Alif Khalil
Do you worry because you want your baby to reach his full potential but don’t know what you can do to help him develop into a creative, competent, and lively individual? Concerns like these have become the new normal for parents of this era who want to see their children succeed at a very young age.
However, extracting the potential and creativity that lies within your 6-month-old is the key job you got. The first six months are crucial stages of your child’s development where he acquires most of his cognitive abilities. This is where you should look for the best ways to interact with your child to help him develop cognitive, linguistic, and physical skills.
All it takes is to know the right way to spend time with your infant and give him the right amount of attention. Incorporating fun into every activity can help your child grasp things quickly. To know more about what you can do for the best development of your 6-month-old, read up to the conclusion!
Read Out To Them
One of the best ways to bond with your child is to read out to them. While you are at it, your infant will deeply observe you speak which ultimately, will help them develop both speaking, listening, and understanding skills. An infant at the age of around 6-9 months is the most observant; hence an activity like reading will develop their thinking skills.
Reading time with your child just takes your undivided attention and that your youngster is well-fed so that he can concentrate solely on you. Additionally, being expressive using hand gestures will assist your infant in gaining an understanding quickly. For a fact, children this age focus more on action accompanied by words that aid them to know more about what the guardian is trying to address to them.
This will also improve their memory, develop concentration ability and sometimes also help you to put them to a good night’s sleep.
Painting Time!
Children about the age of 6-months are extremely sensitive to colors. A great many pieces of research have found that colors are directly related to your baby’s cognitive skill development. Any bright color will attract your infant and stimulate him. Hence, good color combinations are a trick to make your infant happy and engage him in the activity!
You need a paint bucket with some brushes to help your child paint. While doing so, teach him the right way to do it, go hand-in-hand with him to ensure that he enjoys and name the colors out loud to him. This way, your bond will strengthen along with your baby’s ability to coordinate his hands and eyes.
Painting is something that adults also enjoy, not just the children, and therefore, parents are more likely to be fully engaged in the children’s activity. The more you are involved, the better you will be able to bond with your child and that is exactly what we are trying to achieve.
Massage!
The greatest technique to encourage your kid to recognize your individual touch is to softly massage them. The ultimate goal is to improve and develop their physical and mental capacities. Not only that but massaging them on a regular basis will make your infant feel relaxed and at ease in your presence.
Massages that are given specifically to babies also include some light exercises such as facilitated cycling movement in the legs, stretching hands, rolling over to the sides, etc. which promotes muscle growth and the babies enjoy it too.
Also, while you massage your baby, they will feel loved and your bond with them will strengthen naturally. Great massages can help them sleep better, and when they sleep well, they grow well. The best time to massage your infant is prior to bedtime or after bath to give them a cozy, warm feeling.
Bubble Baths
Bubble baths are enjoyable for babies since they not only comfort them but also entice them to bathe. Mothers of 6-month-olds have reported that their children get excited at the sight of bubbles and enjoy bathing for a long time. When they get more to enjoy, they are quick to develop their intellectual and cognitive skills.
Furthermore, the relaxing benefits of a bubble bath assist the infant in sleeping well and remaining comfortable throughout the day. What is more peaceful for a toddler’s mother than seeing him happy for the entire day?
Building Blocks
You need colorful building blocks to keep your 6-month-old baby engaged and jovial. Accompany your child while he plays with blocks, organize and scatter them. Building blocks are the finest learning activity at the age of 6 months that will fascinate your toddler and motivate him to learn the organization of things around him.
Along with this, building blocks can help your baby develop motor skills. They will learn coordinated movements together with learning to coordinate what they see vs how they should move their hands in certain situations.
Show them Pictures
Babies tend to grasp things way more quickly when shown pictures of everything. They speedily learn about the real world when they see the image of how it looks. Hence, they are quick to identify and learn things when they go out. Ultimately, their learning and understanding of things will start at a very early age.
Pictures give your toddler a chance to see what they have never experienced. Hence, when they see it, they will be familiar already. This gives them a chance to explore more than they have access to, which implies better knowledge at the earliest stages of life.
Rhyme Time
Nursery rhymes are important for children of about 6-months and are extremely beneficial to their cognitive development. They not only help with the linguistics of your child but will also aid them when it comes to remembering words. For this purpose, you need to play a melodious nursery rhyme and sing along so that your child can retain words.
Moreover, rhymes with good sounds can help cheer up your toddler. You can teach them to dance which will aid their movement reflexes. While you dance with your infant, you can develop a better bond and have some fun!
Musical nursery rhymes will assist in developing a strong understanding of music and rhymes. Most babies have a great time as their brain responds to music and once they become aware of the sound, they can easily identify which rhyme they like the most.
Play around with your kid while you turn up the sound of rhymes. You can enjoy it with your toddler while he learns the movement and in the process of that, a large number of words too.
Hide Your Face Behind Things
One common way to play with kids is to hide your face behind a blanket, an opaque object, or even your hand. This can get your 6-month-old to have the most fun. Your child needs most of your attention and needs to be entertained. Here, peekaboo has your back! Your veiled face behind the object will compel them to see you revealed.
Hence, this will develop in them a general sense of curiosity. By the time you have done it twice, the baby will learn the pattern and push the object himself to reveal the face. Together with this, their vision-hearing coordination will get better with games like these.
Also, Peekaboo will help your infant to observe you more closely. Not to forget, this is an amazing way to strengthen your bond with your 6-month-old.
Chase Your Baby
For optimal physical development, you need to incorporate more physical activities into your toddler’s routine. Out of all the activities for 6-month-old development, chasing your baby stands out in its ability to develop and best coordinate their movements. By the time your baby reaches 6 months, he will be able to crawl or even stand.
In either case, going after them will rush an excitement within the baby to move their limbs faster. As a result, it will be easier for them to quickly grasp how to crawl faster. Some of them might as well learn to stand while you play with them.
This will also help the baby learn the house routes, make them more alert, and cheer up their mood too.
Appreciation Time!
Your baby needs your appreciation the most! While mothers continue to give time to their toddlers, they tend to forget the essentiality of appreciating their children. At the age of about 6 months, appreciation in the form of gestures like clapping, cheering, etc can help the child a great deal.
When appreciated, they know they are on the right track and what they are doing should be done more often. Thus, when mothers appreciate their infants, they get prompted to attempt good activities more frequently. And by doing so, they can acquire skills more easily at a very young age.
Appreciation can do wonders for your baby. So, mothers should appreciate their babies in any way they can when they do good. This will motivate them and make them happy to do better every time they get appreciated.
Some of the ways you can appreciate your six-month-old are by cuddling with them a little extra, giving them their favorite external meal if you have begun giving them externals, saying kind words to them, even if you think they do not understand, they still absorb the positive energy.
Upside down Exercise!
Fun time and playtime are important to keep your baby in a joyous mood all day. For the development of their brain, there are exercises that can sharpen their thinking capabilities. However, core strength development is equally as important as the rest of the things mentioned here.
For that, tummy time is highly encouraged for your 6-month-old baby. It is a great way to get the core muscles of your baby to begin working, it prepares the body to begin crawling, improves coordination between the baby’s hands and the eyes, and your baby can also learn to differentiate between various textures.
To allow your baby for their much-needed tummy time, select a surface that doesn’t hurt them; it can be a bed, sofa, or carpet. Allow them to freely play with their toys. You can also cuddle with them while the baby is on their tummy.
The best part about this activity is it can be done indoors as well as outdoors. It doesn’t require much time, nor does it require much effort by you or your baby. Babies have been observed to be giggling constantly, cheered up, and much more energized after their tummy time. They also sleep better if this exercise is done regularly. Moreover, your munchkins look more adorable than ever before.
Nature Walks!
There is literally nothing as therapeutic as walking in a natural green environment. Be it a farm, a local park, forest, or a national reserve, anything with cool green grass, some trees, and flowers, away from the urban world does the job.
As babies are exposed to outdoor environments at an early age, they have a higher tendency to be socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically active and alert when they grow up.
Babies have a sensitive sense of touch, sound, smell, and sight. Having a variety in what they get to see, smell, touch, and hear improves their critical thinking and observance power. Many people are unaware of the fact that these abilities can be enhanced massively if children are exposed to such an environment.
Children get to socialize with other children and move around freely more than they can inside their houses.
Above all the physical and health benefits that come with nature walks and time spent outdoors in the sun. The fresh air that the babies inhale while being around trees and grass is very healthy for their lungs. Playing in the sun allows their bones to absorb vitamin D, making bones healthier and stronger, which is beneficial in the longer run.
Activities that can be done while you’re out, close to nature with your 6-month-old include:
- Light swings
- Crawling around in the mud
- Smelling the green grass
- Listen to the chirping of birds
- Watching warms
- Sunbathing
- Watching the clouds
- Playing with other babies
Mirror Mirror on the Wall, who’s the cutest baby of them all?
Another great activity that you can carry out with your babies is playing with mirrors.
Babies are not insecure about how their hair looks, what they are wearing, or how many teeth are popping. Mirrors are just another toy for them and they would absolutely love to add more toys to their collection.
Since the babies tend to be highly observant towards their surroundings, their being able to recognize themselves is also important. For that, mirrors are a great help. Even as a toy, they may keep the baby distracted while you are working or exercising with them.
The most important purpose that mirrors will serve for your six-month-old baby is aiding in self-awareness. To nurture their social and emotional wellbeing, self-awareness is essential. The babies learn to recognize themselves, and later accept themselves gradually when they see their own reflection. It also creates a sense of self-love as many babies tend to kiss their reflection in the mirror. You may also get to see some hilarious reactions when babies find out that it is them that they are looking at.
Once babies are exposed to mirrors at an early age, they do not fear them when they grow up as keeping them away from seeing their own pictures of reflection may induce Eisoptrophobia, the phobia of mirrors.
Anatomy Lessons!
With all the fun, it is important that you make sure that your six-month-old baby has begun its learning journey. Learning begins the time when the egg cell is fertilized and continues until we die.
In the first few months, after a baby is born, the learning process proceeds at optimum speed. This is a great time for you to help your baby know about the different parts of their own body.
You do not need to put in extra effort or spare extra time to carry out this activity. You can simply utilize your bedtime or bath time to learn the names of your body parts. This activity is intimate which will strengthen the bonds between you and your six-month-old as well as create awareness in them regarding their body, from the beginning.
You may tickle them on their legs, hands, neck, thighs, or belly and easily help them learn the names. This is also a great way to teach children the difference between good and bad touch
Arts and Crafts
This is what we will call a real fun activity. It may seem unusual for us to be talking about involving a six-month-old child in arts and crafts. Since babies of this age can barely sit and hold objects in their hands, how will they be able to carry out such a complex activity?
There are multiple ways that you can craft or create art. What we recommend for your six-month-old is creating purees of different colored fruits and vegetables and providing your kids with a paper to create their masterpieces on. You can use peas for green color, strawberries for red, mango for yellow, and plums for purple color.
Since babies try to eat everything they see, licking off their puree-filled hands is safe for them. That can also be used as a trick to provide them with the nutrients that they are missing in their diet.
This can be done either at home or outdoors. The good part is unlike chemical nature paints, the stains wash off easily from the clothes as well as the floors. The babies get to feel a variety of textures, diverse tastes and most importantly increase creativity in them.
Once they are done, you need to show them how the mess is cleaned and how to tidy up their space. Since little children are great observers, they learn that they need to clear out their space after they are done playing. Show them how everything is sorted, kept to its place and how the floor is mopped.
Conclusion
All responsible parents understand that the babies require optimum attention and efforts in the first six months of their life. The days are tiring and the nights are sleepless for parents as they are devoted to providing their baby whatever they want at any cost.
We know that you care about the emotional, physical and mental development of your baby and are working hard to promote their growth to the maximum extent. It may be challenging for young parents to come up with new ideas and exciting activities for their six-month-old babies, keeping in mind that in some households, both the mother and the father work together and raise a family.
We have done the homework for you. Listed in this article are the top 15 creative activities for you to carry out with your 6-month-old baby, so that their mind refreshes, core strengthens, and learning becomes a habit.
These activities include playtime, reading time, massages, bubble baths, nature walks, and exercises for your babies. The benefits of each of the suggestions and ways to conduct them have been explained in detail.
We hope that you and your baby enjoy them as much as we enjoyed listing them down for you.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings