Lately, since we’ve been stuck in the house, we’ve been trying to find new ways to entertain Jack. We want him to be happy, busy and encourage learning and development. Now, I wish I could be taking him to the park, the zoo and the aquarium. BUT we are mostly stuck at home, so when we aren’t out walking with the dog – we are doing all of these fun things below! They’re all pediatrician-recommended activities and they keep Jack entertained for hours! Check them out below:
12 Ways To Entertain Your 9-12 Month Old
ONE: Pots & Pans
Jack LOVES this! He can spend a good 20-30 minutes just banging on our pots with some plastic or wooden spoons. Encourage your little one to hear the different sounds they make – wooden vs plastic, big pot vs small pot.
TWO: Mirror Babble
Jack and I do this a lot – we plop in front of my floor mirror and talk to each other. Jack likes to wave at his reflection and touch the mirror and give himself kisses. It’s totally precious and he’s learning about himself!
THREE: Basket Packing
We always joke that Jack is my office box packer because he LOVES to methodically take things out of boxes and then put everything back in. It’s a great motor skill builder.
FOUR: Tip Me Over
If you want to help your child build core strength – sit them in your lap and lean them over so they can pull themselves back up. Jack laughs and laughs when we do this. I add a little tickle into it to make it a game!
FIVE: Straw Drinking
We are trying to help Jack get better at drinking from a straw so every day we practice a little bit. He mostly just bites the straw right now, but he’s getting better! It makes a silly game for him, too.
SIX: Tunnel Time
Now that Jack is crawling, he loves to go everywhere – especially through tunnels. We have set up some open cardboard boxes that he can crawl through.
SEVEN: Rolling The Ball
If your kiddo is anything like mine, he find balls ENTHRALLING. Especially ones with bells! We roll it back and forth and it helps dexterity and motor skills!
EIGHT: Stair Climbing
Jack isn’t QUITE doing this on his own yet – but we are helping him! We do little steps up and down a few stairs at a time.
NINE: Bouncing
Bouncing is one of Jack’s favorite things these days! He isn’t standing on his own yet but if we hold his hands he will bounce up and down. So fun! He laughs and laughs.
TEN: Peek-A-Boo + Crawling
One of our new favorite games is putting Jack at the end of the hallway and then hiding behind a door!! He shrieks with excitement and then crawls as fast as he can to find us!
ELEVEN: “YAY!”
Another fun thing to do with J is to clap and say YAY when he does something we like! He’s learned how to clap, high five and wave bye by us doing this. He gets SO excited and squeals when we say YAY! He definitely is learning that is the signal to doing things we want him to do.
TWELVE: Simple Puzzles
We have this Jack name puzzle and it’s the PERFECT size for Jack to work on himself. The pieces are wooden and non-toxic, so he can chew on them all he wants. They’re big pieces so he can hold them in his hands and they’re easy shapes to pull out and place back in.
PIN THIS FOR LATER:
I hope these give you some new ideas to do with you little one while we are waiting for the quarantine to finally lift.
What do you like to do with your little one?! Let me know in the comments below!
