Baby game ideas
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Any time is a good baby game time as your baby heads towards that first birthday! And extra mobility adds interest and adventure.
There are lots of things happening over these three months. Your baby starts to crawl, pulls to stand - and eventually begins to walk with or without help.
Any kind of baby game will be greatly appreciated now, as your child develops a healthy sense of humor and begins to communicate more directly with you. Familiar routines as well as games form the basis of his day, as he attempts to copy everything you do.
Baby game ideas - the tenth month
Your baby is starting to identify familiar objects and point at them - don't be surprised if his first words are accompanied by pointing over the next few weeks! It's a world of fascinating opposites, as baby discovers the different properties and functions of everyday objects. Sounds are becoming more identifiable to him too and some will intrigue him whereas others will terrify him, such as the noise of the vacuum cleaner.- Show the way to play
It's a good idea to remind yourself now and again that your baby will need you to show him what to do with his toys or familiar objects he uses to play with. He might start to build a tower with blocks, trying to put just one on top of another one to start with. You'll have to wait a good while until he can build a high enough tower for you to knock down! Show him how to put things into a box and empty them out again. Show him how to roll a ball. Make a baby game of feeding teddy when you are having a snack, and he'll start to copy your actions. Have a conversation with his soft toys, give them a pat and a cuddle, and he'll do it too. Lie down on the baby gym and play around with the different activities there. Getting involved in baby play is no doubt second nature to you now, and your little one will often set the agenda by making it clear to you what interests him at this stage. - Hello and Goodbye
Whenever you enter a room where baby is playing, say a great big hello to him with a huge smile on your face! You can go out again saying goodbye and waving... only to enter again a moment later saying hello! He'll soon realize the meanings of these words, and you can play with his cuddly toys doing the same. - Clapping games and finger plays
Now you can really get baby to join in the actions with these familiar nursery rhyme favorites.- If you're happy and you know it
- Five little ducks
- Heads, shoulders knees and toes
- I hear thunder
- I'm a little teapot
- Incy wincy spider
- Jelly on a plate
- Old MacDonald
- Pat-a cake
- The wheels on the bus
- Tommy Thumb
- Two little dicky birds
- Wind the bobbin up
- If you're happy and you know it
- Creepy Crawlies
Help baby navigate over an obstacle course made of cushions and through a tunnel made of a large cardboard box. If you do it first, he'll soon get the idea! You will probably have to help him around at first, but soon he'll be crawling around with the best of them. - Opposite heaven
Working out upside down and right way up, turning on and off, standing up and sitting down - all these concepts are beginning to make sense at last. Put an upside down container in front of baby and see if he turns it the right way up. Let baby turn on and off the tap. Pull him up to stand, lower him to sit and talk to him about what he is doing. Nod your head a lot for "yes" and shake your head for "no" - and it's almost guaranteed that the shake showing refusal will be copied very quickly!
Baby game ideas - the eleventh month
To your growing baby, variety is the spice of life. Whether it's examining one object carefully for a few minutes before moving onto the next or getting to grips with a fascinating selection of different items in a pile on the floor, baby will provide you with many opportunities to observe his increasing mental and physical prowess. Some children at this age are still creeping on bottoms, hands and knees - while others are taking their first steps. The world still revolves solely around them, and with all the baby game opportunities that can be exploited now, what an interesting world it is turning out to be.- Stack it, sort it!
Stacking and sorting activities begin to come into their own at this stage. Putting smaller pots into bigger ones, taking them out again, trying it the other way round - play along with your baby and copy what he does, as if it were all new to you too. Experiment with bricks in a box, baby keys and rattles in a basket, crumpled up paper in a bucket, small soft toys in a paper bag. Can you get them out? How? Do they go back in? Can I use two hands to do this? What happens if...? Try collecting all those odd socks around the house and giving them to baby to sort in his own fashion. He'll be estimating sizes, identifying shapes and practising his organizational abilities all in one go! - Eager reader
Many older babies adore books. Turning the pages is now a thrilling activity, as baby has the manipulative skills to start to master handling books himself. Start with the soft ones and help your baby turn each page. Then move onto board books. Books with flaps, holes or textures to feel make this more of an adventure, but you can also look at bold magazine pictures together and point to the different things. Gardening magazines with large photos of flowers, store catalogues with pictures of familiar baby toys or toddler magazine publications will open baby's eyes to the variety of printed material us older folk take for granted. - I start, you finish
Take the lid off a container and let baby empty it out. Wet a facecloth and let him wipe his face with it, baby-fashion of course. You want that toy? I'll put it just near you, and you can pick it up. This baby game shows baby that you don't need to do absolutely everything for him - he can do something too! - Whassat??
Make identifying sounds into a baby game. You can hide his musical toys behind cushions, or an alarm clock under a box. Stand behind a door, peer round it, shake a rattle and say "What's that?". Then show baby with a look of big surprise and a laugh. Do the same banging saucepan lids or shaking a juice bottle or pasta in a box - baby will know it's a game, and will try and tell you what he thinks is going on in his own language. With books featuring animals, you can both practise the animal sounds together, and baby may start pointing at the correct animals when you make the noise.
Baby game ideas - the twelfth month
Your baby is becoming more independent. He is eager to increase his experience of the world around him, and is beginning to understand much more of what you say. He's learning to use the objects around him as tools, and will play baby games that practise imitating observed behavior. And with his increasing enthusiasm to reach what was once the unreachable, he'll be determined to get moving as quickly as possible.- I've got a job to do!
Babies of this age get busily involved in imitation play. Using baby phones, tableware, brushes and combs, a steering wheel or a bunch of keys is all part of the imagination game - inspired by you! Make a baby game of having a picnic on the floor, with plastic food and plates, some paper napkins and your guests, the cuddly toys. Sit baby in a large box, sit behind him, and let him drive you somewhere nice. You can push the box around for more action. - One at a time
Once baby has mastered the art of tipping things out of containers, you can practise putting things back in - one at a time. He'll probably check each block before it goes back in the box, and may spend some time making sure that each one is carefully put in (just give him a few to do at first!). Wooden baby puzzles incorporating pieces that you can pull out of a block are good for practising this, too. It's easy to take the pieces out - but tricky putting them back in again. You'll need to play this baby game together, with you handing him the correct piece one by one. - Heads, shoulders...
As your baby begins to understand more about how things around him work, he'll become more curious about himself, too. Play lots of games pointing to your nose, eyes, mouth, waving your hands and arms, wiggling your feet and stretching your legs. Point to baby's nose and see if he can point to yours. - Throw it!
After learning how to let go of objects, your little one is now ready to start throwing them! A small soft ball is ideal for this. You can practise rolling the ball to each other at first, and then lifting your arm and throwing the ball through the air. Sit opposite each other and keep practising until baby starts to throw better in your direction. Then a little more rolling. Then throwing. Practice makes perfect! - Follow the leader
What with all this activity, I shall finish with a baby game that all babies love. Now that baby can walk a little, crawl about and make his own individual moves, it's time for you to incorporate all of these, as well as other actions that your baby can do, into a follow my leader game. You can finish by trying to crawl away from baby, with him trying to catch you! Then - you can chase him!
