Activities For Six-month-olds

Supporting babies' learning through enjoyable play activities that are appropriate for each stage of development helps to create a loving bond between parent and child. Six-month-olds are delightful play companions who will reward your efforts with smiles, coos, gurgles, babbles and chuckles. Introduce play sessions when your child is alert, relaxed and well-fed. Keep sessions short and choose a different activity or take a break if your baby shows signs of frustration or fatigue.

Cognitive Development

Create a photograph album of familiar people, such as family members and friends, to share with your baby. Point to and name each person to support development of memory skills.

Encourage self-awareness by holding a mirror so that your baby can see her own reflection. Repeat your baby's name to encourage name recognition. For example, say "Where's Katie?" as you move her reflection out of view. Say "There's Katie!" when she sees herself again.

Play "Peepo!" games to encourage awareness of object permanence, which is awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view. Place a soft toy, such as a teddy bear, under a blanket and ask, "Where's teddy?" Reveal teddy and say, "There he is!"

Physical Development

Support development of gross motor skills with regular swim sessions. Once your baby feels relaxed and confident, hold him securely around the chest and say "Whoosh!" as you gently sway him in and out of the water. Encourage him to kick his legs in the water to build strong leg muscles.

Let your baby spend time on his tummy to enable him to lift his head, which helps to strengthen neck and back muscles in preparation for crawling. Place about five safe items, such as a piece of shiny fabric, a shell, a soft brush, a wooden spoon and a bunch of keys within reach of your baby to let him practice skills such as reaching out, grasping and hand-eye coordination. Change the items frequently to maintain interest.

Social and Emotional Development

Draw simple pictures of faces that depict various emotions, such as a happy face, a sad face and a grumpy face. Show each picture to your baby, name the emotion and mimic the facial expression to help your baby identify different kinds of feelings and understand words that describe them.

Talk to your baby when you take her out to stimulate curiosity and development of social skills. For example, point out other children and babies that you see and describe events that are happening nearby. By using language to name people and objects and explain occurrences, you are reassuring your baby and helping her feel confident when she meets new people and situations.

Language Development

Look at pictures of animals and mimic the sounds that they make. For example, point to a picture of a cat, make a meowing sound and ask, "What does the cat say?" to encourage your baby's vocalizations and extend his receptive language skills, or comprehension skills.

Encourage listening skills and awareness of rhythm and rhyme by singing action songs and rhymes. For example, sit baby in front of you, hold his hands and sway him back and forth as you sing, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Wiggle each toe in turn as you say the rhyme "This Little Piggy Went to Market" and clap baby's hands together in time to the rhyme "Pat-a-Cake."