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.

19 of 193 activities

7–9 months · 19

Airplanes, Animals#094 · Senses

Goal: Associate sounds and specific objects
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Repeat 3 - 5 times
How to do it: Whenever you see an airplane, show it to him and say "Airplane." Then imitate the noise that an airplane makes and say again "Airplane." Also do this with animals and anything else that you can associate with a specific sound.
Related milestone in the source: Attempts to imitate noises or sounds produced by objects (e.g., "boom!").

Cardboard Box#101 · Senses

Goal: Differentiating between different textures
Materials: 2 pieces of thin cardboard, glue, sand or rice
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 3 - 5 minutes
How to do it: Find two pieces of similarly sized thin cardboard and glue sand or rice onto one of the pieces to create a rough texture and let it dry. Give the plain one to the baby and let him play with it, bending it, tearing it, folding it, or whatever else he wants to do. Then take the other piece and have him feel the new texture, explaining: "This is rice, it is rough." Reintroduce the first piece and explain that it is smooth. Let him play with the rough piece to manipulate it in the same way that he did the first.

Cold & Hot#106 · Senses

Goal: Differentiating between cold and hot
Materials: Ice, warm water
Time or repetitions: Repeat 3 - 5 times
How to do it: Have the baby touch a piece of ice while saying, "Cold." Immediately afterwards, repeat the exercise with warm water and say: "Hot."

Dancing#115 · Senses

Goal: Stimulating rhythm
Materials: Music
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 8 - 10 minutes
How to do it: Play different types of music for your baby. Dance with him to the different rhythms, telling him when you are moving quickly or slowly.
Related milestone in the source: Listens carefully to conversations and songs, understanding the difference in tones.

Differentiating Tones#116 · Senses

Goal: Differentiate between various vocal pitches
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Say a phrase to the baby, first using a high pitch tone, then a low tone. Repeat this exercise frequently.
Related milestone in the source: Listens carefully to conversations and songs, understanding the difference in tones.

Differentiating Volume#117 · Senses

Goal: Differentiate between high and low volume
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Repeat 2 - 4 times
How to do it: Say something to your baby using your normal conversational voice. Then get closer to her and whisper the same phrase. Move away and repeat the same sentence, but much louder.
Related milestone in the source: Listens carefully to conversations and songs, understanding the difference in tones.

Exploring Food Textures#121 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to textures
Materials: Food
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 1 - 3 minutes
How to do it: While feeding the baby, let her touch the food with her hands so that she can discover different textures. Then have her take some of the food that she has touched to her mouth so that she can associate taste and texture.
Related milestone in the source: High propensity to taste, suck, and take everything to the mouth as a way to better understand and explore the world.

Exposure to Textures - VI#122 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to textures
Materials: Objects with various textures and temperatures. i.e., tinfoil, cotton balls, sticky tape, a bottle with cold or warm drink, warm clothes after coming out of the dryer, etc.
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Select a few objects with different textures and temperatures such as crinkled tinfoil, cotton balls, sticky tape, bottles with a cold and warm drink, or warm clothes after coming out of the dryer. Give them to the baby one at a time, encouraging her to discover the textures with her hands, while describing the characteristics of the item.
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.

Fabrics#123 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to textures
Materials: Baby's clothes (while getting dressed)
Time or repetitions: While dressing/undressing child
How to do it: While dressing the baby, have her touch the different pieces of clothing. When she touches each, explain the various textures. For example, "This is your sock, it is very soft cotton" or "Feel the bottom of your shoe, it is bumpy leather."

Face Movement - II#124 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate the baby's imitation skills
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Show the baby diverse facial expressions and try to have him imitate them. For example, yawn while making loud noises, puff out your cheeks, or move your lips in different ways.
Related milestone in the source: Has a mental model of the human face and becomes interested in the way it looks and its different forms of expression (e.g., happy face, sad face, etc.).

Fast & Slow Clapping#125 · Senses

Goal: Differentiating rhythms
Materials: Music
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 2 - 4 minutes
How to do it: Play music with different rhythms, clapping along to the beat. Encourage the baby to clap with you by exaggerating your clapping.
Related milestone in the source: Listens carefully to conversations and songs, understanding the difference in tones.

Finding the Sound Source - V#126 · Senses

Goal: Identify the source of a sound
Materials: Noisy toy
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5+ minutes
How to do it: Find a few different toys that make different noises when moved, like a rattle or a bell, and have the baby play with the toys. Over time she will associate the specific noise with the toy.
Related milestone in the source: Attempts to imitate noises or sounds produced by objects (e.g., "boom!").

Give Me 5, Bye Bye#131 · Senses

Goal: Increase the baby's level of response to verbal orders
Materials: None, just you
Time or repetitions: Perform throughout the day
How to do it: Teach the baby simple games and movements in reaction to verbal requests. For example, "Give me five!" or "Wave bye-bye!" and help her do the actions with her hands. Once she starts understanding the movement and the meaning of the words, she will start doing it on her own when you ask her.
Related milestone in the source: Waves goodbye (between months 7 and 10).

Play Dough#159 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to textures
Materials: Play dough
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Give the baby a non-toxic play dough or edible dough and let her experiment with it while supervising. Show her how to poke and pinch it with her first two fingers and thumb.
Related milestone in the source: Radial Digital Grasp: grasps objects using index finger, middle finger and thumb.

Play Dough - II#160 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to textures
Materials: Non-toxic play dough (or silly putty), small non-sharp sticks
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 4 - 6 minutes
How to do it: Give the baby a ball of non-toxic play dough or pastry dough you make. Teach her to manipulate the ball with her hands, pulling it and stretching it until it breaks. Introduce the idea of different textures to her. With the plain ball of dough, you can say, "This is smooth." Have her put a few popsicle sticks into the dough and have her touch it, saying, "This is bumpy" or "This is hard."
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.

Pulling Out Objects#169 · Senses

Goal: Improve manual dexterity and provide exposure to different textures
Materials: 3 containers, 3 objects with different textures
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 8 - 10 minutes
How to do it: In each of three different containers, like a pot, a pitcher and a basket, place an object with a different texture. For example, a sponge in one, nail file in another, and stone in the third. Then put each container in a different position, perhaps one standing vertically, the other one facing one side and the third facing another side. Encourage the baby to get the object out of each container.

Reaching for Toy in Front - IV#171 · Senses

Goal: Understand cause-effect relationship
Materials: Blanket, toy
Time or repetitions: Suggested time: 5 - 8 minutes
How to do it: Put one of the baby's favorite toys on a small blanket and demonstrate that pulling the blanket brings the toy closer. Encourage any effort he makes to do it.

Smelling & Tasting#178 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate the baby's sense of smell
Materials: Food prepared for mealtime
Time or repetitions: While feeding baby
How to do it: When cooking or preparing meals, introduce different scents and flavors to the baby. As you let him smell and taste, say the name of each food.
Related milestone in the source: Begins to develop strong preferences for different food tastes.

Speakers#180 · Senses

Goal: Stimulate perception to vibration
Materials: Speaker or radio
Time or repetitions: Repeat 3 - 5 times
How to do it: Put the baby's hands on a radio, speaker, or another musical object that vibrates. Turn it on and off so that he can perceive the vibrations caused by music.