At this age, the baby:

• in lying on the tummy, props him- or herself up on straightened arms, rotates around the axis of the body, plays while lying on the side and then assumes the position on all fours and starts to move around in it, sits,

• is able to focus the eyes on an object for a longer period of time, shows interest in it, holds two different objects at the same time and hits them against each other,

• plays peek-a-boo on his or her own, looks for an object that has fallen down and starts to throw objects on purpose – it gives the baby a lot of joy,

• babbles and INTONATES sounds, and around the age of 9 months, he or she can already whisper,

• recognizes faces well, and around the 9th month might react to strangers with fear,

• makes the first attempts at standing upright – begins to stand up and walk – first in form of cruising along the furniture and then takes first steps forward,

• can point at the eyes, nose, face – not only their own but also of the parent, waves bye-bye, puts individual syllables into simple single words,

• likes to play hide-and-seek, puts food in the mouth and at the same time, works on perfecting precision grip, finds hidden objects, throws a ball, pulls a toy on a string,

• understands simple commands, has good intonation and gets better and better at repeating simple words heard from the parent, nods and denies…

• massages, during which you can talk to the baby,
• rolling over, encouraging the little one to crawl towards a toy by placing it at a further distance,
• throwing a ball, hiding objects in a basket and covering them with a diaper, giving the baby two objects to hold in their hands so that they can hit one against the other, searching for a toy that has fallen down, building a tower from building blocks or kicking a large ball held up by the parent while lying on the back,
• intoning sounds, whispering, touching your and the child’s face with their hands, going through the pages of books,
• playtime activities which involve communicating with the baby by using words and gestures,
• hiding objects, moving balls/blocks from one box to another, throwing balls into a basket,
• making music together,
•  rocking, rolling, dancing, going through obstacle courses – for example, made out of pillows or parent’s legs, playing with objects of different textures and firmness – hard, soft, rough, slippery, sand, grass, etc., climbing, “walking” on hands with a ball/roller under the chest, playing to the rhythm of music or nursery rhyme, climbing in and out of a box, swinging…

A few playtime propositions:

Picking up toys/building blocks.

Sit on the carpet. Place your baby between your thighs and scatter a few large blocks or other toys around you. Put a bowl or box on the floor but make sure it’s not too far away from you.

Show your little one how to throw the blocks into it. Cheer them on and from time to time, change the placement of the bowl. You can also cover the bowl (for example, with a diaper) for the baby to search for the blocks that are in it.

While playing, let your child make decisions – which toy he or she will throw in first, which color of blocks will go next…

The playtime is aimed at perfecting eye-hand coordination, allowing the baby to make simple decisions and…. which will come in handy later – it teaches children to pick up their toys.

Naming game.

At this age, the child becomes more and more sociable and is very eager to involve the parent in any playtime. He or she babbles a lot, plays peek-a-boo, tries to intone sounds, learns to whisper. The little one is very curious about the world, so it’s good to take advantage of that when playing together.

Sit or lie down with your child in such a way that they can see your face well. Point and name the different parts of the face, one by one, and watch the child’s reaction. You can point at them with your or your baby’s hand. Later on, you can ask the baby to show you the part of the face you named: eyes, ears, mouth, nose. You won’t believe how quickly the child can learn new things!

The naming game is designed to develop communication skills.

Obstacle courses.

If your child is already crawling or moving around on all fours, encourage him or her to overcome various obstacles and move on the surfaces of different textures. Build a simple obstacle course – use a pillow and make a small tunnel out of a cardboard box. For “climbing”, you can use your own legs.

Encourage your baby to play but also keep them safe at all times. You can also play together!

This type of playtime is about familiarizing children with the space around them and showing them how to deal with different situations.

Peek-a-boo.

Use a small towel (or even a piece of paper towel) and play peek-a-boo with your child. Cover your face and ask “where is mommy?”, then move the towel away and show your baby your face. Repeat this activity several times and you will see that the child also tries to push the towel away from your face and has a lot of fun doing so. Later on, you can hide various objects under the towel and let the child find them.

The playtime shows the baby that objects exist even when we can’t see them. It also teaches them to remember where an object is located when it’s not visible at the time.