Very Messy Mummy: Older Baby Play

As babies get older they need a bit more entertaining, luckily this can be easily done with things you find around the house.

Here are a few activities Hartley and I have enjoyed recently;

Obstacle Courses

Making an obstacle course is a great thing to do when your baby starts crawling. You can easily just use things from around the house but if you have a pop up tunnel you can use this too.
Make sure you make obstacles where you baby has to crawl through and under and climb over. You can even make a tunnel more interesting by hanging things down from it like socks, tissue paper of silver foil. Hartley enjoys climbing over a mountain made out of pillows and blankets. When Hartley was first learning to crawl I jingled bells around the course to encourage him!
This is such a great activity to help children develop; crawling, climbing and balance.

Making Dens

Even small babies enjoy dens. Obviously you can use a pop up tent but I enjoy making an old school den using sheets draped over a table. Scatter a few cushions and blankets inside and you have a cosy den. A perfect place to play or share stories together. Older babies may even enjoy a snack in there.
If you can make it dark enough as another sensory experience you could play with glow in the dark toys too.

Ribbon Threading

We found a tin money box with a slit in the top. I then put ribbons in the tin and helped Hartley thread the ribbons through. He loved pulling the ribbons out of the tin and then putting them back in. He even tried to thread them through the slit himself.
This is a great activity for developing fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.

Tissue Box

Have you ever noticed that no matter how many toys a baby has, they always prefer playing with your wet wipes! Hartley is no exception and loves pulling out each wipe one by one. This is actually a great activity for developing his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. So instead of letting him waste all my wipes I made him his very own tissue box game. All you need is an empty tissue box of wipe packets and some squares of materials.

Posting Activities

Since about the age of 10 months all Hartley wants to do is post items. I have set up a few activities so he can practice this skill without me losing all my belongings!

I collected some medium sized pots - I used Twiglets pots left over from Christmas but you could use empty formula milk tubs. I also collected a variety of different jar lids. Hartley has lots of fun posting the lids into the pots and then emptying them again.

I also used pringle pots. These have been used to post many different items including small plastic spiders!

Empty toilet rolls are also great to keep. Hartley has lots of fun posting small pom poms through. He really has to concentrate. This is a great activity to develop hand eye coordination and the pincer grip. You could also use small bits of pasta or other small objects.

Making Sensory bottles

I have made sensory bottles for Hartley since he was very little, recently though when I was making one with cut up straws before I could finish cutting up the straws he had taken the bottle and was filling it himself. Perfect example that we need to give babies opportunities to develop their skills!

Colander Activity

We have been doing this activity ever since Hartley could sit up. All you need is a colander and some coloured pipe cleaners or straws.
Thread through through one end of the pipe cleaner the baby then can pull it through. Lots of fun for older babies and toddlers too. Toddlers could thread the pipe cleaners all by themselves. This activity really develops fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.