6 months is an exciting age for your little one. At this age, his/her world is full of adventures and the mind is more curious than ever. To put it another way, this is a consequential period for the development of fine and gross motor skills characterised by growing independence and spirited reactions. It is important to acknowledge these changes and continue to peddle the boat of healthy development of your infant by incorporating dynamic activities that stimulate the intellect of your baby daily. Here are 16 activities for babies 6 months that boost development and also strengthen the loving bond you share with your child.
Although your baby may not have any sense of words yet, presenting a colourful and illustrative storybook is a good way to familiarise the baby with vibrant colours & patterns. Point out and verbalise the objects in the book and sometimes your baby may babble trying to repeat what you said.
Benefits:
This activity enhances your 6-month-old baby’s visual perception and listening skills.
Bouncing
Hold between arms and support your baby vertically with his feet on soft ground or mattress and gently spring him up and down. On doing this, the baby will begin bouncing thus making it a wonderful activity to exercise the legs.
Don’t worry, it’s not as complex as it sounds. We’re talking mainly about big wooden puzzles, colourful blocks or simple puzzles with big vibrant pictures. You’ll need to guide your toddler’s hands and don’t forget to cheer for them!
This is one of the best and most fun activities for babies 6 months. Nothing is more exciting for your baby than seeing your face vanish behind a blanket and then pop back up like magic. A laughter-filled activity for both you and your baby.
Benefits:
The Peekaboo exercise improves fine motor abilities while also teaching your kid object permanence, i.e. the concept that people and objects exist even when they aren’t visible.
Clapping
Clapping plays a big role in learning to express validation, joy and appreciation as the baby grows older. Around 6 months, babies begin clapping on their own and it should be encouraged. You can also hold your baby’s hands and deliberately make them clap or clap your hands along with the baby.
Benefits:
Baby learns imitation, improves cognitive skills and auditory discrimination ability.
Chasing Game
Attach any toy of your baby’s liking to a string and pull it away from your baby so that he/she makes an attempt to grab it. Babies of 6 months typically start crawling and rolling around on their stomachs and this is an activity that promotes that.
Benefits:
Increases strength, boosts overall physical development and eye-hand coordination.
Water Splash & Play
Your 6-month-old bundle of joy will not want playtime to be over with this fun activity. Just get an inflatable pool, fill it up with some water, add some toys and let your baby splash around and have some water fun.
Benefits:
Whether done outside in summers or indoor in winters, it’s a great sensory activity for your little one.
Shake Shake!
Make a homemade rattle toy to amuse your baby! Take a transparent container, fill it up with rice or cereal and screw on the lid tightly. Let your baby shake and rattle it to hear the noise made by what’s inside the container and figure it out.
Benefits:
This is an amazing activity for your baby to understand cause and effect.
Bicycle Baby
Physical activities for babies 6 months are equally important to boost development. For this simple exercise, lay your baby on its back on a comfortable surface and cycle the baby’s legs by holding them with your hands.
Benefits:
It helps in expanding the baby’s range of motion and improves muscle strength.
Massage
Massaging your baby with nourishing oil is a bonding activity as well as super relaxing for him/her. Massaging before nap time can help your baby sleep better.
Benefits:
Other than reducing baby’s stress, massage is very healthy for the immune system as well.
Rhyme Time
A cheerful activity that can be performed anywhere, anytime. Singing rhymes to your baby while encouraging him/her to clap along and repeat after you is an enjoyable way to familiarise the baby with the flow of words and language.
Benefit:
Rhymes are especially useful for speech development and musical rhythm understanding.
Drumming
All you need are some kitchen utensils and a stick or a spoon. Flip the utensils upside down and hand your baby a ladle and let him/her beat them like they’re a professional drummer!
Benefits:
Develops fine motor skills like grasping, hand-eye coordination, auditory & tactile senses.
Messy Food Play
A lot of parents prevent their children from playing with food fearing the mess. However, this is actually a fantastic and wholesome activity because it allows your baby to explore the different textures, smells, sounds and even tastes.
Benefits:
Cultivates curiosity and stimulates many sense organs with one activity.
Lights
Babies find lights very fascinating. You can either use LED ropes that change colour or even a torch/flashlight for your baby to play with. Move it up, down and around slowly so that the baby’s eyes follow the light.
Benefit:
Aids in visual perception & tracking by providing the baby with a sense of light, dark and shadow.
Blowing Bubbles
This is a fun pastime to do on a sunny day during a picnic. Blow some bubbles close enough to your infant so he or she can clearly see them. Encourage your infant to gaze at the bubbles by pointing to them. Hopefully, they’ll try to follow the bubble with their eyes.
Benefits:
This is extremely beneficial to their visual development and focus abilities.
Baby Crunches
An important exercise to strengthen your growing baby’s muscles. Lay your baby and place your hands underneath. Slowly and gently lift your baby’s upper body till he’s sitting upright.
Benefits:
Helps baby build strength to gradually sit upright on his own and improves head control.
Conclusion
To ensure the healthy development of your beloved baby, it’s vital to stimulate development in all areas: emotional, physical, sensory as well as cognitive. Most of these activities for babies of 6 months are versatile and can be performed indoors as well as outdoors to suit you and your baby’s comfort.
Feel free to get creative and improvise or customize the daily activities. As long as you’re spending quality time with your baby and fostering exploration & newness, paired with positive feedback, your baby’s development is on the right track.
Infants have a lot of growing to do, and they need lots of stimulation to develop their cognitive skills. While there are many ways to stimulate infants, these 16 activities are based on studies that show how the act of engaging with a baby can help them develop important skills. Try some or all of these activities out and see which ones work best for you and your baby!
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