Games and Toys

Games for Toddlers

Zulfiya Urunova

— 3 min read

Up to 6 months, babies are actively growing and do not yet possess certain skills for games. But from six months, they begin to acquire many necessary skills for mastering the world around them.

TODDLERS 6-9 MONTHS

Age Skills:

  • Development of fine motor skills and coordination: Your baby already consciously begins to show interest in small objects. Therefore, your task is, on the one hand, to protect them from the danger of swallowing small objects, and on the other hand, to organize the necessary activities for the further development of motor skills.
  • Development of purposeful actions: At six months, your baby is no longer just studying the properties of objects, but strives to use them for their intended purpose: rolling balls and cars, ringing bells, and beating drums. It is important to clearly show them how their actions lead to a result.
  • Speech development: Now your baby not only pronounces individual syllables but also strives for meaningful speech. Therefore, you need to help them master babbling syllables, from which they will very soon form the first words: ma-ma-ma, pa-pa-pa, ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, and others.

Game for the development of fine motor skills: Put toys of different shapes in a box: cubes, balls, pyramids. You can use more complex ones: toy fruits, cones - the main thing is that they are safe if your baby decides to try them "on the tooth." Show your baby how to get them out of the box and then how to put them back in.

Game for the development of purposeful actions: Did you know that when a child at this age scatters toys, they often invite you to play in this way? Therefore, you can make a real game out of this, in which they will independently develop the necessary skills. Tie a toy to a chair, crib, or playpen with a rope or ribbon. The baby will first throw the toy, and then you will show them that you can pull it back by the string! And throw it again, of course.

TODDLERS 9-12 MONTHS

Age Skills:

  • Development of motor skills: At this age, your baby is a real athlete, because in such a short period they learn to stand, walk around a support, and then walk without support! Experts recommend starting to explore playgrounds with your baby now. For example, you can teach your baby to crawl onto a small slide for babies and roll down it, climb the ladder with your help, and other simple physical actions.
  • Development of logic: Your baby is interested not only in using objects for their intended purpose, for example, hammering with a hammer, putting a cube on a cube and building a tower, but they are already able to make simple comparisons: big-small, full-empty, have-don't have. Games with containers from which you can take something out and put something in are well suited for this. Or games with plastic liners that can be inserted into one another.
  • Memory development: If up to this age you played "safe" hide-and-seek with your baby - hiding a toy and then taking it out, now you can try more "serious" hide-and-seek. Start hiding yourself and teach your baby that they can also hide, and then they will definitely be found. This game is also important so that your baby can more easily tolerate separation from you and other adults to whom they are attached.

Game for the development of motor skills: Organize a portable "gym" at home: collect the necessary "equipment" that can be temporarily laid out in the room and then put away. This could be a large cloth pipe that the baby will crawl through. It is better to play this game with a partner: for example, you guide the child, and your partner calls them from the opposite end of the pipe. And if you lay out a path of orthopedic rugs that prevent the development of flat feet and support the baby by the handles, then they will be happy to walk on them.

Game for the development of logic: Put toys in a box and cover it with a cloth. Gradually pull the toys out of the box one by one and name them. Let your baby try to do it. Then, when all the toys are taken out, look into the box and, spreading your arms, say: "No toys!". Put them back together with the child: "There are toys!".

Game for the development of memory: Take a handkerchief and cover your face with it: "Mommy (daddy) is gone." Then open it: "Mommy (daddy) is found!". Hide behind the baby's crib so that they do not see you for a short time: "Where is mommy (daddy, grandma)?". Look out from there: "Here's mommy (daddy, grandma)!" Show your baby an example of how they can peek out from behind the crib and then hide behind it, holding on to the support. Or crawl behind the bed, armchair, so that you can then joyfully find them there.

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