Ten Months! Where has the time gone? My little one no longer looks like a baby, but a toddler! So here I am counting toesies, playing this little piggy and joining in on ‘discovering’ things I’ve seen a thousand times with my little explorer. With little one being so active there are plenty of fun activities to be done around the house and outside!
(Just as a disclaimer I am definitely not an expert on babies. Every baby is different and enjoys different activities so if anything I mention doesn’t resonate for you and your little one just discard it :p)
(Just as a disclaimer I am definitely not an expert on babies. Every baby is different and enjoys different activities so if anything I mention doesn’t resonate for you and your little one just discard it :p)
What Baby Can Do
At ten months old your baby may be- Becoming more mobile - You baby may be pulling up on furniture, taking steps while holding on to the furniture, standing on their own or even walking on their own! On the other hand your baby may not be pulling up at all and instead may be crawling more consistently. According to KidsHealth, around this age babies get around in all kinds of ways. The important thing to note is your baby is likely getting around somehow!
- Communicating more - Your baby may be imitating more of your words or sounds which is often super cute! They also may be using gestures like waving, pointing or clapping to communicate what they want or how they’re feeling. According to KidsHealth, baby is also understanding a few basic words and commands like bath, eat, milk or other common phrases you use often. I know my little one is starting to understand ‘bath time’ and gets so excited to see the rubber ducks!
- Exploring - Baby is also likely to be exploring a variety of different items. They may be more attentive to how things work, what’s behind a closed door, or how mom reacts when they do something as they try to figure out cause-and-effect relationships. For us, baby loves to see my reaction as he tries to put things into the toilet! It’s usually something along the lines of ‘NO NO NO’ accompanied by leaping get to him. It’s time for some serious baby proofing!
- Having moments of clinginess - Despite all the exploring though your little one is likely to have a few moments of clinginess as he or she begins to understand that they can be separated from you according to the Baby Centre of the UK. My little one has always been fairly outgoing, but over the last four to six weeks he’s become a bit more shy and will often take a minute to warm up to people.
What Baby is Learning
At ten months old your baby is likely carrying on with their learning of various concepts including, but certainly not limited to:
- Independence - At ten months your baby is likely becoming a bit more confident, exploratory and independent according WebMD. As baby can now move better than ever they may start to realise that they can actually access things they couldn’t before like looking into a toy box and pulling toys out.
- Object Permanence - As you’ve probably noticed baby is still developing a sense of object permanence. Your baby may be a little harder to distract from a toy that’s been taken away as baby now knows the toy still exists even though they can’t see it. While the game of baby dropping everything from their high chair may be getting old for you, baby is still likely loving it! The good news is that as baby drops items from their high chair they are actually learning about object permanence as well as cause and effect! So hang in there, as I like to say they can’t do this forever!
- Cause-and-Effect - You’ve probably noticed your baby’s been working on this concept for awhile now. According to Tiny Love baby has been developing their sense of this concept since they were 3 months old. As your baby grows older he or she is starting to understand that certain actions cause certain results, even if there is a small gap in the sequence of events.
Fun Activities
I’ve found these at home, low-cost activities to be particularly fun at ten months, so if you’re looking for ideas feel free to give these a try! However, if your baby is not enjoying them, don’t worry. Each baby is different so different activities may not work for your little one like they did for mine. (Also if you’re tired mama or daddy, take a break! If us mamas and daddies look after ourselves and love our babies, it doesn’t matter if we do activities or not, our babies are already getting the best gift in us loving them!)
- Finding Games - Finding games are becoming more and more fun as baby better understands object permanence. In my house, we play games where we hide blocks under blankets, in boxes and under couches. Baby loves finding them. Another activity I’ve found provides some entertainment is hiding baby under a blanket, in a basket etc. and seeing how baby reacts. Some care is needed in making sure baby can still breathe! Now baby will actually hide behind the curtains and play peek-a-boo using the curtains which is pretty funny! Baby also enjoys the ‘pick-a-hand’ game where I will place a cheerio or bit of bread in one of my hands, swish them around, and then get have baby to point to one. He loves guessing which hand the food is in and promptly eating it!
- Simple Activities - Some simple activities you can do with your baby at this stage include rolling balls, turning pages, and opening cupboards. These help with baby’s hand-eye coordination as well as cause and effect! My little one loves moving around and is constantly on the go, so whenever I want to hold him I grab a book and let him turn the pages. I’ll read the text of whatever page he turns to which just adds a bit of fun. It can also be really fun to get outside and play with water!
- Exploring with Baby - Since baby is loving exploring why not get down on his or her level and explore with them? Letting baby take the lead and show you what they want to explore inside or outside can be a lot of fun, especially as you’re right there to guide him or her away from anything dangerous! I’ve found it’s also a lot of fun to introduce my baby to new textures like the bottom of a magnolia leaf, the spikey grass, or the rough bark of a tree! I've also done some water activities by filling up containers with water and a few bath toys which baby has loved exploring. It’s also been really fun to take baby to new places like the playground or swimming pool. I’ll follow baby around to see what he’s interested in and to keep him safe! Lastly obstacle courses can be a lot of fun at this age. They allow baby to work on their movement skills as well as explore along the way.
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