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ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle on February 14, 2006, 00:31:10 am
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Feel free to add any ideas you have. If you have a question about activity time, please create a new post outside of this post.
Object permanence is starting to kick in now, this is where they realise that something or someone still exists even when they can't see it. So peek a boo, rolling a ball behind an item and you'll see baby start to predict it coming out the other side etc.
Stacking blocks/cups
Rolling a ball back and forwards
Banging things - metal bowls, xylophone
Action songs that encourage clapping, waving etc
Baby sign language is a good time to start
Towards 9mths you can teach your baby to take and put things back into containers
Balls can be posted in toys that have slots and ramps
More cause and effect type toys are useful
Reading
Tummy time/encouragement to crawl
Peek a boo games
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My DD loves her jolly jumper she would stay in it all day if i let her.I usually put her in it at the end of the day before bath time as that is when she is at her crankiest :)
Outline of our day is:
7-8.30am - Breakfast/Bottle
8.30am - 9.15am - Time in her activity centre (she can stand in this and it rotates around with activities around it) then some time on her own playing.
9.15am - Quiet time with Mum change clothes sleep 9.30am for 1.5hrs
11am - 12pm - Tummy time/Practice our crawling
12-1pm - Lunch/Bottle
1-2pm - Sit on couch quiet play/Practice sitting
2pm - Sleep 1.5hrs
3.30-4.30pm - Go with the flow depends on her mood
4.30-5pm - Dinner
5-5.45pm - Play time with Mum
5.45-6pm - Jolly Jumper time (she loves this)
6-6.30pm - Bath time with Daddy
6.30-7pm - Bottle and bed
Hope this is useful to people :)
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:D Tom really loves toys he can handle , and move parts on... so toys with movable parts are really good (activity boards etc) he much preferes these to toys that "play themselves" (he has several toys that play songs that he just ignores!)
:D Also a variation on pikaboo tgat he loves is me hiding behind a door and jumping out (a bit more tireing... and prob not one for touchy babies!)
:D This is a great age for swimming (if your doc oks it) aswell. Tom loves the water and will splash, and try to "swim" to get to toys floating in the swimming pool. He fings swimming liberating as he cant move around on dry land yet!! (we go to a local mother and baby group which is really good if you dont know what to do with your LO in the pool!! ;))
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I just copied this from another one of my posts but will update it as I find more activities ;D
-Fill containers or bottles with lids strapped on filled with dry pasta, beads for a cheap rattle
-Dumping out toys have a big plastic container with a wide opening to fill with smaller toys. Your lo will be able to put toys in and dump them out
-Play ball. Roll a medium sized ball to lo so that they can get used to stopping it with their hands or roll it just beyond baby so they have to move to get it.
-Everyone loves bubbles and any child's favourite game from newborn to grandma's and grandpa's
-Movement songs or nursery rhymes eg clapping to BINGO, do the movements to twinkle twinkle little star
-Spotlight. Just stretch brightly coloured tissue paper or a sheer scarf across a torch and attach it firmly with an elastic band. Then play the coloured circle across the ceiling, your baby's toys and on the walls. Try turning the light on and off quickly
-Drums. Get out the saucepans and mixing bowls mums. Use a wooden spon to hit the pans and bowls.
-Finger puppets, toy stores usually have some cheap finger puppets for play
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Mine is into the chew the toy, drop the toy, mommy retrieves the toy, repeat game. And trying to catch the kitties when they come by.
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William had his 7-9 month assessment by our health visitor today. The little "tests" that she used could be used to help LOs to develop their skills so I thought Id add them here.
Firstly she gave William a small wooden block and watched as he handled it... she was looking to see whether he is developing his pincer holding skills and whether he could pass it hand to hand. As he's on the young end of the test period (not even 7 months for another 2 days) Will still "palms" things - touching them first with his palm and grabbing them with his whole hand rather than his fingers. She recommended that to develop the pincer skills he could be given some blocks that are small enough to handle but not so small they could be swallowed or we could encourage him to touch and handle the small parts on his activity toys. She also mentioned that he could practice this developing his skills with finger food such as his toast and slices of apple etc.
Secondly she held up a coloured pom pom and slowly moved it from side to side to see if Will would follow it with his eyes.. which he did brilliantly but getting LOs to watch toys as they are moved around would be good practice.
She spoke about the importance of sitting Will on the floor between my legs and allowing him to practice sitting on his own. Ive been doing this for ages and Will is a brilliant sitter. He also has a rubber ring to sit in to play but she said that although this is great when he plays on his own its better to have him sit and play out of it on the floor when Im with him.
Will bless him isn't rolling yet so Ive got to practice that with him , and encourage him to learn to stand on his feet flat to the floor as he is still trying to balet dance on his toes...
Thats about all I can remember from a very busy afternoon and assessment which he did really well at considering he is only 7 months - almost! Hope its some help to others.
H xx
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Heres a great activity if your LO can creep along on their tummy (crawlers may be a bit fast!!!)
Build a tower with blocks (we actually use old Jenger blocks!) on the oposite side of the room to your LO, and watch them "catterpiller" their way across the room th knock the tower down (Tom giggles as he does this!!) then move to a different part of the room!!
This is also a great way to amuse the men in your life!... DH, Dad and FIL all enjoy building the towers as much as DS loves knocking them down!!
DS also loves chasing the boom when i sweep up the living room floor (handy way to polish the floor aswell!! ;D )
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Addie loves blocks, instruments, and dancing. Also, following the cat though this can be dangerous for both!
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very simple but very effective...buy soapy bubbles!!!! Got some yesterday and my 6 month old absolutely loves them!! He concentrates very hard on trying to catch them so im sur eits good for co ordinationa as well as concentration!!
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Thank you all for the ideas. My little one is going to be a mover and a shaker.....He can roll over (sometimes) and is trying to crawl (oh, Jackson will be 6months next week). He really loves blocks, but I am going to use the stacking idea to see if he will wiggle to knock over the tower of blocks!
THanks again...I just want to be sure I am stimulating him enough!
BTW, how do you insert pics?
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Two games my DS loves in addition to many that you all mentioned...
DS laying on his back I hold up any small, soft toy or a receiving blanket or burp cloth. Count to three then drop it. He especially loves this with a burp cloth, because it floats down and lands over his face. Then we say where's baby? and he pulls it off to play peek-a-boo!
Also I put him lying down on a blanket, pick up the edge of the blanket enough to help him roll over without touching him. This game is called tootsi rol. He likes to roll from his back to belly - but it works both ways.
Have fun!
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My little one absolutely LOVES her bouncy chair. She will bounce up and down it it for quite a while smiling nonstop. She also loves the crib piano. She kicks the keys to make music or hear musical tunes. She will be in her crib rolling, laughing and kicking her piano for hours if I let her. ;D
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I have made some blocks out of 1 and 2 litre cartons, by cutting them down, inserting one inside the other and pasting lots of bright pictures and papers on them. My 6 month old boy love to look at the pictures, and knock them down when I build them up for him. I have also collected lots of different types of fabric/materials and put them in a box. He enjoys feeling them and chewing them.
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LOL at Jenn. M does the same when the kitty comes by but kitty is too quick!
M loves her exersaucer. At the moment the only thing this one wants to do is crawl around. I turn my head and poof she's gone!!
Toys aren't holding much interest too busy I guess with the rest of the world, else has momma's attention span.
She gets baby einstein in the morning for about 20 min every other day or so. She loves that and smiles regularly when the dragon comes on. She loves hand puppets.
I emptied a TUMS bottle and sealed it. She loves to shake and throw that.
Paper..any wrinkly crunchy paper she can get her hands on (supervised of course) ..anything that is noisy .
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DS utterly adores this... has for several months!
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Have any of you got a treasure basket for your los?
These are amazing, you get a shallow basket thats easy for them to get into and you fill it with 'treasure'! Things like wooden spoons, paint brushes, keys, nail brushes, silky clothes, ribbon, large bells, shoe horns, large hair scrunchies, bath puffs (cant remember what they are called!) anything that has a different feel or smell to it, lemon and limes are a good one as long as your lo hasn't got lots of teeth!!
Ive used these at home and at work and the babies love them!! You can add whatever you like to it as long as its safe - obviously! Some of the items Ive seen listed for treasure baskets I'm not to sure on but you know whats safe and whats not, one of the ones they say are large chains!!
If anyones interested Ive got a really good website that Ive used and ill post the link if anybody would like to see it! Let me know! xxx
There is also a follow on to the treasure basket which is heuristic play, my lo has just turned 1 and he loves this!
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I'd love to see that link. What is heuristic play?
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The website I have is http://www.natureplay.org.uk, I also have another one but it is on my computer at work and I'm not back in till Monday! If you type in treasure basket or heuristic play into your search bar you will find lots of others!
The website explains what heuristic play is but the sort of things you would use for it are things like large and small tubes, large and small boxes with or without lids, smaller objects like corks, fir cones, wool pom poms. I haven't got a wide range for my little boy, we just have these very large sturdy cardboard tubes (you could use something like a pringles tub!) and he has these wooden limes I picked up at the garden centre the other day, 2 of the tubes have a bottom to them and 2 don't - he will spend absolutely ages just putting these limes through the tubes or filling up the one with the bottom and emptying it and filling it!! I will get some pics later and try and put them on for you to see! I hope to get some more stuff but for now hes really enjoying what hes got!!
Hope this helps! Its definitely worth doing, Ive never seen a baby who doesn't enjoy one of these activities!!
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thank you!
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Hi, photos as promised!
This is really an activity for 1 year olds plus but it would be a great time to start collecting things for heuristic play! This is my lo favourite activity - tubes and wooden balls!!!
Hmmmmm... anyone know how to put a photo on here!! lmao
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Hope this works.....
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what should be the typical/avg activity time for a 7 month old. she barely makes it 2.5 hrs, is this normal. is there a chart that show where they should be at each month with A time?
thanks,
kellie
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Treasure Basket! what a fantastic idea, Had a look at the website link and were off down the charity shop this afternoon to see what bits we can pick up to start our treasure basket. This really is something I would never of thought of doing but I can see just how captivating it must be for LO's.
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My DD is 7 1/2 months and loves to listen to music. Her favourite CD (she always gets a smile :) on her face when the first song begins) is Anne Murray - There's a Hippo in My Tub
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I love the idea of a treasure basket!! My ds is 7 months and seems less interested in his baby soft toys and wants to go for plastic bottles, plastic cups, telephone, sofa, wires of course and anything from the real world.
The basket makes perfect sense, AND it's cheap too!
Thank you!
If anyone has original ideas of what to put in it I'm sure many mamas would be happy.
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Thanks for treasure basket and all other ideas! Finding it very difficult to give unstructured playtime ( ie that doesn't involve some plasticky toy !!! ) so these are great ! xx :-*
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We have made a treaure basket and have put an old mobile phone and an old remore control inside, very popular!! We have also given our DD an old computer keyboard which she also loves :)
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thanks for the treasure basket idea...I will try it for sure!
Lyndsy
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Wow, it's been a while since I was here last! I've learned a lot as a first-time mom and want to share somethings with you guys!
For those of you who have Techie babies who wanna bang on your keyboard, this is a great site! It's www.kneebouncers.com. It's set up where you can hit any key and the same effect happens. Ella loves it and sometimes it's the only way I can calm her down!
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Love that site!!!!! BTW Grae loved the treasure basket too!
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Hi OnyxRayne,
We tried the Knee Bouncers website last night and my 6 mo ds loved it! I don't think I've ever seen him so excited. Unfortunately I couldn't see his face as he was sat on my lap but according to DH he was absolutely mesmerized! Next time he can sit on Daddy's lap and play!
Thanks for the tip.
Chrissie :)
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Oh so glad I read this topic. Was just thinking today my dd is not that interested in toys but likes phones, remotes, water bottles etc so was delighted when I read about the treasue basket-going to start one this evening. Also just checked out the kneebouncer website-looks my great-my dd likes pressing the keys on our pc but hen nothing happens and she stops so this is great. Lots of other great tips in the earlier post too.
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Wow! Some fantastic ideas here. Thanks girls. I shall definitely be trying some of them out with my little one :)
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Hello everyone, there are really some great ideas here and I will try some of them that I haven't thought of! And that kneebouncers site looks awesome!
I've given my lo a cordless phone receiver that's not in use, she really likes it as it looks like the one mummy uses! We also have an old remote (my friends concur that the real thing is better than the toy ones, they seem to know when you're trying to 'con' them with a toy version!). She loves my slippers and will commando on her belly (7mos) across the room to get at them, so I've given her a pair of her own soft shoes to play with and chew. She still comes after mine but plays with hers too.
She also loves clothes - when I dress her I drop something on her and she loves it, and then I start a game of where's baby by dropping it over her face and she pulls it off. So in her play area I leave socks, pants and tops for her to roll around with.
One thing she also likes is individual links that used to hang her toys on the gymini. She enjoys just one, or several linked together - she shakes them in one hand (when not too long).
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- Go to your local pet store and check out the fish, birds and little animals. It's free and you don't have to commit to a day at the zoo!
- DS LOVES when I do a funny voice for his stuffed animals and puppets.
- shake a sheet or light blanket with baby, cover baby for a second and do a super-size
peek-a-boo
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There are alot of great ideas here! DS loves it when I take a bed sheet and play peekaboo. I let the sheet fall over him slowly like a parachute and then I quickly or slowly lift off him or slide it off. He has so many giggles!
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that kneebouncers website is fantastic! Caleb gets super excited with the bubbles one, even DH and i were laughing our heads off at him, the only problem is i dont know how long our keyboard will hold up the way he was banging on it! oh well they are cheap enough to replace, the look on his face was priceless, cant buy that in a shop!
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Kneebouncers is a "favourite" on our computer now! So fun. We also love to play, "one little monkey jumping on the bed"... and when it's time to "fall down and bump(ed) his head", Shaden throws a giggle fit! He loves to bounce on mommy and daddy's bed as a little monkey.
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That Kneebouncers site is awesome! I only wish my 7 month old DS knew how to use it. When you put him in front of a keyboard, he just trys to pick it up and eat it. We call him the 5-minute-man because he only likes doing things for 5 minutes at a time....then he goes into meltdown mode. It's been difficult trying to figure out activities to fill 2-3 hours!
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Wow I think y'all are much creative than I am - it was fun reading through all the suggestions...
Here's a link for toys that "fit" this age range from Playskool - I'm doing some online shopping now so thought I'd share this, esp since they have a coupon on their site too!
http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/shop/browse.cfm?N=63+605+260+60
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We call him the 5-minute-man because he only likes doing things for 5 minutes at a time....then he goes into meltdown mode. It's been difficult trying to figure out activities to fill 2-3 hours!
Yes, DS is that kind of baby (for now), too. It's a challenge.
Thanks for posting your ideas. DS has a toy box full of--what I think are--fun toys for him. He likes blocks and balls that jingle. LOVES remotes and keyboards with a passion! I think it's time we purge the baby toys (even though he got so many at christmas) and go with more real-world objects.
Oh, and the jumper he got not even 1 month ago, the one he could stay in for 30 minutes and all but launched out of your arms to get into, yeah...now will only do 5 minutes in it before fussing. Gah!
We have found that he loves to play in his bath bubbles, so during the day--when it's not bath time--we let him play with some clean, soapy water. He likes that...even when we both get a bit wet ::)
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My DS seems to be discovering the small things like tags etc. He also loves it when I hang a thick string or wrapping bands on his activity mat so that he can try to grab it (wouldn't do that unsupervised though).
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Wow, love the ideas here, especially the Treasure Box, will start work on one tommorow..:)
This is a link to the online games on fisher price, ds loves to play peek-a-boo & we've actually reached a point where I can't sit with my laptop beside him because he'd leave anything he's doing & try to reach for the keyboard to play..:)
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2601&e=gamesByAge&mcat=game_infant&site=us
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I love this post!!
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the spirit of the tresure basket ist to leave the babies to manipulate and create connections between the objekts alone. mum doesn´t have to give or indicate anything, just stay in the room toghether as a companion who support a new discovery travel! the objekts in the basket doesnt be on plastic but all natuarl elements (the world is allready full of plastic, do our lo find plastic even here in ther basket?) The consentration of babies is really short first, max half an hour, or as lons as she decid. I can post the list of stuff from the book of eleonore goldsmith, who invented the treasure basket and the euristic play as well
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the spirit of the tresure basket ist to leave the babies to manipulate and create connections between the objekts alone. mum doesn´t have to give or indicate anything, just stay in the room toghether as a companion who support a new discovery travel! the objekts in the basket doesnt be on plastic but all natuarl elements (the world is allready full of plastic, do our lo find plastic even here in ther basket?) The consentration of babies is really short first, max half an hour, or as lons as she decid. I can post the list of stuff from the book of eleonore goldsmith, who invented the treasure basket and the euristic play as well
I know this post is really old but I love this idea, if your about still Mamiblue and could post the list of items to get me started, I'm going to try and start a treasure box today but I like the idea of it being all natural items that go in it. X
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There's a list of items you could use here:
http://www.littleacornstomightyoaks.co.uk/Articles/Treasure_basket
or google "treasure basket" or "busy box" for more ideas. (I just spotted on that link it mentions small vanilla essence bottle, I would remove the lid and always check for choke hazards on all items you offer for exploration).
The easiest way to start is to just look around the house and see what everyday objects there are which would be safe for baby. Whilst I agree that natural objects are wonderful I wouldn’t immediately discount all plastic. For instance DS loved playing with cooking measures (spoons and cups), ours are plastic, some people have metal. For me it was more about everyday household items or collected items as opposed to 'toys' iyswim.
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Thanks creations.. Yeah our latest toy is hitting a pan with a wooden spoon like a drum so she loves the household stuff! :-)
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Wow treasure basket is an awesome idea! My DD is 7 months old and she loves it.
I have checked the Knee Bouncers website and I am hesitating to let my DD try this out..I am not sure that playing this games on PC is good for her development.
I am reading a lot about the need to control screening time of our kids... Any ideas ladies?