An eight-month-old baby often is preparing to stand and is becoming more interested in interaction with parents, siblings and caregivers. Some games and play activities can help nurture a child's growth at this age. Letting the baby lead the play is the best way to produce a positive experience for the baby and the parents.
Physical
While an eight-month-old baby is still limited in his mobility since the baby is not walking, there are many ways to get him active and promote future walking skills. Babies at this age can roll or throw a ball back and forth. Clapping and dancing to music also help get babies moving. Action songs are good for interaction and stimulating muscle movement. Providing activity tables or cubes help get a baby used to pulling up and standing, which is important to help get them walking. Also, chasing a crawling baby is fun and good exercise for baby and parent.
Educational
Promoting learning is important even at this young age. Eight-month-old babies are learning more every day and providing educational toys can help them make connections. Soft and board books are important to language acquisition and reproduction. Activity cubes can teach colors, shapes and numbers. Looking in the mirror is a good way to teach body parts. Hiding toys and then finding them teaches object permanence. Babies at this age love to turn on and off the lights and play with things that can be taken apart and put back together. These types of things teach understanding of cause and effect. Eight-month-old babies learn a lot by imitating, so making lots of sounds for them to copy is good practice for talking.
Fun
While babies learn from most anything, some games are fun even though they may teach too. Filling bowls with water and then providing measuring cups and spoons is a great activity to do in the bath or on the patio. Giving babies pots and pans or toy musical instruments is fun since they love to make noise. Pretending to be a band is great fun at this age. Playing with stuffed animals is safe for eight-month-old babies and making them talk and dance is amusing to them. Finally, peek-a-boo makes most any baby laugh and is fun for parents and babies alike.
