Sitting/Crawling Baby 

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Now I don’t have a cute little baby model to play with all these simple activities, but I remember, with my first, being at a loss for what to do with that age. A friend asked me what I would recommend for a 10 month old baby and I thought I’d throw together a few of my babies favorites. Just pretend you see a beautiful chubby cheeked baby cakes enjoying each activity!

All of these activities will work for a baby that can crawl and most will work for a baby that can sit. (My second child crawled by 6 months and didn’t figure out sitting till 9 months…so maybe the previous statement was a bit false, just use your own judgement.)

WARNING:All of these activities need supervision. Some have smaller parts, others have strings to get tangled in. All are safe if mom or dad are near. Your child will get a lot more out of most of the activities with your involvement, anyway.

Hide and Find

For this activity you will need a small favorite baby toy that is easy hidden. You can use soppy cups, bowls, tiny boxes to hide the toy. Start with 2 to see what works best for you baby. You can let your baby see you hide the toy and ask them where it is? Next you can be sneaky and hide the toy, or hide it and mix them up. This adds a bit of surprise to that activity. You can also add more containers to hid the toy in if your child is still interested in the game. Also encourage your babes to hide the toy for you and make a big show of trying to find it. You can get your baby really crawling by placing your cups all around the room. Then hide the toy and ask baby to go find it. This turns the game into an active treasure hunt.

Fabric Pull

This activity is supposed to replicate the immense joy a baby can get from emptying an entire box of wet wipes, but with no tears from mom and dad! Just take a washed food container and cut a hole out of the top. Next find or cut up a few scraps of fabric. I used different textures, fleece and cotton. Tie the scraps together and shove them in your container with only a little piece coming through the hole.

TIP:Make sure your slit is big enough that the knots can fit through easily.

Bottle Cap Push

Here is another DIY baby activity. You will need to do a few weeks of bottle cap hoarding. I saved juice lids, milk lids and even medicine lids. The different sizes are fun for little hands. Next grab an old wet wipe dispenser and give it a little wipe down. Dump out your bottle caps and show your little how to gather them up and shove them into the container. This should keep their attention for a little bit. My babies always got frustrated they couldn’t get their little chubby hands through the slit and collect the caps. Be ready to open the container often, even inviting them to do the dumping part.

Fill and Dump

Babies at this age are obsessed with dumping containers of things….typing this I realized my 2 year old is STILL obsessed with this fantastic game. Any who, why not turn that desire into a game. Find a container with an easy to open lid, like a shoe box. Then find a small collection of toys your baby can easily manipulate and enjoys, small balls, cars, or blocks. First hide the toys inside the box and ask baby what is hiding in there. Help baby figure out how to open the box, then show baby how to dump the box. Make a big deal about how fun that is. Then help your little fill the box back up to repeat. You can also add a container for baby to try to dump into. Between opening, dumping and filling up this activity should capture babies activity long enough for you to clean up a couple of other containers they have dumped out in the play room.

Cardboard Box Color

Come in close for an epic parent tip…never, I repeat NEVER throw away a large cardboard box, ever, never again. They will give your child joy you never knew could come from such a simple thing. Starting at a very young age baby know how great a box can be. This is an easy way to introduce baby to art. Place your baby and a crayon into an empty box and let him go. You may need to do some modeling by coloring on the box yourself. My girls always loved double tip, washable, fat markers. Link Here.  If you are feeling especially brave finger paints can be so fun in the box. As your baby grows you can add all sorts of things to their arsenal. (Stickers, tape, paint, scissors)

Laundry Basket Play

Here is another item you may not know was actually made for babies, not clothing, you fool. My girls always enjoyed to trying to get in and out of the basket. Add some string and streamers and it is a party. Firstly you can tie some to hang down for baby to discover. It is fun to add little items tied to the end of the strings, like a small dolly. This actually works even better in a large cardboard box (what did I say about those boxes, MAGIC) You can tape your streamers or cut holes in the box to string the strings through. As I don’t actually have a chunky little baby to participate in the activity I opted for the easy set up laundry basket version. Now turn the basket on its base and this activity morphs into a pulling activity. Place baby in the middle and show your little one how to pull the strings and fabric through the holes.

Obstacle Course

Here is a crawling only baby activity. Set up a simple obstacle course for you sweetie to get through. This usually needs a parent cheering on and helping the munchkin maneuver through. We LOVE our tunnel a friend gave us. I highly recommend getting one for a birthday gift. My 4 year old still enjoys it. Link Here. If you don’t have a tunnel you could use 2 chairs and a blanket, or even a cardboard box deconstructed. Next add pillows, or textured blankets. For babies, different sensory experiences are a fabulous way to keep them involved.

Tower Take Out

This activity always made my babes laugh so hard. Usually when a baby was down for a nap I would dump out a container of blocks and build 10+ towers of different shapes and sizes. Then I would carry on with what ever I needed to do during nap time…like nap. Then when my baby would wake up I’d put baby down and let her crawl out to find her surprise. Both my girls would book it over to the towers and take great pleasure in destroying each one. Their joy would be boarder line hysterical if I would make a big dramatic reaction to each knock down. After all the towers were in ruins I would build new ones. This became its own game. My babies would be on a mission to knock down the tower as quickly as I would build them and I was trying my best to be a tower or two ahead of them. Lots of giggles from everyone.