35 Things To Do With Your 6-12 Month Old

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Are you looking for ideas on things to do with your 6-12 month old? Then you’ve come to the right place! As a former teacher and a current mom, I’ve got loads of great ideas for you – so let’s get started.

Not every activity will be appropriate for every child. Just because little J liked these activities doesn’t mean all children will. And there is obviously a huge developmental gap between a six month old and a one year old. Use your best judgment before trying these activities. You may even want to consult your doctor.

35 Things To Do With Your 6-12 Month Old

1. Make silly faces at your baby. This should elicit lots of giggles by baby or you as your sweet little one tries to imitate you.
2. Make homemade bubbles. This blog post has a lot of great recipes, so one of them bound to work well for your young’un.
3. Mimic your baby. If baby makes a sound. Repeat it. Little man and I can spend hours on this one!
4. Read books. Lots of books. And then read some more. 🙂
5. Read a texture book. Yes this is still reading, but this one gets its own mention since it’s also a great sensory/texture lesson. We have this set of books, and little man adores them!
6. Play a game of Patty Cake.
7. Sing songs. Make up the words. Put in a CD. Listen to YouTube. Have fun with it!
8. Dance together. Hold baby in your arms and dance. Slow music, fast music, ANY music!
9. Play crawling wars. My husband will crawl all our apartment while the little man follows him. It’s basically a game of tag or chase.
10. Play peak-a-boo. You can do this with a blanket, your hands, or really anything that you can duck behind.
11. Play with toy cards. Yes, even if you have a girl! Our son was pushing his toy cars down the hall by 10 month old.
12. Create a discovery basket. This website has more ideas than we could ever possibly do!
13. Create a spider web discovery basket. All you need is some yarn and a laundry basket. You child will LOVE pulling toys in and out of it.
14. Let your little one empty containers. It could be something as simple as an empty tissue container with old rags inside, or it might be their toy box that they are constantly emptying and putting everything all over the floor. (That might be a little bit of experience talking!)
15. Play catch. Yes, you may only be rolling the ball back to your baby, but our little man LOVED throwing the ball to us by six months old. Accuracy will come later.
16. Check out your reflection. Babies LOVE mirrors! You can stand in front of the bathroom mirror or use a floor mirror (we love this one). Either way, your little one will thoroughly enjoy looking at themselves and others.
17. Crawl through things. Our little man thinks it’s great to crawl under blankets we put over the couch. Of course you could get more technical and buy a play house like this one, but it’s definitely not necessary.
18. Create a baby drop box. Your little one will love putting items inside this DIY creation and taking them out again!
19. Practice walking. Most babies love the independence that comes with walking, but they may need some help getting there.
20. Talk to your baby. Talk high. Talk low. Talk happy, sad, or grumpy. See how baby reacts. By this age you might be able to have a conversation where baby talks then you do. This is a great way for baby to begin understanding that conversations are a turn-taking event.
21. Find some window cling and put various things on it. Baby will love exploring what sticks and what does not.
22. Make a drum. Show baby how to make some noise and see what much fun they have! Don’t feel like making one? Flip a plastic container upside down! Or just put the lid down on the toilet and let baby bang away.
23. Make rainbow spaghetti and let baby explore and/or eat it.
24. Have fun with a water table! You can find directions on how to make a DIY one here, or you can buy one with great Amazon reviews here. This is definitely for the older baby, but it’ll continue to be a favorite for years to come! So the initial time and/or investment is worthwhile!
25. Go for a walk or jog. Baby will love the time in the stroller or in the baby wrap.
26. Play a game of fetch. One day my son brought me a toy, and I accidentally knocked it off my leg. He picked it up. So then I set it about a foot away from me. He went and brought it back to me. Andrew and I joke that we have a little dog on our hands. At least he’s a cute one! 😉
27. Build towers. We save lids for little man to play with (big lids! Not ones that he could choke on. Think peanut butter lids, whipping cream lids, etc.) He loves it when we stack towers because he gets to destruct them! As he gets closer to a year, he is starting to build his own towers as well. You could definitely buy a set of blocks, but they aren’t necessarily for building towers.
28. Play with edible playdough. Here’s our favorite recipe.
29. Give baby a bath, but give him or her extra time to play. Jump in the tub with them if you’d like!
30. Play hide and seek. Andrew loves to put his head under items so lil man has to “find” daddy’s head. Or he will run into the next room and hide behind a piece of furniture. Our little guy loves to come find him!
31. Create a homemade sensory board like this one.
32. Make some edible finger paint. This is great for snack time, but it can get messy!
33. Play with edible finger paint. You may even want to make a craft for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or Grandparent’s Day if you’re feeling especially crafty.
34. Make or buy a ball pit. A clothes hamper full of balls might work great, but you can also buy one like this from Amazon.
35. Play with your food. Babies are naturally curious, so keep giving them various items to eat and explore. Think about all different textures that baby can explore! Just make sure to follow the recommendations of your pediatrician and only give baby safe foods.

Are you already starting to think about more formal learning for your little one?

I create preschool printables! You can see them all here.

There you have it — 35 things with do with your 6-12 month old baby! With all these great ideas, you should have at least a month’s worth of fun at your fingertips. These ideas will work well for mom, dad, grandparents, daycare providers, and more!

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