Find activities, milestones, and games based on baby’s date of birth
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(Remember to adjust for prematurity)
Activities at Week 36
- Phone Talk: Play with a pretend phone; talk into phone as you would a regular call, then offer it to baby to do the same. Helps baby develop listening and communication skills while learning about the objects around the house.
- Tray Top Reach: Place new and safe foods within reach on baby’s tray so they can begin to reach and explore. Helps expose baby to new foods and reaching skills.
- Clap and Kiss: Baby is learning new gestures, like pointing and waving. Practice a new gesture, like blowing a kiss or clapping hands. Helps baby learn how to use movements to express themselves.
- Figuring Out Food: When baby is seated in a highchair, give them food they normally eat and cut it into small pieces so they can try to pick it up with their fingers. They might not be able to pick up every piece yet but it’s good practice. Helps baby develop fine motor skills.
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