Find activities, milestones, and games based on baby’s date of birth
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(Remember to adjust for prematurity)
Activities at Week 34
- Monkey See, Monkey Do: Use a mirror to practice silly faces and sounds with baby, e.g. kissing faces. Use a variety of facial expressions while you talk. Be silly! Baby will laugh and respond by trying to imitate you. Helps baby to practice making new language sounds.
- Raining in the Bath: Punch holes in the lid of empty food container and fill with water to make a fun bath time toy. Baby can make it rain on themselves or a toy! Helps baby develop play skills while using their senses.
- Bucket Time: Sit with baby on the floor facing a plastic bucket and have a toy handy. Show them how to drop it in the bucket and then let them take a turn. Helps baby build hand-eye coordination while learning how to copy your movements.
- Finger Follies: Unwrapping a present can be more exciting than what’s inside. It’s satisfying for them to use their fingers to accomplish things. You can even use newspaper to wrap up a toy they’ve played with before. Helps baby develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
It’s Important to Remember:
The activities listed over these next few months are designed to help your baby as they move towards the following nine month milestones.
If you are concerned that your baby isn’t meeting these milestones by nine months, trust your instincts and talk to your healthcare professional.
Milestones
7-9 Month Motor Milestones
Motor Milestones
- Sits without support
- Sits and reaches for toys without falling
- Moves from tummy or back into sitting
- Starts to move with alternate leg and arm movement e.g. creeping, crawling
- Picks up head and pushes through elbows during Tummy Time
- Turns head to visually track objects while sitting
- Shows more control while rolling and sitting
- Picks up small objects with thumbs and fingers
- In simple play imitates others
7-9 Month Sensory Milestones
Sensory Milestones
- Enjoys a variety of movements – bouncing up and down, rocking back and forth
- Explores and examines an object using both hands and mouth
- Turns several pages of a chunky (board) book at once
- Experiments with the amount of force needed to pick up different objects
- Focuses on objects near and far
- Investigates shapes, sizes, and textures of toys and surroundings
- Observes environment from a variety of positions – while lying on back or tummy, sitting, crawling, and standing with assistance
7-9 Month Communication Milestones
Communication Milestones
- Uses increased variety of sounds and syllable combinations in babbling
- Looks at familiar objects and people when named
- Recognizes sound of their name
- Participates in two-way communication
- Follows some routine commands when paired with gestures
- Shows recognition of commonly used words
- Simple gestures, e.g. shaking head for “no”
- Imitates sounds
7-9 Month Feeding Milestones
Feeding Milestones
- In a highchair, holds and drinks from a bottle
- Begins to eat thicker pureed and mashed table foods
- Enjoys chew toys that can massage sore and swollen gums during teething
- Stays full longer after eating
- Starts to look and reach for objects, such as, food that is nearby
- Shows strong reaction to new smells and tastes