As stated before in my post about decorating my sons nursery, I am an avid crafter. I love art projects and getting my hands dirty. Since I come from a family of artistic people, I have searched for project ideas for my 11 month old son and I to do together. As a stay at home mom days can get repetitive, my son can get frustrated with boredom and I often get the itch to do something new, so I've complied some fun activities my son and I have played around with recently.
My son first attempted painting at 6 months old. I had read somewhere about mess free painting for babies. I was instantly intrigued and immediately set up the experiment. If you put a piece of paper and a few dollops of paint inside a large Ziploc baggie and seal it your child can smear the paint around without getting it everywhere! I lined up some paint bottles and let my son point to which colors he wanted (I limited it to three) and let him at it. My son had produced his first masterpiece! We repeated this process 2 more times so we could send some art off to Grandma and Grandpa. If you are okay with the mess or your baby is old enough why not try edible finger paints? Just add food coloring or Kool Aid powder to some applesauce, and voila!
A side project I started when my son was a newborn was foot and hand prints. Every month I take a stamped print of my sons hand and foot! I bought a non-toxic, washable ink pad before he was born in preparation of his arrival. I knew I wanted to take his prints, at least to send to family on thank you cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards, etc since he can't sign them for himself yet. Aside from sending his prints off in cards to family I have collected the prints in his baby book, on their own pieces of paper, so that if I find a cute idea somewhere on something fun to do with them I know I have them saved! This year for Christmas I plan to get some plain ornaments and making hand print snow men with my sons hand prints for the family!
My mom always comes up with the greatest ideas for sensory play activities with my son. On our last visit to her house she filled a large Tupperware container with sand and let my son filter it through different sized funnels and scoops. Aside from the one time he tried to eat the sand, this was wonderful play idea for my son. Not only did he love the texture of the sand but he was able to experiment with the funnels to see which one the sand moved through faster, which was slower and which scoop could dig up the most sand.
The most simple of activities for infants is: Bubbles! When I was young they came out with these marvelous edible bubbles- perfect for babies! I don't let my son eat them, but when they blow towards his face, or when he catches one and tries to put it in his mouth I found the edible bubbles caused less tears than the soapy tasting ones. The sensory positives from bubbles is outstanding, for something so simple.
Textures, smells, colors and sounds are so easily discovered by simply playing outside. Playing in the mud, in the sand, on the grass.The first time my son went to the beach he was hesitant to let his feet touch the sand. After 20 minutes sitting on the beach towel he found his courage to crawl off and explore the scenery. He fell in love with the feeling of sand between his toes. This same scene played out the first time he felt grass and the first time he was allowed to play in the mud. He practically runs now in every direction when I take him into our backyard- from the hard patio to the grass to the mud in the garden to the rubber mulch of the playground, each location offers him a little something different.
My mother used to work in a preschool and since having my son has told me all her little activity secrets. The preschool she worked at had a few requirements the children had to meet in order to move onto kindergarten. One of these requirements was being able to throw a ball. She taught my son how to toss a ball into a pile of blankets when he was about 5 months old. At 7 months I taught him how to throw it at our brick fireplace so that it would roll back to him. At 11 months old he now throws the tennis ball for his dog, Chuck when he wants him to play fetch. To make things interesting and to encourage him to practice this activity he has acquired quite a collection of balls- big bouncy ones, small ones that light up, tennis balls, and those sensory balls with the bumps on them. With each one my son has to adjust his throw or how he plays with it. It's really neat to watch him figure out how to get the ball into the air.
Noise makers and floaty bottles are cheap, easy and incredibly entertaining for baby. I have filled empty water bottles with beads to make noise makers, taped two containers together to make bongos and put sparkles in water filled bottles to make sparkley shakers. My husband even handed me an old, empty pill bottle the other day that he filled with pebbles for our son to shake. In a bind, if my son is fussy at the grocery store I've been known to hand him a half filled tic-tac container from my purse to entertain him. Seriously, these is the easiest and cheapest toys you can make that will also give your baby the chance to learn that shaking it makes noise or makes glitter float, or that hitting the containers makes a thunk sound and beads can be wonderfully colorful.
Play with Jello, make edible Playdough, put bubbles in the bath tub, try bath crayons, make a box fort! There are so many simple activities and ideas out there for you and infant. My son and I find something new to do everyday- even for just a moment, to break up the monotony. These are some of my favorite moments and will cherish them forever!
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