During the warmer summer months a baby’s outside outing becomes not only uncomfortable but unsafe during the hottest moments of the day. In spite of this, being confined indoors only for the whole day is not an easy task either.
The problem is knowing which fun indoor activities would keep your toddlers active and amused without letting you get bored, too. Through some up-front planning and preparation, you create a safe health-conscious haven for your baby to develop creativity, learning and bonding right in your own home.
Set Up an Indoor Picnic:
Pack finger foods that the baby can self-feed in a small cooler or basket. Think puffs, teething biscuits, diced fruit, and veggies. Set out a sippy cup or bottle filled with milk or water alongside your plates and utensils for an authentic dining experience. Your baby will love nibbling and practicing feeding skills while having quality time together. Extend imaginative play by pretending to look at clouds, smell flowers, or spot animals during your indoor outing.
Make Easy Playdough:
This no-cook playdough recipe takes minutes to throw together and offers babies invaluable sensory and fine motor benefits. Mix together 1 cup flour, 1⁄2 cup salt, and a few drops of food coloring in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and about 3⁄4 cups boiling water. Stir continuously until a sticky dough forms then allow to cool before bringing to your play space. Babies can squeeze, roll, pound, and explore textures with this soothing tactile medium. Supervise closely to ensure playdough doesn’t end up in mouths when used with infants or toddlers. Add cookie cutters, utensils, or household objects to poke and prod for innovation.
Construct a DIY Ball Pit:
Bring the entertainment of the ball pit home by collecting old plastic balls and covering the floor of a corner play space with soft blankets. Plastic balls from old play place equipment, inflatable pools, and ball sports games all work well. Use masking tape to cordon off the boundaries of the ball pit area then let your baby have at it! Ball pits stimulate natural curiosity and imaginative play in babies as they scoop, toss, and crawl among the bright plastic spheres. They also foster development of depth perception, motor planning, and reaction time as little ones tumble about.
Set Up a Coloring Station:
Finger painting and scribbling with crayons are classic creative outlets perfect for keeping babies occupied indoors. Cover a table or smooth floor surface with butcher paper, newspaper, or plastic tablecloth then lay out thick washable crayons or markers alongside shallow trays or bowls filled with finger paint. Let your baby explore colors and textures with all five senses by tasting (non-toxic!), touching, looking, listening to the sounds as they create masterpieces, and smelling the paints and crayons. Creative expression fosters brain connectivity in developing minds!
Build an Indoor Fort:
On rainy summer days or when you need to banish boredom, work with your baby to build a cozy indoor fort within your living space! Use furniture, blankets, sheets, and pillows to construct a special hideaway just big enough for the two of you. Make a game out of fabric draping by allowing your baby to tug on parts of the assembling tent. The final hideout promotes a sense of independence as babies play semi-autonomously yet nearby you in their own special space. Talk, laugh, and make silly sounds or facial expressions as you spend time together inside the homemade fort.
Sing & Dance to Upbeat Music:
No special setup needed for this easy boredom-busting activity! Crank up fun, lively children’s tunes or family-friendly top 40 hits and break out your wildest dance moves with baby by your side. Hold hands to spin in gentle circles, gallop or march in place, shuffle side to side, bounce gently, or make up your own interpretative moves! Not only is dancing delightfully entertaining, but it also promotes vestibular development, whole-body awareness, gross motor skills, and visual tracking in little learners. Laughing together to joyful songs likewise nurtures social-emotional bonds.
Stack Cups & Blocks:
Mastering the art of building block structures fosters spatial reasoning, hand-eye coordination, and grasp precision in growing babies. Break out an assortment of plastic cups, soft blocks, Tupperware, or cardboard bricks and challenge your baby to stack vertically or horizontally. Guide play as needed by demonstrating construction techniques then allowing your baby independence in mimicking your process. As fine and gross motor controls continue developing in the first years, infants gain immense satisfaction watching their towering creations come to life! Praise your baby’s efforts enthusiastically to encourage persistence and skill mastery during block play.
Read Interactive Books:
Snuggle up together in a cozy spot and crack open brightly illustrated books that feature touch-and-feel textures, lift-the-flap surprises, or buttons that elicit sounds when pressed. Sensory-rich books entice babies’ natural curiosity, promote listening and language comprehension, and foster matching/categorizing cognitive abilities. Let your baby set the pace as you make your way through each page, exploring with their senses and asking questions about new concepts presented. Studies show caregiver-baby reading time strengthens bonds while directly supporting literacy and vocabulary development!
Make DIY Sensory Bins:
Unleash your baby’s senses by constructing a sensory bin filled with household items of varying shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. Choose a plastic tub or shallow box and fill with materials like cotton balls, dried pasta, marbles, rubber bands, silk flowers, pine cones, pony beads, feathers, spools, balls, bells, etc. Supervise continuously as babies sift, shake, transfer, and explore the bins. Sensory play accelerates cognitive growth across domains while delivering intriguing sensory input that soothes some babies. Test variables to discover your baby’s preferences!
Play Mirror Games:
Babies are fascinated observing images of themselves and others! Take advantage of this natural curiosity by making silly faces with your baby in front of a mirror. Stick out your tongues, puff up your cheeks, open and close your mouth, raise your eyebrows, etc. and encourage your baby to imitate the expressions. Gently guide your little one’s face or gestures as needed while providing enthusiastic praise for their efforts. Mirror play promotes self-awareness, visual tracking skills, facial muscle development, and the beginnings of empathy in laughing babies!
Create Texture Collages:
Cut shapes out of varying materials like sandpaper, felt, burlap, velvet, corrugated cardboard and glue to thick paper or poster board. Allow your baby to touch and explore the textures firsthand before adhering them to create a tactile masterpiece! Fine motor skills like grasping, pinching, pressing, and tearing build as babies manipulate the materials while bonding with you over this creative endeavor. Display your textured collage prominently so your baby can revisit and interact with it often. Switching out materials periodically keeps the activity novel and engaging as your baby’s skills progress.
That’s just a taste of the many ways you can beat boredom while escaping the summer heat without ever leaving your home! Adjust activities based on your baby’s age and individual capabilities, always ensuring close supervision for safety and maximum enjoyment. Don’t underestimate the learning taking place during play. Fundamental cognitive, physical, social, and emotional competencies are strengthening in your baby’s developing mind and body thanks to these fun indoor pastimes you’re thoughtfully providing.
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