Every year on Instagram we do an Activities & Encouragement Challenge together just to give parents some ideas of new ways to play with their babies with things they already have at home that can also help foster development in their little one! The activities outlined below include a different focus area of ONE of the FIVE main domains of development (gross motor, sensory, cognitive/social emotional, communication, and fine motor). Then each area of development is even further broken down by age groups for easy navigating.

The most important reminder….these should be NO STRESS!

My hope is to provide you with easy to implement, developmentally beneficial and FUN ideas to fill your little’s wake windows and play purposefully, so please have fun with this!

If you’re in a group and DO NOT feel that your child is ready for what’s suggested, and/or is past that, THAT IS OKAY!! My suggestion would be to try the activity suggested before or after, and see what works best for your little one!

Rather have a printable version? Get the FREE PDF version of the Activities & Encouragement Challenge HERE.

Gross Motor Development Activities

0-2 Months

At least 10 minutes of tummy time for the day. You can do one minute every diaper change, or all in one chunk! Tummy time on your chest with you reclined counts!

3-4 Months

At least 10 minutes of side-lying and on back play to encourage hands to midline.

5-6 Months

Sitting Play - either reclined against your leg supported sitting, or progressing to assisted sitting with boppy behind or in front if that’s too easy!

7-8 Months

10 minutes of supported knee play over a couch cushion or crib mattress on the floor.

9-10 Months

Make a crawling obstacle course with a favorite item on a slightly elevated surface (bench/couch) at the end to encourage crawling & beginning to pull to stand.

11-13 Months

If not yet walking: Set up two elevated surfaces to encourage transitions between.

If walking: Every time you take their pants/socks/shoes on today, have them stand on one leg while they hold your shoulders to encourage single leg stance and strengthening hips!

14-18 Months

Diaper box stepping, because we all know kids love cardboard. A super simple way to encourage single leg stance, work towards stair climbing, and improve balance. Grab some empty boxes (they don’t have to be diaper boxes), and hold your little one’s hands as they step in/out of them!⁣

18-36 Months

Balance walking- throw down some pillows & blankets and have them work on walking over a variety of obstacles, and get creative! You can bring toys from one side to the other as you “cross the river”, or puzzle pieces on one side to bring to the other side!

36+ Months

Kick, throw, catch! You can even play something fun like “hot potato” to bring in some hand eye coordination too! ⁣

Activities to Encourage Sensory Development

0-2 Months

Tummy time with vestibular component - try carrying them over your arm, slowly walking if you feel comfortable!

3-4 Months

Textures to open hands - focus on gently rubbing their palms with the objects and/or placing them in their hands if they’re grasping intentionally already (for example: washcloth, crinkly toy, or you can even just use lotion with a gentle massage to open up those palms! Sensory squares like this are perfect!)

5-6 Months

Try some visual tracking between two objects- take a rattle in each of your hands. Shake one at a 45 degree angle to one side, let them look at it. Stop shaking, and shake the other on the opposite side. Encourage them to look between the objects as you alternately shake them.

7-8 Months

Take a few minutes, pick your baby up and DANCE! Make sure to add a few spins, some dips, have fun with it! You’ll activate their vestibular system and make both of you smile!

9-11 Months

Find your favorite water friendly tub toys, put a towel down, and make two bowls of water- one warm, one cool. Put the toys in and have your little one go fishing for them, while you talk about temperature! ⁣ ⁣

12-36+ Months

Sensory bins!! Choose 2 from below- Use your judgement based on your little ones temperament, age, if they have a tendency to put things in their mouth, etc. Make sure you’re right with them, try not to be afraid of the mess, and most importantly talk to them! Ask what they’re feeling, physically and cognitively!

Here are some sensory bin/Tupperware ideas: ⁣

Digging for treasure/toys in sand, rice, crushed up cheerios, or dry beans ⁣
Grab some leaves and sticks from outside and dig for the sticks⁣
Fill a bin with water and toys and have them scoop them out ⁣
Sponge squeeze between two bins of water ⁣
Play dough in a bin with toys squished in- they have to unsquish them⁣

Here is a video of a sensory bin DIY we did and the BEST sensory bin hack that every parent needs to know!

Cognitive/Social Emotional Development Ideas

0-2 Months

Tummy time with a book. If you have a black and white book (which is primarily what they can see at this point), even better! (This is our favorite one for this stage!) Read to them, be silly, change your voice, make eye contact- all the good things! ⁣

3-4 Months

Foot/wrist rattles with a towel under their butt to encourage hands to feet (this is gross motor too, because I just can’t help myself).

5-6 Months

Rock and roll with a song- opposite hands to feet with rocking and rolling to activate abs and encourage midline crossing!

7-8 Months

Good old peek-a-boo! Be as silly as possible, let’s get those giggles! You can also do hand over hand with them, covering their face gently & revealing again! Play in sitting, on back, or on tummy!

9-11 Months

Putting things in/out of containers. You can DIY this with an empty tissue box and a scarf too! This is the very beginning of this skill, so keep it low stress for you and them! Focus on the grasp and release of moving toys from one to another.

12-18 Months

Continuing container play from above, focusing on the circle shape. If you have toy containers with a matching circle part, use that (but cover the other holes with your hand or tape!) If you don’t have that toy, just grab a small ball and cut a hole the same size into a box!

18-24 Months

Hide & seek or create a homemade guitar with rubber bands over a baking tin (get that imaginative play going!)

24-36 Months

Color jumps! If you have construction paper, great! If not, color white paper with whatever colors you want! Be sure to tape the paper down if on carpet so they don’t slip*! Shout out colors and have them jump to them or turn them over for a memory game.

Communication Development Play Ideas

Each age group will have the same activities!

Did you know that reading a book or singing a song to your child helps encourage language development?! Exposure to language, modeling language & expressions, allowing them to copy your mouth, replicate the intonation or vocalizations, practice expressive and receptive communication, and CONNECTION with you! It exposes them to sounds and rhythm of languages, gives them an outlet to learn/express emotions, and can act as a comfort and an integral part of their everyday routine. ⁣

READ A BOOK

Even better if you have one you can act out! We have a yoga book for mornings and nights, and a gross motor book for following along and acting out! You can even make your own book and incorporate whatever activities you want!

TALK TO YOUR BABY

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the things you have to get done during the day, but the challenge for today is to just spend some time talking to your little one! If they’re younger, just tell them about your day. If they’re older, ask them about theirs!

SING A SONG WITH LOTS OF EMOTION

Lastly, SING A SONG with lots of emotion! Here’s an awesome one for encouraging them to copy mouth movements and sounds - I sang this with Liv everyday!⁣

9-11 Months

Putting things in/out of containers. You can DIY this with an empty tissue box and a scarf too! This is the very beginning of this skill, so keep it low stress for you and them! Focus on the grasp and release of moving toys from one to another.

Watch the girl in blue- she’s doing the motions/ mouth movements more- I would copy her! Another thing we absolutely love is implementing baby signs, and you can start this from birth!

Play Activities to Encourage Fine Motor Development

0-2 Months

Supported back play - Get them in this position and really encourage hands to midline. You can even gently do the rock and roll after gently alternating bringing hands and feet together!⁣

3-4 Months

Good ol’ circle blanket back play, but with less support (meaning a lower blanket roll) and the focus is going to be on more intentional hitting of toys while laying on their back. Let them be successful a few times with your help, preferably with a toy that gives them some sort of feedback (sound, light), then back off and let them try!⁣

5-6 Months

Tummy time toy reach & pivot! Focus on reaching for toys with one hand or beginning to pivot while in tummy time. Put the toys close enough that they can be successful when they reach for it but far enough they have to work a bit to get the weight shift!

7-8 Months

In sitting, work on banging objects together & passing toys between hands. The best way to encourage this is show them, then do hand over hand, & then let them try! You can also use the couch cushion position from earlier in the week & work on this skill that way to get a little more hip strengthening!

9-11 Months

Putting toys in/taking them out of a container. Have fun with this and use gross motor to encourage it (cruising to the container, having the container on opposite chairs so they have to use trunk rotation)

12-36+ Months

Pick one of the following based on what you have!

Tissue paper or scarf pull out of a wipes container or tissue box.
Taped toys to a wall or any surface and have them pull them off⁣
Strainer pipe cleaner pull - string them through and tell them a color to pull out and put back through

Ok friends, that wraps up this year’s 5 day challenge!! I hope you and your little(s) enjoyed it - and don’t forget - you can always head back to this spot when you need some fun ideas or activities that ALSO target development to break up your day - woohoo!⁣

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