6-9 Month Activities

Another super fun age! They start to develop their little personalities, smiling at you, reaching for you & sometimes even saying their first word. There are a lot of motor development (fine and gross motor) like sitting, army crawling, and starting to crawl on hands and knees. Check out my instagram post on 6-9 month development!

Here are some activities to help assist with their development during this exciting stage!

• Sitting: if you are just starting to work on sitting please make sure you have them on a soft or squishy surface. Also, be prepared for them to fall on their face. It's okay, don't freak out! It teaches them depth perception and also starts working on their protective reflexes. Place light up toys, stacked blocks, cups, or anything that can hold your baby's attention in front of them and let them reach for it with one or both hands. Try for at least 5 minutes at a time a few times a day starting around 6 months.

• Preparing for crawling: any and all tummy time where they can push up on extended arms is awesome. We want to start getting them up on their knees and hands at the same time (prepare for face planting!) They will only be able to maintain for a few seconds. The more you do this, the more used to weight being through their hands and knees. You know they are getting ready to crawl when they will push up onto hands and knees and rock back and forth.

• Reaching across the body: this helps develop crossing midline (middle of their body) and bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body at once). Place toys on each side of them and try to get them to reach for it with the opposite hand.

• Pincer grasp: using index finger and thumb to pick up small objects. At this age, everything goes in the mouth. If they are eating solids I like to practice pincer grasp with puffs or cheerios

• Peek-a-boo: this works with object permanence (knowing an object or person is there without seeing it).

Sensory activities for 6-9 months:

• Visual: board books or books with flaps (also helps with object permanence and visual motor skills)

• Tactile & Taste: EDIBLE MESSY PLAY! Check out my instagram for some fun ideas. Jello is my personal favorite but I love making edible sand as well!

• Visual & Tactile: BUBBLES! So fun!

• Auditory: playing different sounds, letting them bang on a variety of different surfaces to hear what it sounds like, musical toys

Things to look for:

• limited to no eye contact

• cannot maintain supported sitting or independent sitting

• poor visual tracking

• floppy or squishy arms and legs (low muscle tone)

• not using both hands when playing

• not able to use both hands to play at midline (middle of their body)

• will not weight bear through their feet

As always, please reach out to me or book one of my consultations if you are ever concerned about your child's development.

HAVE FUN!