Midway into the first year, your baby will be busy learning and experimenting with how her hands and body work, and how the world works.
There are many easy and fun “fine motor” activities you can incorporate into every day play.

These interactive activities incorporate thinking and learning skills: how to use the hands in a coordinated fashion to achieve a goal, “motor planning” to position the fingers and hands, arms, trunk and body more intuitively to complete a task efficiently, cognitive skills by observing and learning by “cause and effect”, and the satisfaction that comes as your baby anticipates a result and sees it occur as expected.

Some fun toys and activities to add to your play:

Pull toys with string: A classic toy and way for your baby to learn cause and effect and how she can impact her environment. Show her how to pull the end of the string and draw the toy closer to her. Similar activities can be created by placing a folded receiving blanket near your baby and placing a toy or object on the far end. Show your baby how she can slowly pull the edge of the blanket in toward her body to bring the toy into closer reach.

What’s Inside, #1? Take some random objects or toys safe for exploring, and wrap each one in material that will be safe for your child to unwrap: a scarf, a receiving blanket, tissue paper, gift wrap. Let your baby practice unwrapping the packages to discover what is hidden inside.

What’s Inside, #2? Take a baby-safe toy or rattle and place it inside a clean sock, initially with an edge of the rattle exposed. Show your baby how to work to pull the sock off the object, or take the object out of the sock, and cheer when she succeeds. This can be made more challenging over time depending on the item “hidden” in the sock. Try a small safe ball. That’s hard!

What’s Inside, #3? Use safe containers like a cardboard shoe box with lid or a purse for your child to investigate. Place a stuffed animal or several small safe toys inside. Demonstrate how to take items OUT, place them back IN, and close the lid or top. Ask, “Where is it?” and show that it’s still in there where you put it.

Ball Ramp: Take a long cardboard tube and cut it in half. Use this as a ramp to roll a baby-safe small ball or car down the tube. Initially, your baby will probably be on the receiving end, catching the ball as it rolls down the ramp, but soon, she will have the skills to place the object at the top of the ramp and let go so down it rolls!

Large Knobbed Puzzle: A chunky wood “beginner” puzzle will be of interest now, even if your baby initially is more interested taking the pieces out, tasting them and banging them against the table. By modeling how the pieces fit back into the frame, your baby will soon try to imitate that action as well. Hint: secure the frame of the puzzle to the table surface with painter’s tape to reduce frustration from the frame sliding around or falling off the table.

Quick Tip: Too many toys piled up can be overwhelming. Instead, put out a small selection of toys at a time, and rotate new ones in and out of the mix every few days to keep things fresh and stimulating/ Of course it’s fine to leave favorite items that are frequently used.