A baby, when ten months old, can sit on its own without assistance and can crawl on its own to some distances. At this stage, the baby is very inquisitive about his immediate surroundings and highly interested in what is happening in his vicinity. The simple games which are usually played at this stage of child growth can help the child in developing his social awareness, gross motor skills and other mental capabilities, which come from facing different kinds of challenges.
The pouring practice
By pouring sand from one container to another; the baby can learn the concepts of up and down, full and empty etc. You will need plastic cups, bucket, bowls, scoops and spoons for this activity. You will have to first model and teach your baby the way to transfer the sand from one container to another. You can hold his hand and help him in making scooping gestures for gathering and pouring sand from one bucket to another. The child will learn to carry the steps on his own after some time. When the baby starts the movements, talk about one bucket being filled and the other being empty, so that the baby can hear you. Let your baby feel the stream of flowing sand from his hand. You can also use rice or water for this activity in place of sand.
Puppets and animal songs
When the human baby is ten months old, he can easily recognize all the unique sound made by the animals in his vicinity and also attribute a particular sound to a particular animal. You can enhance the child recognition capabilities by making puppets for animals out of paper lunch bags. These puppets can also be purchased directly from the markets. You can color the animal puppets for giving them enhanced attractiveness. Like the dog puppet can be given brown color, the cow puppet white and black color, pink for pig etc. You can wear any of these puppets on your hand and also sing to your child, which can be a very entertaining and fun exercise for both the parent and the kid.
The obstacle course
One more fun exercise is the maneuvering of the child over the various objects located on the bed and the floor of the house. This exercise makes the baby more alert about his surroundings and also helps him in recognizing the objects found at home. You can place plush toys, small toss pillows; soft blocks etc. on the floor and let your baby navigate around them. You can also support his movements by holding the baby’s hand while he is making the movement, which will make him step easily over the obstacles. If the baby likes crawling, he can be made to crawl over the items and toys.
Chasing the flash
This game can help in the strengthening of the concentration and the coordination gradient of a child’s mind. You can flash a light source at a small distance away from your child and encourage him to reach for the light source. Push the source further away from the child when the child reaches the source. This way the child will concentrate more on the light and coordinate his movements (during crawling and walking) for reaching the light source.
These exercises and games will help with entertainment and fun along with developing the learning abilities of your child. What’s more, no unnecessary expenditure is required by these games which are very simple and joyful?
