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 ob