If your child is ten months old, you may have noticed that their fine motor skills, cognitive skills, gross motor skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and hand-eye coordination are all moving at their own pace and not in alignment with all the other little ones of that age.
You may have also noticed that at the age range of about nine months to twelve months old, interacting with these little sponges of knowledge can be so much fun.
Eager to learn, interact, play peek-a-boo, listen to songs, dance, and play a fun game that’s simple, your baby develops social skills, independence, motor skills, and so much more.
Activities for 10 month old
If you are looking for ways to interact with your 10-month-old baby or find fun activities you can participate in with your child, this article is for you.
Baby play starts to get more interactive and fun at this stage. Simply being a part of it can help your child increase their cognitive abilities, cognitive development, hand-eye coordination, confidence, and more.
What milestones should my 10 month old baby have hit?
As stated above, babies start to move at their own pace as far as fine motor skills and more go. Babies’ developmental milestones may vary by the age of ten months.
So if your child is a bit behind or ahead of the following, don’t worry too much. If your doctor hasn’t mentioned concerns about developmental delays, then it’s likely that your child is still learning and will be there soon.
1. Social skills
At ten months of age, your child may be experiencing separation anxiety. This means that when you or someone your child associates with safety or normalcy leaves the room or premises, there may be a visible amount of distress.
Crying, screaming, reaching, flailing, and kicking are all normal parts of anxiety. This usually passes after a few months.
Your child should also turn their head to make eye contact when their name is said and react with facial expressions when playing peek-a-boo.
2. Language skills
While it’s rare that more than a word or two is spoken by your ten-month-old, they likely show signs that they can understand the things you say to them.
They may have started to repeat the same sounds over and over as well.
“Mamamama” and “Dadadadada” are typical at this stage.
3. Communication skills
Although your 10-month-old baby probably can’t speak much, they can still communicate with you.
Grunting, pointing, raising their arms to be picked up, and clinging to you when they don’t want to be put down are ways a 10-month-old baby chooses to communicate when speech is not yet there.
Babies this age also start to wave goodbye, say hello, blow kisses, and clap. These are all ways of communicating without using actual speech.
4. Physical skills
One 10-month-old child may be walking at this point, while another has just started to crawl, while another hasn’t started crawling. All three of the ten-month-old babies described are entirely normal.
The one thing that doctors agree upon is that at ten months old, babies should be able to sit without assistance, pass something from one hand to another, and pick something up with their fingertips.
Fun activities for 10 month old babies
If you’re looking for activities for ten-month-old babies that can help them with fine motor skills, object permanence, or fun, the following activities are great for interactive play with your little one.
1. Peek a boo
A fun activity because object permanence is not yet established, this classic baby game is excellent to play with your older infant.
Older kids, parents, daycare teachers, and anyone else can also engage in this game.
Babies develop a sense of object permanence later in childhood, meaning that when you cover your face and your baby no longer sees it, you disappear as far as your baby knows.
When you uncover your face, babies love that you’ve magically reappeared.
2. Sensory play with bins
Sensory bins have become wildly popular. They include several of the different senses. Young kids can run their fingers through objects like kinetic sand, crunchy leaves, smooth beads and stones, and water balloons.
They can smell different scents, hear different sounds, and more.
Either you make the bins yourself, or you can purchase them from one of many retailers.
You can get as fancy as you want when making one on your own, or simply use a cardboard box and found objects around the house.
Include tools that little ones can use as well. Tongs, spoons, cups, sifters, and small shovels help with hand-eye coordination, pincer grasp, and fine motor skills.
Fun activities that encourage your baby’s development are always a win-win.
3. Singing songs
Simple songs that have a fun melody can help your baby’s sense of memory skills. Repetitive songs like London Bridge, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider can help your child learn music, rhythm, melody, and communication.
When you sing songs together, you also strengthen the bond between yourself and your child.
4. Blocks
Let your baby explore their creativity and build problem-solving abilities by stacking and playing with blocks.
It’s a fun way to learn, and babies love wooden blocks. You can get plain wooden blocks or colored or textured ones.
5. Push toys
Toys a child has to stand and push to make them move are fantastic for encouraging gross motor skills, balance, and motivation to start getting mobile without assistance.
These can be simple toys or ornate ones. As long as it gets your baby up and moving, that’s all that matters. Some toys of this nature play music and have buttons you can push and even light up.
However, you can also use a doll stroller for your little one that has nothing but wheels and handles.
6. Reading books
Language development starts to happen before a child can speak. Reading to your baby and directing your baby’s attention to the words and pictures in a book is a great way to interact with them in a way that can instill in them a love of literature and communication.
7. Obstacle course
Grabbing objects around the house like pillows, couch cushions, stools, padded chairs, a crib mattress, and more is a great way to build a course your baby will have a great time with. It will also help them to develop mobile stability and confidence in getting around.
Always keep safety in mind, and never leave your baby unattended to explore the world of household objects you build.
8. Baby pool
Water play is a great way to instill tactile senses and new sensations. Hide toys under the water and have them reach under the pool’s surface for them. Float rubber ducks and other bath toys.
A baby pool also encourages infants to overcome any fear of water, to get splashed, or to be outdoors.
9. Baby Signing
American Sign Language (ASL) is something more people in the US should learn. Surprisingly to many parents, many babies develop the skill set to learn ASL very quickly.
Nonverbal infants that learn ASL are at an advantage because even though the actual speech isn’t there, they can still communicate through signing.
If they learn ASL, many people, not just the parent, can understand them.
10. Musical instruments
An excellent toy for any baby is a musical instrument. A tambourine, guitar, small drum, and other simple instruments are all engaging activities that can help little ones develop new skills.
Even making drums from cardboard boxes and wooden spoons for drumsticks is an excellent way for kids to make noise, connect with music, and bond with an adult.
This also helps develop the ability for your baby to hold small objects and put them to use.
11. Nursery rhymes
Just like singing, nursery rhymes help to develop speech, memory, and fun! 10-month-old babies love to hear rhymes, as the melody is comforting and fun.
Baby copies or tries too often, and it’s a great idea to repeat the same ones over and over.
12. Blowing bubbles
When you think of activities for 10 month old babies, you’re probably not thinking about bubbles. It’s a mess and usually short-lived at this age, but it truly mesmerizes a little one to watch the bubbles form out of seemingly nowhere.
13. Sort toys
If you have a shape-sorting bucket toy, it is time to start using it. While they may not be good at sorting shapes, they’ll get the hang of it after a while.
It helps with coordination, they start to learn to solve problems, and they start to discover patterns.
14. A blanket ride
A blanket ride is a fun activity that will help with balance and confidence. You do this by simply putting a blanket on the floor and then sitting your baby on the blanket.
Pull the blanket around the room while singing, talking, making silly noises, and laughing.
Most babies enjoy this if you don’t go too fast, take turns too quickly, or knock them into things. Also, be sure that you are looking at them often so they can continue to enjoy the activity, knowing that you’re right there and keeping them safe.
Activities for 10 month old babies
Little ones of this age may start to have stranger anxiety and fight sleep more often, but those are only a few things that aren’t so fun about them.
Most of the other aspects of having a 10-month-old are a lot of fun. They want to play, they want to learn, and they want to mimic.
Give your child as much attention as you can, get down on the floor at their level, and engage with them.
Not only will they learn more this way, but you’ll also get to bond with them and feel your child’s love when you involve them in your life and play with them.
