As an Occupational Therapist and a Mom I have put together top activities for your 9 month old baby. These activities will assist your baby with their cognitive (mind) and motor (movement) development.
Zoooommmmm…. Did you see me?…. Zoooommmmm… Faster than mommy express.. Faster than a speeding daddy bullet.. they call me.. J-Flash!
Today’s challenge for J-Flash is to find the hidden snake in these giant mountains that stand before me. Climbing these mountains is a small feat for a superhero like me. For I will crawl up… and then down.. and up and down and along the way manage to check out all the caves for the angry bearI will keep on zooming until I find him. Time waits for no man. Until next month.
Spending quality time with your baby is one of the most important things you can do. Quality time bundled with creative activities will help stimulate your child’s development.
The fictional story (above) introduced us to Josh’s homemade activities. The cushions acted as mountains and tents turned into caves. Be creative!
Try this month’s activities to help your baby explore and learn as they play.
Development
What to expect from your 9 month old baby
- Motor Development:
– Your baby loves moving around. Provide them with lots of opportunities to crawl, stand or cruise the furniture.
– Changing positions is becoming easier: for example from tummy to back or to sitting.
– Your baby may be pulling up to stand while holding on to the furniture.
– Whenever possible allow your baby to walk/cruise barefoot. This allows better development of the muscles and tendons in their feet.
– Your little one is now sitting unsupported.
– Your baby is exploring objects around them through the use of their hands and mouth.
– Their hand coordination improves as they are able to easier manipulate their toys.
– They may be able to use their pincer grasp (use of thumbs and fingers) to pick up small objects and toys. - Communication Development:
– You may hear lots of babbling from your baby. You may be lucky to hear ‘mama or dada’
– Your little one’s understanding skills are also improving. As you ask ‘Where is Mama?’ they may be able to point to you or crawl over to you.
– They may also start to use gestures to communicate their needs e.g. reach hands up to be picked up. - Social Development:
– You may also notice some separation anxiety at this age.
Activities for your 9 month old baby
1. Crawling on various surfaces
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Body awareness, strengthening of shoulders, arms, developing arches in their hands (required for fine motor skills)& coordination between right and left sides of the body | Tactile, vestibular & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
As your baby strengthens their crawling skills you can try to push them further to continue strengthening their body through crawling.
The last few months I have included a variety of crawling activities that contained chasing things/people or exploring different textures. This month I encourage you to develop simple crawling obstacle courses. Just like in this month’s story.
These can include:
- Crawling on unsteady surfaces such as trampolines, air mattresses or pillows.
- Creating mounds or “hills” from pillows and blankets. Then have them crawl around on them. Going up and down.
- You can play hide and seek, chase them around on all fours or have them follow their favorite or a random toy/object while crawling on top of the “hills”.
2. Messy play: Fun with Jell-O
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Fine motor skills, body awareness & hand eye coordination | Tactile sense |
How to Play
This is such a fun game to do with your little one. You can do this activity either outside or inside. Either way it is best to put some kind of a splash mat under them to limit the mess. If warm enough I would recommend keeping your baby in their diaper to let them explore the texture freely without freaking out about their clothes getting dirty. This is completely up to you though.
Once the prep is done simply sit them on to the mat with the Jell-O in front of them and let them explore. You can place it directly on the mat or a tray. They may approach it head on and jump into exploring the texture or they may be slow to explore. Either is fine. If they are slow to explore just provide some encouragement by showing them it’s ok to play in it.
You can also add straws and different sized containers that they can use to poke through the Jell-O. They may even find it fun to crawl around in it.
3. Lets shake it all around
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Grasping, object manipulation & hand eye coordination | Auditory, visual & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
Equipment needed: Tupperware containers (various sizes), plastic bottles, items to be placed inside containers (these can include: dry pasta, rice, beans, water beads, hard candy, bells or small toys).
Encourage your baby to explore different sounds and improve their manipulation skills by shaking a variety of home made rattles/shakers.
Simply choose a container and place objects inside (ideas provided above) that make sound when shaken. To avoid any choking hazards ensure that containers are securely taped or glued.
Once completed let your baby explore and play music.
4. Grab and drop
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Gasping, hand eye coordination, crossing midline, weight shift & balance | Tactile, visual, vestibular & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
In month 8 of this activity series I spoke about a tracking and reaching activity. This month I want to move it to the next level.
Have your baby seated on the floor. Place a large container in front of them as well as toys on both right and left sides.
1. Have your baby pick up objects from either side and then drop them into a container.
2. Encourage your baby to reach across their bodies to pick up an object on the opposite side. This is called crossing the midline (the invisible line in the middle of their body). Then have them drop the toy into the container.
3. Once all the toys are collected they can dump them all out and repeat.
4. Simultaneously you can encourage object exploration as you repeat the game with toys, balls, kitchen instruments, blocks etc.
5. Messy play: Flour play
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Fine motor skills & hand eye coordination | Tactile sense |
How to Play
This is just as simple as it sounds. Place some flour on a tray or on the floor and have your little one explore this texture.
You can also add some cars or animal toys that they can ride or walk through.
6. Humpty Dumpty
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Balance, strengthening of shoulder and arm | Vestibular, tactile & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
The objective of this game is to help develop your baby’s balancing skills while in a seated position.
To start off, sit behind your baby and hold them by their hips. Then move their weight to one side. As you pull them off balance you want your baby to place their hand on that side for support. If they are unable to position their hand provide them with some guidance.
Repeat this with the opposite side as well as forward and back.
To make this game more fun you can add the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ nursery rhyme to it.
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall’
As you say the words ‘fall’ move them off balance as described above.
7. Ziplock painting on a flat surface
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Hand skills & hand eye coordination | Visual & tactile senses |
How to Play
Equipment needed: large zip lock bag, variety of paint colors and masking tape
1. Open up the zip lock bag and place a few drops of different colored paints inside.
2. Close the bag and secure it with masking tape. To avoid any paint spillage place the masking tape on both top and the bottom edges.
3. You can place the bag either on the floor or on a tray of a high chair.
4. Let your little one explore. They can squish and move the paint around mixing the colors.
8. Reach for the sky
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Body awareness, strengthening of shoulders, arms, developing arches in their hands (required for fine motor skills), coordination between right and left sides of the body, balance, grasping, hand eye coordination and motor planning (ability to conceptualize, plan and carry out an unfamiliar task) | Visual, proprioceptive, tactile & vestibular senses |
How to Play
The main objective of this activity is for your baby to reach for hanging toys with one of their hands while on their hands and knees. This position will encourage your baby to shift their weight onto one hand while reaching with the other.
1. Find toys that can be attached to a string. These can include bells, shakers, rattles etc.
2. Then attach them to objects that they can crawl under. These can include dining tables, work desks, tree branches or large boxes that your little one can crawl into.
3. Then let your baby loose to try to crawl to and reach for each toy. Make sure that each toy is high enough so your little one needs to stretch to get it.
9. Get grabbing!
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Fine motor skills | Tactile & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
As your baby continues to develop their gasping skills make sure you provide them with opportunities to grasp and manipulate a variety of different objects. Variety can be in size, shape and weight. This will strengthen both their tactile and proprioceptive sensory systems. As well as teach them how to problem solve their grasping skills.
At this age your baby is starting to learn how to use their thumb and pointer finger to grasp smaller objects. The safest way to practice this grasp is by providing your little one different types of finger foods such as peas, diced cooked carrots, small pieces of cheese etc
You can also provide smaller sized toys but make sure you ALWAYS SUPERVISE to avoid choking.
10. Squigz grab & pull
| Skills Developed | Targeted Senses |
|---|---|
| Gasping, wrist extension & hand strength | Tactile & proprioceptive senses |
How to Play
If you haven’t heard of Squigz then you could potentially be missing out on many fun memories. I use these frequently with toddlers and older kids but babies can get some fun in as well. Squigz is a suction toy that can be attached to various surfaces or to each other. I recommend the large size for our babies to eliminate a choking hazard. For more information check out the Squigz details.
With our young babies we can use them to develop their hand strength. Simply stick them to a small table or a high chair tray. Then watch them grasp and try to pull them off. You can also have them seated near a window and have them try to pull them off.
Remember that our 9 month old still loves to explore objects with their mouth. This means that these Squigz will quickly end up in their mouths, so you should always supervise your baby to avoid choking.
Occupational Therapy Tip:
Working on a vertical surface, such as a window in this case, strengthens muscles in your baby’s shoulders and wrist. These are important for many fine motor skills such as writing and cutting.
Summary: Activities for your 9 month old baby
So there you have it. My top 10 Sensory Activities for your 9 month old that you can do today to help their development.
These are just a few activities that are bound to spark other ideas. Just remember that every new sensory experience is helping your child’s growth and development.
Remember: Each baby develops at their own pace. If your child is not ready or not interested in these months’ activities, just try them again in a few weeks.
~ Urszula
Disclaimer: The activities in this blog are intended for sensory play. They are not a replacement for treatment of children with Sensory Processing Disorder, are not medical advice and should not be used in place of the care of a medical doctor or other qualified healthcare professional. These activities should be facilitated and supervised by an adult. All activities are to be performed at your own risk and in no event shall Sensory Lifestyle be liable for any damages.
| ❮ 8 month activities | 10 month activities ❯ |