick). Reiterate the object's name as you point to it.
Alligator!
Inspiration: Too many rowdy sleepovers in my best friend's basement
Supports: gross motor development, cruising/ walking, pulling to stand independence
Quick Description: Place sturdy objects around the room. Encourage your baby to cruise from one to the other without dropping down to the floor. Challenge your baby to make attempts at first steps by placing items increasingly farther apart. FYI it's called Alligator! because my friends and I used to amuse ourselves during sleepovers by pretending the floor was full of alligators, naturally giving us no choice but to hurl our 12+ year old selves from one piece of furniture to the next. Ah, youth...
Walker soccer
Inspiration: E and Sadie dog made this up themselves
Supports: cruising/ walking, having fun!
Quick Description: E and Sadie both love to play with balls, so we have quite a few laying around the house. Take turns "kicking" the ball back and forth with your baby as he plays in his walker. Tip: Watch your ankles! Babies are very aggressive drivers!
Walk the house
Inspiration: Bloggin About Babies
Supports: language development, new sensory experiences
Quick Description: Walk around the house (and outside), naming objects you see. Allow baby to touch different textures, see how things work, etc. as you describe the object and its properties.
Stand up, Sit down
Inspiration: Too many hours of sleep lost due to a baby who loves to pull up but can't sit down
Supports: independence, pulling to stand, sitting, gross motor development, language development
Quick Description: Say, "Stand up!" as you encourage your baby to pull to stand (around here, this is not necessary, as E spends every waking moment attempting to stand). Once he's up, show him an object that interests him (for us, it's anything that makes noise or can be eaten). Place the object on the floor and encourage baby to sit down to get it, saying "Sit down". Keep repeating and cross your fingers that your baby will remember this when he wakes up in the middle of the night!
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| Standing up rocks! |
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