Activity and toy ideas for 9-12mths

[Gingham Ribbon]

Playing with food.  Instead of putting his food in a bowl, I put it on his high chair table.  He mashes it up in his hands, swirls it round, some of it goes in his mouth, much of it in his hair, but he has a rare old time while I'm getting dinner ready for everyone else!

What works well - yoghurt, stewed fruit, raisins, chopped up spagetti in tomato sauce, banana, oat cakes, cheese. 

[NoonieP]

The cheapest toy ever.

My LO loves to crawl through boxes and close and open the flaps. He also likes to crawl on the boxes for a different feeling (kinda springy)

I taped three boxes together and he loves to crawl through his tunnel.   I taped the long flaps from one box to the other. I didn't tape the short ones because I can lift them up and peek inside or grab him and tickle him. The ends are left untouched so we can close them and have him open them. He just loves this toy. I could barely get the third box taped on. He was having so much fun with the first two.  It is not very sturdy so I have it propped between a wall and our Luv Sac. He can also pull himself up on it and it folds flat. I can send a pictures if anyone wants to see.

PS. The cats love this toy too but not so much when LO is playing in it. 

[denisei]

Oh my gosh!  I have found the best toy!

The 36-pack of toilet paper you get at the warehouse stores make amazing "blocks."  You can even build a whole fort with them!  : )

[nevviemama]

My lo is 12 months and LOVES to pull laundry off the couch and play in it (while I'm trying to fold it!!). We also have some storage boxes from Ikea with lids where we store outside stuff like hats, gloves - she loves opening them and pulling stuff out, and even putting things back in. Peekaboo is a grand game, I do it sometimes while in her highchair after she eats. I throw a tea towel over her head and then hide below or behind - and surprise her when she pulls it off. Get a ton of laughs! She also loves when I run and hide, comes after me and laughs when I peek out at her.

Question on the toilet paper - does it unravel or get ruined? My lo puts everything in her mouth and I'd fear her gnawing some paper bits?

[denisei]

Re: the TP... we get the TP from Costco and each roll comes individually wrapped so no trouble with the biting.  Perfect!

I can't wait for the biting stage to be over; I feel like there are so many things we don't do just because DS will bite everything.  : )

 

[nevviemama]

Yup, I hear you - wish she's put more food in her mouth and not other stuff!

[nwmm]

Denisei your comment cracks me up.  We build (Costco) paper towel towers.  There are times rolls of paper towels are found in the toy box or in the (another) toy room.  Well meaning adults visitors will bring the paper towels to the kitchen.  My lo will protest.  The adults get very confused until we explain they are toys of course! 

[Mashi]

I'm really struggling with what to DO with my 9 month old all day. There is only sooooo long and so many days in a row that he wants to play with toys, play tickle me, etc etc. He is VERY sprited, into EVERYTHING, and I can't do ANYTHING in the day while he is awake.  Sigh.  I'm soooooooooooo tired!

So, what does your daily "play" look like with your 9 month old? Any suggestions?

[aisling]

I wrote this post to share with others way back in 2006 when DS was 9-10 months old what we did to keep him busy. He started walking at 10.5 months and is spirited and busy.  So this is what I write in blue.  Hope it helps.  Brings a tear to my eye, I miss those days. I even had a pic of him on his obstacle course in this thread, he was so cute with his nappy sticking out of his onesie...

I set up an obstacle course for Nello with baskets of surprises and many things are from around the house.  I change it every week to keep it fresh.  I made the living room in a circle, so I use chairs to block out openings so he stays in his course.  It contains this:

Book area: On our coffee table I put books with flaps or pop ups, he loves opening and closing these flaps.  He stands and does this with the books.

Ball area:  I put small plastic balls, a semi deflated beach ball, a large rubber ball and a plush ball.  Different tactile experiences with balls.

Wheel area: Cars, trains, wheel barrel, small plastic wagon--he loves wheeling these or just playing with the wheels

Basket #1:  Lids from yogurt containers, spatula, wooden spoon, an old VCR remote control, an old phone that doesn't work, an empty washed out shampoo bottle, skipping rope, sheer scarves, plastic measuring cups (this weeks play stuff, like I said I change it!)

Basket #2: Plush toys, building blocks, plastic numbers and letters, stacking toys, a fisher price doctors kit (he loves this and I highly recommend it-it has a stethoscope, tweezers, needle, fake plasters etc... all baby proof and nothing to swallow, he mostly just chews them and handles them, but loves crawling/walking around with them for some reason.)

Cruising area: The couch with the lambskin, towels, blankets, pillows on it.  He cruises around and loves to pull these things on and off of the couch.

Activity Table:  This is an old toy passed down from friends with an older child.  It is a play table with various "bells and whistles" things to turn and play, has music etc...I include a pic of him with it below.

He loves the baskets and mostly enjoys, taking things out an putting back in.  I get involved and play too or just let him get to it and take advantage of being able to tidy etc...

I made one outside too- A toddler slide and climbing thingy, a wagon that I pull him around with or he mostly plays with the straps and the wheels, my exercise ball, a kiddy pool filled with balls or sometimes I put a wee bit of water -not much and let him have a splash with various sand/water plastic toys I got at Woolies back in June-like a spade, pail, rake etc...

[kayra]

that obstacle course sounds pretty amazing, i could try some of that on a much smaller scale, but my 9.5mth old is just so uninterested in toys-even measuring cups kind of toys. anything keeps his attention for only a couple of minutes, then all he wants to do is explore. which is fine in a sense but i think he's realised that he has explored all there is to explore in our flat so now he is basically bored. so he just follows me about but isn't particularly interested in anything i give to occupy him, he just grabs onto my legs and wants to be picked up. but even then i have to be standing since when i sit with him he just wiggles. any ideas?

[aisling]

He sounds like a normal spirited boy to me and very clever! I am blessed with one and they are so much fun.  Try a small scale obstacle course and it is normal to only be interested in something for a couple of minutes.  The nice thing about the course, it is exploring, change it up once in a while.  It is a bit of a mess after, like cushions, blankets etc..all over, but hey he needed (needs) to be busy.

Another very successful activity for us was to stand him at a chair (with you) at the sink and let him play with kitchen utensils etc...in the water, slashing about.

A x

[Eythi]

just wanted to say thankyou for the sink idea.

[Spandanna]

Hey all...my 9mo is not mobile yet, he can roll around and is trying to push up onto all fours but he's a very big boy (takes after his Daddy) on the 98th centile for height and weight so i think this is impeding his ability to lift his own weight loL!

He gets very bored of his toys and we do go out once a day but I was wondering if anyone has any genius ideas to keep a non mobile 9mo (who is frustrated and desperate to move) amused? So far these are the sorts of things I play with him:

Treasure basket full of baby-safe random household objects (he's now bored of this despite rotating the objects!!)
Sit him in laundry basket (will try dragging him around with a belt that made me chuckle)
hiding teddy under/behind objects and popping him out where DS doesn't expect!
Bouncing on the exercise/gym ball ( a real favourite)
standing at his bedroom drawers and pulling all his clothes out then putting them in again
bashing plastic cups together
Going on the swings/baby slide at the park
Swimming

I'm after more ideas for play at home. Already read a couple of good ones. I can't wait for him to be mobile so I can try some of the other stuff I read here! What a super thread 

[NoonieP]

I don't know if you have pets but what always has (and still does) made LO laugh is to have the cats chase a laser pointer or even a flashlight. He (and we) think it's funny and LO will laugh at this for hours. Now that he is older, I let him play with the pointer but I watch him carefully so he doesn't point it at his eye.

[wardy]

Some great ideas here!  Love the tissue box idea and will be doing that tomorrow with DS.  Also, the pudding painting idea!  Great!
I learnt about Treasure Baskets a couple of years ago while I was working with disadvantaged kids.  If you Google "Treasure Baskets", and particularly uTube has some excellent stuff, you can find out all about them.  It is the perfect activity for a child who is just sitting up but not yet moving around.  You can put it together yourself and then simply sit back and watch them explore.  It's the most beautiful thing!  You find a good sturdy wicker basket and then fill it with objects, from around the home (or go to chemists, pet stores, hardwares, craft stores etc) that are ONLY made from natural materials.  It's a lovely contrast to the usual plastic brightly coloured toys they otherwise play with  (which do not really have vastly different textures, temperatures, tastes or weights).  The two most important things to remember are - firstly, this is your baby's activity not yours, sit back and observe and be present, but don't pass objects to your baby - let him/ her choose what to pick up and what to do with it, and secondly, only have natural materials in the basket.  Once you get going, you will look at everything you see in terms of a treasure basket I promise!
A basket could contain:
* Natural objects – fir cones, big shells, large walnuts, pumice stone, cork, fruit: apple, lemon
* Objects made from natural material – woollen ball, little baskets, brushes (test bristles are firmly attached)
* Wood – rattles, spoons, egg cups, bowls, pegs, napkin rings
* Metal – spoons, tin lids, tea strainer, garlic squeezer, bunch of keys, chains (bath chain is a good one)
* Odds and ends – little notebooks, small leather/ silk/ wool or cotton purses, small cardboard boxes, inside of kitchen rolls.