Activities for Babies – How to Play With Your Baby and Encourage Growth From 0-12 Months
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You have a house full of toys but your baby would rather play with your keys or that empty water bottle. It’s frustrating I know! You find yourself returning toys or taking them to goodwill faster than the next birthday or holiday.
Have you ever questioned why this is? Are the toy manufacturers just not making good enough toys? They don’t have enough colors or make enough noises? No, momma, that’s not it.
It is all about milestones! It is about choosing the right toys and activities for the right ages. How in the world do you know what is the right activities for babies? Keeping reading to find out!
What Are Good Activities for Babies?
The best activities for your baby are based on their milestones. What new skills are they learning? What is interesting to them at this time? What new colors are they able to see?
Here you will find what milestones your baby is reaching every month and what activities and toys are best suited for that month.
You can get this FREE visual to not only see what play activities are best each month, but also what to expect with feeding, sleeping, and more! You can also read about it all here What to Expect During Your Baby’s First Precious Year
Activities for Babies by Month
- First Month
- 1-2 Months
- 2-3 Months
- 3-4 Months
- 4-5 Months
- 5-6 Months
- 6-7 Months
- 7-8 Months
- 8-9 Months
- 9-10 Months
- 10-11 Months
- 11-12 Months
Activities for Babies in the First Month
Milestones
- Experimenting with reflexes: rooting, sucking, moro, grasp, Babinski, and more
- Can see 8-12 inches away
- Can differentiate black and white and contrasting patterns.
- Notices your scent
- Expanding their hearing
How to Play
- Tummy Time!
- You can start from day one!
- Laying your baby on your chest is a great way to expand their growth in all of the milestones plus strengthen their muscles as they try to lift their head.
Activities for Babies at 1-2 Months
Milestones
- Your baby can now track moving objects.
- Can see a rainbow of colors.
- Is very aware of sounds.
- Finding their fingers.
How to Play
- Dangling toys such as rattles and balls
- Play with some Vibrant Board Books
- Toys with sounds. Determine what sounds are agitating and which are calming for your baby.
- Exploring baby’s fingers as they find them for the first time.
Activities for Babies at 2-3 months
Milestones
- Growing their personality
- Continuing to expand their vision and hearing
- Exploring their senses such as touch.
Activities for Babies at 3-4 Months
Milestones
- Can lift their head 90 degrees and roll over (if you all have been working on tummy time).
- Continuing to grow their senses
- Ready to adapt to a schedule – add in a specific time for play.
How to Play
- The best toys at this stage are activity mats and sensory toys that make noise.
- Continue reading as your baby is growing more captivated.
Activities for Babies at 4-5 Months
Milestones
- Can notice a difference in shades of color, especially red and green
- Can track faster movements with her eyes
- She might raise up her arms when playing on her tummy and be able to keep her head level when propped in a sitting position.
How to Play
- Find toys or books with a focus on red and green
- Play with toys that have a lot of movement
- Baby’s favorite toy might be their toes as they start to find them
Activities for Babies at 5-6 Months
Milestones
- Can understand object permanence (the idea of something disappearing and then coming back)
- Is able to pass a toy from one hand to the other
How to Play
- You can finally play peek-a-boo
- Play with toys your baby can grasp to practice fine motor skills
Activities for Babies at 6-7 Months
Milestones
- Baby may be sitting up unsupported depending on how much tummy time there has been.
- He may even be able to bear some weight on his legs when held upright and even begin to crawl.
How to Play
- The best toys for your sweet baby would be stacking toys and games.
- Look for toys that encourage crawling like cars, trains, balls, or toys that light up and have music.
Activities for Babies at 7-8 Months
Milestones
- If you have been doing lots of tummy time you may have a crawler on your hands.
- Your baby might be rolling both ways and standing while holding onto someone or something.
How to Play
- The best toys would be toys on wheels or things your baby can push across the room while crawling or scooting.
- Activity tables or sturdy push toys are great as well.
Activities for Babies at 8-9 Months
Milestones
- You may even hear the sweet sound of Mama and Dada as your baby’s communication is expanding.
- Separation anxiety may begin causing some clinginess.
- This may cause your baby to get attached to a comfort object like a blanket or stuffed animal.
How to Play
- Your baby’s favorite game might be the “oopsie game”. Although this can be highly frustrating to you, this is actually great developmentally as they learn cause and effect.
- Great toys for your little one would be soft blocks with colorful pictures and jingly sounds.
Activities for Babies at 9-10 Months
Milestones
- Your baby may be crawling, standing, cruising, and getting more and more explorative while he is at it.
- May see some sleep regression making for a sleepy momma and baby.
How to Play
- Since your baby is busy on the move the best toys are play tunnels, large balls to roll, and even stacks of pillows to climb over.
Activities for Babies at 10-11 Months
Milestones
- Your baby has a strong desire for discovery and exploration
- They are perfecting their crawling, standing, cruising, and may even be walking.
- Due to stress and overstimulation, you might see some new behaviors such as head banging, rocking, rolling, teeth grinding, hair-pulling, and biting.
- Your baby may start waving bye-bye, playing patty cake, and blowing kisses.
How to Play
- Play with toys that encourage crawling, cruising and cause and effect.
- For the biting moments, offer something baby can bite on such as a teething toy or pacifier.
- Keep introducing books and never stop. He may not be able to sit still but that’s ok. Get sturdy books that he can play with as he pleases.
Activities for Babies at 11-12 Months
Milestones
- Your baby is likely able to clap hands, wave bye-bye, bang toys together, raise her arms to be picked up, drink from a cup, and possibly say dada or mama.
- Your baby may be walking and talking.
- She may be able to stand alone for a minute or 2.
- Now would be the perfect time to start teaching your little one some basic differences between what’s right and what’s wrong.
How to Play
- The best toys now are push toys like a baby doll stroller, toy shopping cart, or an activity center on wheels. Ride-on toys are good too.
- Your baby will start to become more imaginative and role-play toys would be great. Things such as dolls, playhouse, play kitchen, pretend food, toy phone, workbench, or doctor kit.
Now Start Playing!
Now you know exactly what to expect each month and what toys and activities can help your baby reach their milestones. Remember these milestones are just a guideline and not set in stone.
Your baby may be ahead of the milestones listed here or still working on a few, that’s ok! What is important is that you are helping your baby with their growth and having fun while doing it.
No more frustration that baby is not “interested” in any of their toys. You now know what skills are interesting to them each month and which toys and activities to focus on.
To learn more about what to expect for feeding, sleeping, and more, you can check out this blog post here – What to Expect During Your Baby’s First Precious Year – and get this FREE visual.