How to entertain your 6-12-month-old
Some fun ways to keep your 6-12-month old entertained at home
As your baby grows keeping them entertained becomes a bigger task so we’ve put together some fun tasks you can get involved in with your 6-12-month-old at home. These activities are not only fun but will help with their early development too.
Just 10-15 minutes a day one on one with you will help your baby to learn far more than they will from any toy.
Age appropriate: 6 months +
Activity: Reading board/cloth books
Skills: Listening skills, language development
Great to get into the habit of readying with your baby from a young age. The baby-friendly cloth or hard books are a great way to start and a few minutes a day will help encourage their interest in reading.
Age appropriate: 6-8 months
Activity: Clapping songs
Skills: Hand co-ordination, rhyming, imitation
Clapping songs are a great activity to interact with your little one and help them learn to co-ordinate their hands and imitate what you are doing. Try this song:
Clap, clap, one, two, three
Clap, clap, clap with me.
Clap, clap, four and five.
Clap, clap, clap, bees in hive.
Clap, clap, six, seven, eight.
Clap, clap, clap, you are great.
Clap, clap, nine and ten.
Clap, clap, let's do it again.
Skills learned: Imitation, rhyming
Age appropriate: 6 months +
Activity: Bottle shaker
Skills: Cause & effect, fine motor and listening skills
All you need is an empty plastic bottle (with the lid of course!) and fill it with rice or pasta to make a fun shaker your baby will have hours of fun with.
Age appropriate: 6 months +
Activity: Hide the cereal
Skills: Memory and attention skills
Simply get an opaque plastic cup and hide a piece of their cereal under it. They’ll be amazed as to where its gone and how to get it back.
Age appropriate: 12 months
Activity: Wooden puzzle
Skills: Visual and fine motor skills, problem solving
Great first birthday present as your baby will be ready to tackle a large wooden puzzle, choose one with bright coloured shapes.
After 12 months you’ll soon discover how much fun your little one can have with you doing things like drawing and painting, pretend cooking and playing with puppets.