11 fun games to play with your 8 month old baby

Now that our little lion is 8 months already (time flies), it is time to play some new games using his newly learned skills! Follow me along in these 11 games to play at home with your 8 month old baby.

When babies are 8 months old, they will most likely try to crawl, which might end up looking something like an army crawl. This is called creeping and is a whole new milestone in your little one’s adventures! This means new places to explore and places to reach, this also means it is time to start childproofing your home if you didn’t already. Try and crawl with him to get a sense of his viewpoint and see what places need some more attention.

Using these new skills I will create a list of some of the fun games I enjoy playing with my son.

Noisy games

Your baby can now fully use his voice and probably started babbling (maybe even screeching) your ears off. Making these noises is a lot of fun. With 8 months he will also start to categorize and recognize different things, including sounds. Try playing with different sounds using items around the house like a pan and a wooden spatula, your own voice, or instruments. They love taking an item in their hand and bashing it against something else, creating noise. Show them different items can make different kinds of sounds, they will love doing this.

Dancing

My son loves it when I sing (he is my only fan) and dance so much that he dances with me, swaying from left to right. This also happens when I put on some exciting music with a bit more rhythm and happiness. Even though they can’t dance yet, they love seeing you dance and move to the beat. Show them different movements and clap to the beat, this will encourage the development of your baby’s motor skills as well and having fun.

Standing up

Your baby will most likely try to stand as well, help him with this making him stand up and then sit back again, showing him the motion of standing up. He will love the attention and try his best to keep those tiny little legs supported on the ground. You can also try and make him stand on different surfaces using his bare feet (or socks with extra grip of the floor is too cold), this way he can feel the different materials and get used to the ground not being all the same.

Reading

My sons loves it when I read him a bedtime story. He turns on his tummy, creeping closer to look at the pictures in the book. He listens to the words and looks when I point. This way you are able to teach him about things that your otherwise might not, for example you don’t see an elephant everyday, like you do with a dog or cat. When the book contains an elephant, you can point and explain to him what it is, maybe even imitating the sound they make. He will not yet understand what you are saying, but he is getting familiar with the shape of the animal and the sound of the word you are using. In The Netherlands, picking up books from the library is free for kids until the age of 18 and there are usually also many books for babies. Check out your local library to see if you can get some nice books for your little one.

Hide-and-seek

Playing peekaboo, or hide-and-seek, is a very fun game for your baby and important for grasping the concept of object permanence. Place a toy underneath another item, for example underneath a pillow, leaving a part of the toy visible and let your baby grab it and keep repeating this a few times. Eventually you can fully cover the toy and let them look for it. By playing hide-and-seek you can also help your baby understand that even when you are not visible anymore, it doesn’t mean you have magically disappeared. They learn that you are just behind an object, not that you left them. This game can, in time, help reducing (or preventing) separation anxiety.

Mountain climbing

Since they have just started moving around the floor, you can make it more fun by creating a parkour. Place pillows and blankets around the floor creating a different obstacles for them to overcome. You can place toys all over as a reward for them to overcome the obstacles. Watch them creep and crawl over the pillows while encouraging them. This will strengthen their muscles and they will learn the feel of different materials.

Turn on the lights

Babies love exploring the world and also love lights. Hold your baby up to the light switch and let them turn the lamp on and off. This game is especially fun when it is slightly getting darker outside and will surely make your baby super excited.

Bubbles

Bubbles are so mystical, one moment they are there and the next they have disappeared. Your baby will be amazed and look at you with big eyes when you make soap bubbles. Big ones, tiny ones they are sure to make your baby smile and laugh a lot!

Splish-splash

During spring and summer there are many nice warm days, to cool off you can let your baby play with some water! A little bit of water can come a long way, let them splash about and make a mess, they love it. Using different kinds of bath toys you can play along with him.

Ball fun

Take a medium sized ball, nothing too heavy, and put on sticky tape with the sticky part on the outside. Then let your little one grab it and watch fidget around with the sticky ball. They try and use one hand to take it from the other, but ends up sticky to that hand as well. They will be entertained for the next half an hour.

Boxes

Take a large box and cut out some holes and shapes on the sides includingone that is big enough for your baby to crawl through, then put it upside down. Put in some toys and let your baby crawl and explore. Trying to pick up the box or move it, or maybe crawl through it. It is a whole new world for them!

Exploring the world and being active all the time can be very exhausting so be sure your baby gets enough rest in-between playing time and they will be a happy bubbly baby.

What are some of you favourite games to play with your baby?

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