Activities

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Activity library

193 activities with English and Chinese instructions. Browse by catalog age or development area, and log the activity you tried.

These are catalog age groups, not personalized recommendations or milestone deadlines. Choose for your baby's current abilities, stay close, and stop if your baby is uncomfortable. Added reminders are separate from the source instructions.

20 of 193 activities

7–9 months · 20

Banging Objects Together#098 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand-eye coordination
Materials: Blocks, maracas or small balls
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Have the baby hold a toy in each hand, like blocks, maracas, or small balls. Show him how to bang them together.
Related milestone in the source: Grasping Objects: can hold two objects simultaneously, one in each hand; can bang them together.

Clapping - II#102 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand-eye coordination
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Grab the baby by her wrists and show her how to clap her own hands. Repeat it frequently until she starts doing it by herself. Celebrate by clapping your own hands or singing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"
Related milestone in the source: Claps energetically and moves hands around to express excitement while seated.

Cleaning Up#104 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to grasp
Materials: Jar with small objects or food
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Give her a container with small objects, raisins, or Cheerios. Help her spill them on the floor or a table and encourage her to put them back in the container.
Related milestone in the source: Radial Digital Grasp: grasps objects using index finger, middle finger and thumb.

Cleaning Up - II#105 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to grasp
Materials: Container with raisins or cheerios
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Fill a container with small objects or food, like raisins or Cheerios. With the baby sitting next to you, empty the container onto a table or the floor and pick up each object, one at a time and hold it between your fingers. You want the baby to grab the item from your fingers and place it in the container. You can first explain what you want her to do, and then demonstrate.
Related milestone in the source: Radial Digital Grasp: grasps objects using index finger, middle finger and thumb.

Crumpling Tinfoil#114 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to manipulate an object
Materials: Tinfoil
Time or repetitions: Repeat 3 - 5 times
How to do it: Find a piece of aluminum foil and help the baby crumple it into a loose ball.
Related milestone in the source: Uses hands in different ways; for example, uses one as support and the other to manipulate an object.

Dropping Objects in Container#120 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand-eye coordination
Materials: Containers and objects of various sizes
Time or repetitions: Repeat 5 - 8 times
How to do it: Encourage the baby to drop objects into containers of various sizes. Start with larger containers with wide mouths and then gradually decrease to more narrow openings. You can use boxes, bowls, kitchen canisters and then move to water bottles and soda bottles. Similarly, start with larger objects, like stuffed animals, balls, and blocks and move to smaller items.
Related milestone in the source: Voluntarily drops objects, although lacks control to place objects on a surface gently.

Grabbing & Handling - III#133 · Hands

Goal: Develop ability to handle and grab objects of different sizes and shapes
Materials: Objects of different shapes and sizes
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Give the baby objects that are new to her and that are shapes with which she is not familiar. Examples include a Frisbee or lids from large pots and pans, which will force her to hold the edges; or a large balloon, which requires two hands to hold. Give the objects to the baby from different directions so that she has to move or rotate her hands in order to be able to grab them. Eventually do the same exercise while moving the objects.
Related milestone in the source: Able to grab and manipulate two objects simultaneously, one in each hand.

Grabbing & Handling - IV#134 · Hands

Goal: Develop ability to remove objects from a container
Materials: Container (pitcher, basket, plastic glass)
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Show the baby a small toy or object that sparks her curiosity. While she is looking at it, put it in a container and ask her to take it out. Start with a larger container, like a pitcher or a basket, and gradually decrease the size of the container until you are using small plastic cups.
Related milestone in the source: Uses hands in different ways; for example, uses one as support and the other to manipulate an object.

Grasping Just with Index Finger#135 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to grasp
Materials: Small cup or vial, Cheerio or raisin
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 3 - 5 minutes
How to do it: Put a single Cheerio or similar piece of food into a small cup or vial and encourage the baby to grab it with his index finger.
Related milestone in the source: Inferior Pincer Grasp: grasps objects between index finger and thumb but uses the entire surface of each finger, rather than only the fingertips, to hold the object.

Handling the Pacifier#136 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to manipulate objects
Materials: Pacifier
Time or repetitions: Repeat 3 - 5 times
How to do it: If the baby uses a pacifier, give it to her with the external part facing her mouth so that she has to rotate it around to put it in her mouth. Once she can do it perfectly with the pacifier, you can increase the complexity by giving her a bottle with the nipple pointing away from her. The objective is to teach her to manipulate objects with her hands.
Related milestone in the source: Examines objects from different sides and perspectives, improving understanding of 3-dimensional attributes of objects.

One Hand to the Other - II#154 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand-eye coordination
Materials: 2 small balls
Time or repetitions: Repeat 4 - 6 times
How to do it: Get two small balls. Give one to the baby and keep the other for yourself. Start moving your ball from one hand to the other, encouraging her to imitate you. Describe what you are doing as you do it: "In one hand, in my other hand." Initially, you will need to assist her, but eventually she will be able to do it alone.

One Hand to the Other - III#155 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand-eye coordination and ability to manipulate objects
Materials: 3 small toys or objects
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Give her one small object and try to have her move it from one hand to the other. Then give her two more small objects, one at a time. She is likely to drop one of the first two objects in order to grab the third one. Repeat it several times trying to have her figure out a way to hold the three objects at the same time.
Related milestone in the source: Able to carry two small objects in one hand.

Painting#156 · Hands

Goal: Learn to draw and paint
Materials: Finger paint or shaving cream, appropriate surface for the exercise
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5+ minutes
How to do it: Using finger paints or shaving cream on paper, a large window, or shower door, help the baby move her finger through the substance to make lines or circles.

Playing the Drums#161 · Hands

Goal: Learning to play the drums
Materials: Table, block, or spoon
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Demonstrate banging a block or spoon on a tabletop or high chair tray and encourage the baby to imitate your actions.

Playing the Drums - II#162 · Hands

Goal: Learning to play the drums
Materials: Drum, drumsticks
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Give the baby a drum with drumsticks or a plastic bowl with wooden spoons. Teach her how to hit the drum with one stick and her hand, then both sticks. Initially she is likely to hit both sticks or spoons simultaneously, but will begin to alternate as she approaches one year of age.

Playing the Piano#163 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to manipulate an object
Materials: Toy piano or smartphone piano app
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 3 - 5 minutes
How to do it: Teach the child how to play notes on a toy piano using a single finger. Then try using two or more fingers. If you don't have a toy piano, you can do the same on a smartphone or tablet app.

Pointing with Index Finger#166 · Hands

Goal: Learn to point with index finger
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: 1 - 3 children's books
How to do it: Encourage the baby to point at different objects in picture books. You can move her hand and show her how to point, describing the object as you do it. Over time she will learn to point on her own.

Poking#167 · Hands

Goal: Improve ability to use fingers independently
Materials: Play dough, child safe clay
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Using play dough or other child-safe clay, show the baby how to poke holes into the surface with her fingers. First take her hand and demonstrate it for her, then let her try on her own.
Related milestone in the source: Uses hands in different ways; for example, uses one as support and the other to manipulate an object.

Pulling & Removing Objects#168 · Hands

Goal: Improve hand strength
Materials: Pegboard, different types of containers
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Introduce activities that require the child to remove and manipulate objects, which will help him increase hand strength. For example, teach him to place plastic rings on a stick or rod and then encourage him to remove them, show him how to remove the pegs from a pegboard or ask him to take the tops off of boxes or other containers.
Related milestone in the source: Uses hands in different ways; for example, uses one as support and the other to manipulate an object.

Various Activities with Paper#190 · Hands

Goal: Increase manual dexterity
Materials: Paper and books
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5+ minutes
How to do it: Using paper, show the baby how to crumple it, tear it, draw on it and turn the pages of a book.
Related milestone in the source: Uses hands in different ways; for example, uses one as support and the other to manipulate an object.