Activities for Babies: Keeping Those Little Hands and Feet Happy!

1.  Blanket with Toys in Each Corner:  Someone told me about this when I had Aiden, my first child, and I have used this idea ever since.  Instead of offering unlimited amount of toys and unlimited space to the baby, narrow down their choices and keep them more engaged by this neat idea.  Lay down a blanket and place a different toy in each corner. The baby will go from toy to another toy and back to another toy without getting overwhelmed or bored.  I think this works best with babies who aren’t crawling or moving yet, but I still do it now with Abby who is just now beginning to walk. 

2.  Have a Little Container with Plastic Dishes in Kitchen:  One of our bottom cabinets holds all the kids’ items:  plates and a big Tupperware full of plastic storage containers, sippy cups, and other miscellaneous kid feeding items.  When I’m cooking dinner, I often pull out the Tupperware and let Abby play with the items in the container.  She is happy being close to me and playing with all the bowls, cups, and more while I am getting dinner cooked.  And it’s easy to clean, just throw it all back in to the container for the next day!

3.  Laundry Basket Sailboat:  This is one that my kids ALL love to do!  Often when I fold laundry, I dump the laundry onto the floor while the kids use the basket as a boat around the floor.  The boys love to push Abby around and rock each other right out of the boat.

4.  Magic Carpet Ride:  This is another one that ALL my kids love to do!  We lay down a big blanket as the “magic carpet” and I drag them around the house.  It is perfect for those “witching hours” when you can’t think of one more thing to do with them!

5.  “Imaginative” Play with Older Siblings:  This is great for babies with older siblings.  Abby is pretty much their “third wheel” on all off their games and ideas.  She has already been another member of Paw Patrol, become a firefighter in brave fire rescues, and is a great student in Mr. Aiden’s school!  The boys, for the most part, are really good about including sissy.  As you can see below, Abby is the conductor of their chair train on the left and is a very studious student at the desk of Mr. Aiden’s classroom!

6.  “Pillow Mountain”:  This is another idea for those stir-crazy times where you can’t think of one more thing to do with your kids.  You can do this with babies, toddlers, and even older kids.  We pull out all the pillows and cushions off our couches and create a big Pillow Mountain in our living room.  The kids climb and crawl all over them!

7.  Dance Party:  This is another really simple idea but one that you may forget to do sometimes with babies.  Put on music, ANY music, and grab your babies’ hands and dance.  If you have a real little one, just cuddle them in your arms and move around!  It will put everyone in a good mood.

8.  Yogurt Paint in Highchair:  We like to do this one when the boys are painting at the table.  I place Abby in the highchair and put a few little spoonfuls of yogurt onto her tray and let her paint away.  She may happily and messily paint the tray or her mouth, but as long as she is happy while I am helping her brothers’ paint, we are good!

Hope you enjoyed some fun little ideas to do with those babies, but seriously, let’s hope for some warmer weather soon so we can load them in those strollers and GET OUTSIDE!

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