You’re into the 6-9 month stage, baby will be sitting unaided and may or may not start to crawl during these months. Baby will also be starting to build up their solids intake at meal times which is an activity in itself.
All of the activities listed in How to entertain a 3-6 month old still apply to this age but with some tweaks here and there.
Tummy time/floor time
Tummy time is still really important at this age and baby should be quite happy to do tummy time now as they will be a bit more mobile even if they’re not crawling yet. Once they are crawling, it’s not so much tummy time anymore, just play time. Baby will be able to sit as well (possibly still with cushions around them for padding) and will be able to play with toys as their hand eye coordination will be much more developed now. You can choose a selection of toys and place them around baby for them to choose to play with. Or if you are doing tummy time, you can place objects slightly out of reach to encourage crawling.
Books
Reading high contrast board or cloth books is still encouraged, as is reading rhyming books with colorful pictures. But as an added genre of book, you can try reading some lift the flap books as baby might have the coordination needed to engage with these books. You can get flap books where the flaps are just card/paper or you can get flap books where the flaps are a made of a felt material which can be easier for babies to grab to begin with. Books with different textures are another type that you can try, you can place babies hand on each of the different textures to start with if they don’t do it themselves naturally.
Bath toys
Now that baby is sitting, you can get a supported bath seat for baby to sit in (if you have a big bath). In this new seated position, baby will be able to grab at floating toys and interact with them more. Floating bath toys and little cup toys with holes in the bottom are good for this age. Our son loved foam letters that stick to the side of the bath too, however be aware of the age restrictions on foam bath toys, some are not suitable for under 12 months.
Knocking over towers
Babies at this age love knocking over towers. A good set of wooden building blocks are a great toy to invest in. At this age your baby will make a bee line for any tower that has been constructed and demolish it, then as they get older, they will eventually build towers of their own.
Toys with string
Your baby’s hand eye coordination is continually developing, toys that have a string attached are usually marketed towards toddlers so they can pull the toy behind them as they walk, but babies in the 6-9 month age range might like the cause and effect aspect of these toys, especially if they are not crawling yet. If you place the toy far away from them but have the string within reaching distance, your baby might discover that if they pull the string, it brings the toy closer to them.
Swings
If you had a baby swing, your little one has probably exceeded the weight limit by now, and even if they haven’t they may not enjoy being restricted in a reclined position for any length of time. Once they are able to sit unaided, you will be able to put them in an outdoors baby swing. The baby swings you can buy for your garden usually offer more support than the ones in public parks. Start with very gentle swings as they have only just learned to sit so may still be quite wobbly to begin with.
Items that aren’t toys
There are hundreds of baby toys out there but you might find that if you hand your baby a whisk from your kitchen, it will keep them entertained for a lot longer than any of the best baby toys. Giving your baby toys that aren’t toys is a good way to mix things up a bit. Safe kitchen utensils are a good one, especially if you are needing to keep them entertained while you do some work in the kitchen. Also, filling an old handbag with baby safe household items is another way to keep them entertained now that they are able to sit up. Baby will have great fun pulling everything out of the bag and inspecting each item that they find.
Sensory activities
Bubbles, light projectors and any other sensory activities mentioned in our how to entertain a 3-6 month old post still apply to 6-9 month olds, but one more to add to the list is foil blankets. Foil blankets that are usually used in emergency situations to keep people warm actually double up as a great sensory activity for baby. They make a great noise when you touch or move them and are usually quite big so you can lay baby on them for tummy time, or you can drape them over something to make a fort with them. They are also reflective so if you have any kind of flashing light toy, you can place it on the blanket and it will reflect the light which some babies find mesmerizing. Just make sure you buy a proper foil blanket to ensure it won’t disintegrate. Kitchen Aluminum foil should not be used as this breaks up easily causing a choking hazard.
Get creative
Some toys or activities can be quite repetitive and baby may get bored of them after a while, you can combat this by getting creative. For example, a ball pit can be quite predictable, placing baby in their ball pit to play with the balls. What we used to do was take the balls from the ball pit and wedge them in the bars of the cot. We would then put our son in the cot and he would have great fun pushing all the balls out of the cot while I would be on the other side trying to put them back in the cot as quickly as possible. So mix it up, see if there are little alterations you can make to some of your go to activities from the 3-6 month stage.
Soft play
Once your baby is crawling, they will be able to explore soft play. Buying soft play for your home can be quite expensive and also takes up alot of space. Alternatively, most soft play centers have a section for babies and young toddlers which your baby might enjoy.
Chasing
Again, once baby is crawling, they will enjoy using their new skill to chase objects. There are toys specifically for this that move about in random directions, or you can just use a ball. You can roll a ball past your baby and encourage them to go and get it (another use for the balls from the ball pit).
Toys for 6-9 month olds
- Jumperoo. If your baby is still within the weight limit, then the jumperoo is still a great toy, just don’t leave them in it for more than 10 mins at a time.
- Teething toys. Baby will still be teething during this stage and they will be very capable of putting teething toys in their mouths by themselves.
- Activity cube. Activity cubes are great, not just for the toy aspect, but also for practicing pulling themselves up to standing. If your baby does use it to pull themselves up, you may want to weigh it down to avoid it toppling.
- Ball pit
- Foil blanket. Foil blankets are a great sensory toy, just be sure to get a proper foil blanket that isn’t going to disintegrate.
- Building blocks
