Developmental games from 9-12 months


Pots’n Pans Drums
Turn your kitchen into baby’s music studio with up-turned pots and pans and wooden spoons, or two saucepan lids for cymbals. Use your instruments to explore different concepts such as loud and soft, fast and slow.

Water explorer
A great activity for outdoor and indoor: Float small objects like corks, plastic lids and flowers in a low and wide container. Let your baby reach and splash. Show your baby how to grab the object, and let it drop into the water again. It is the double fun if you make a funny noise when the object splashes into the water. Your toddler will love it. Always supervise children when playing with water.

Reading fun and picture cards
Sit your baby on your lap and read stories with simple action words and pictures. Flash cards are a favourite too. Choose 3 or 4 cards and talk to your baby about each card individually. Then put all cards on the floor beside each other and ask the baby for example “where is the white rabbit”? With a bit of practise your baby will point to the correct card.

Hide and Seek
Show your baby a toy, then hide it under a towel or small blanket and help him find it.

3 moving cups
A popular game not only for adults: Take 3 non-see-through plastic cups. Put a little ball or other rolling object under one of the cups. Then slowly move the cups each by one position. Start very slowly, so your baby gets used to it. Then ask baby “where is the ball” and he will lift the right (or the wrong) cup. This game is also a good example to teach him to “wait”, because usually the toddler wants to find the ball before I ask the question.

Ball kicking
Hold your baby firmly under his arms and pick him up. Swing him forward so his legs make contact with the ball, which should be a medium size and quite light. Start with helping him to 'kick' the ball across the garden or living room. After a few tries, he will do it himself. This exercise will actually strengthen his tummy and leg muscles and prepare him for a good athletic career.

Box tower
Collect some old cereal boxes, plastic bowls, yogurt containers and empty DVD cases and build together a tower with all the different shapes. Once the tower has reached his full height, take it in turns to knock it down again. Your baby will be amazed to see it all collapse.

Imitating
Imitate whatever your baby does. If he bubbles something, do the same. If he squeals, do the same too. Soon he will start to imitate you back. You can try to clap your hands 3 times and test if your baby can count too.

Slope walking
Lead your baby to a slight slope, either in the garden or in the park and persuade him to walk up and down it. Walking down is more difficult than walking up. Gradually find steeper slopes, but the maximum incline should be 20 to 25 degrees.

Walking on bricks
Place 8 – 10 bricks into an uneven row in the garden and show your baby, how to walk over them. He will soon follow you. Make sure to hold his hand. This exercise should teach your baby to deliberately place his feet and take irregular steps.

Hercules
Ask your baby to bring over his chair, or large teddy bear. When he lifts up a larger object he raises and tilts his center of gravity and must assume a different body position than when walking without a load. This exercise will train him to keep his balance.

Placing objects
Give your baby various objects of different sizes, e.g. two boxes or wooden blocks of different size, and persuade him to place the smaller on top of the larger. The smaller the difference in size, the more difficult is the game.

Bathtub Hunter
Get a butterfly net and stand your baby next to the bathtub containing various toys. Your baby will try to get them with the net.