Discover the best baby activities 6-12 months! From fine motor skills to problem solving, explore fun, age-appropriate play ideas to support your baby’s development.
If you ask me, 6-12 months is the most magical and quickly passing time in the baby’s life! You get to witness incredible developmental leaps, from sitting up independently to crawling all over the house, standing up on their own, and for some parents, even those first wobbly steps. (Both my kids started walking by 10 months!) And then there are those heart-melting first words that make everything worthwhile.
As a parent, you’re probably wondering how to best support your little one during this incredible time through fun, engaging play! Here’s the truth: you don’t need a ton of toys or complicated or Pinterest-perfect setups. Some of the most effective activities for building motor skills, boosting brain development, and enhancing sensory awareness are surprisingly simple.
In this post, I’m sharing 15 incredible activities that are ideal for babies aged 6-12 months (we did these for both my kids). These activities help with developmental milestones while creating precious bonding moments between you and your baby
The activities are a combination of toys and simple DIY projects that are easy to set up during naptime (or let’s be real, while your baby is happily contained in their high chair for five minutes). Most of these DIYs use stuff you probably already have lying around!
Before we dive in, here are a few baby-related blog posts that might give you some inspiration-
- 2-5 Months Baby Kicking Activities
- Baby girl Milestone Pictures
- How to Start Solid through BLW
- Baby Bath Routine
- Simple Cradle ceremony Decor
- First Birthday Baby girl Outfits
Ready to dive into the post and make the most out of these fleeting months, let’s go!
Baby Activities 6-12 Months
I’m dividing this post into 2 helpful sections- Baby 6-8 Month Activities and 8-12 Month Activities – so you can easily jump to exactly where your little one is right now and find age-appropriate ideas.
6-8 Month Baby Activities
1. Pulling Tissue from Box
Fine Motor Skill Activity that teaches Cause and Effect.
This engages their small hand muscles as they grasp and tug, while also teaching them about the connection between their actions (pulling the tissue) and the result (the tissue coming out). It’s a wonderfully engaging way to work on pincer grasps and hand-eye coordination skills that are rapidly developing during this period.
2. Sensory Balls Exploration
Sensory Play- Texture & Tactile Learning
My daughter is 15 months old now and still enjoys playing with these textured balls; the options are endless. They are soft, non-toxic, and ideal for her to explore and even put in her mouth. She loves throwing them and then chasing after them, which works on her sensory, fine motor, and gross motor skills.
At 6 months, getting the balls out of the basket works on their fine motor dexterity and hand-eye coordination. This is a wholesome, open-ended toy that will provide endless opportunities for exploration and will grow with the baby
Shop the toy HERE (comes with 8 textured balls and a woven basket)
3. Pipe Cleaners Pull
Fine Motor Activity that helps the little one practice the pincer grasp.
Just take a steamer basket, place it upside down (or use any colander or perforated surface), and stick brightly colored pipe cleaners through the holes. Then let your baby pull the pipe cleaners out one by one.
The motion of pinching and pulling each pipe cleaner out strengthens the pincer-grasp muscles. The vibrant colors and textures provide engaging sensory stimulation to keep the baby focused and interested.
Shop The Pipe Cleaners HERE
4. Play Tunnel
Gross Motor activity that makes crawling practice more exciting for babies!
Place the baby at one end of the play tunnel, and you stay at the other end, calling their name or shaking a favorite toy or a ball to encourage them to make their way through. This activity works great for developing core strength, arm and leg coordination, and spatial awareness.
5. Unstacking
Fine motor skill Activity that builds hand-eye coordination and problem-solving abilities
For this activity, use a kitchen tower holder with colorful bangles stacked up. The length of the tower makes this particularly engaging because unstacking requires your baby to maintain some balance while reaching and grasping.
My daughter plays with it for a long time, stacking and unstacking them, and then stacking them back.
8-12 Month Baby Activities
6. Rubberband Grab
Fine motor strengthening activity
For this activity, take a small tray and stretch rubber bands across it both vertically and horizontally, creating a grid pattern. At first, leave plenty of space between the bands, so your little one can easily pull small toys or objects through the openings.
The beauty of this activity is its adaptability. As your baby becomes more skilled, the progressively smaller spaces keep the activity engaging and appropriately difficult as their fine motor skills develop.
As they practice grasping and maneuvering toys through the rubber-band maze, you can gradually narrow the gaps to make it more challenging for them. The resistance from the rubber bands provides gentle feedback that helps them understand how much pressure and precision are needed to complete the task.
Instead of DIY, you get this toy that has the same concept. Shop the toy HERE
7. Pinch & Pick
Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Skill Activity
This pop-up school bus has been a favorite toy in our house with both of my kids! It truly grows with your baby, starting with pinching and picking the little pencil-thin people out of their spots, working on the pincer grasp, then placing them back with precision, and pushing them and watching them pop up. It can also be played with simply as a school bus toy by rolling it. A wonderful all-in-one toy for developing fine motor skills!
Shop the Pop-up School Bus HERE
8. Water Sensory Play
When my daughter was 8 months old, I introduced her to this Kitchen sink sensory play toy during a time when I was struggling to keep her engaged on the floor for longer stretches of independent play- and it completely changed things for us!
Kids are naturally drawn to water play, and what makes this toy so special is the flowing, rotating water that never stops moving. She enjoys putting her hands under the water or filling it up, watching it flow, letting it drop, and then starting all over again, completely mesmerized every single time.
One thing to keep in mind- you’ll definitely want a splat mat underneath to keep the floor dry, and plan for an outfit change after play because they WILL get wet! But honestly, that’s all part of the fun. 😄
Shop the Kitchen sink play HERE
9. Peeling Tape
Pincer Grasp Practice Activity
On a baking tray or any tray that’s heavy enough to stay in place, tape down some teether or mouthing-safe toys and show your baby how to “rescue” them by peeling the tape off, then let them explore it on their own!
My daughter wasn’t a fan at first when the tape stuck to her fingers, but that’s actually what got her focused; she became determined to peel it off her fingers and then off the toys, too. It’s a brief activity, but those little fingers get a great workout!
Alternative: simply stick strips of tape onto a play mat and watch them go to town peeling it off. Simple, easy, and surprisingly entertaining for them!
Shop the masking tape HERE
10. Stacking
Hand-eye coordination
What I love about stacking same-size glasses over regular stacking cups is that there are no rules, no specific size order to follow. She can simply place them on top of each other and stack them outwards AND inwards, which naturally offers so much more play time. She surprisingly plays with these much longer than I expected and figures out both ways of stacking all on her own. Watching her little brain problem solve in real time is honestly the best part! Simple activity, but so much learning is happening behind the scenes.
We also love this stacking toy and own it!
11. Pound & Tap Bench with Slide-Out Xylophone
Fine Motor & Sensory Play
This toy is such a fun one! The pounding with a mallet takes a simple pounding activity to the next level. We actually started without the mallet- just pounding with her hands and I still remember the pure joy on her face the first time it hit the xylophone and made music. That reaction was everything! At around 10 months we introduced the mallet and that’s when it got really interesting to watch her pick up, balance and aim at the ball, it’s no small feat for a baby! It takes real focus and concentration and you can see them working so hard to get it right. Such a rewarding toy to watch them grow with!
12. Object Permanence with Shoe Box
Cognitive & Fine Motor Play
The Object Permanence Box is a Montessori classic and for good reason! It teaches babies one of the biggest cognitive milestones- that things still exist even when they can’t see them anymore.The ball goes in, disappears, and comes out the other side or when you open the box and that simple concept is genuinely mind blowing for a baby.
DIY Ball Drop with a Shoe Box- A shoe box works best for this because the lid is easy for little ones to lift up and watch he balls come tumbling down, it’s half the fun! Simply cut holes on the lid slightly bigger than your ball size, tape it to the wall, and you’re done. Watch your little one focus and post the balls into the holes one by one, then lift the lid together and enjoy that satisfying moment when all the balls drop out! Simple, free, and so much learning packed into a humble shoe box!
Shop the Balls HERE; this set also comes with a ball drop HERE
13. Object Posting
Fine Motor & Pincer Grasp Practice
This is such a simple but mighty activity! The toy allows them to post the pegs into the holes, and once they start learning the colors, they can take it a step further and match the color of the peg to the color of the hole.
DIY Activity Idea– if you want a super simple DIY version, just grab an empty pepper shaker bottle and some spaghetti sticks, drop them in one by one, and watch them focus like it’s the most important job in the world. It’s simple and also travel-friendly.
Shop The Toy HERE– what makes this toy great is that it comes with different lids so the activity grows with your baby, a coin posting lid with a single slot, a carrot posting lid with bigger holes (we started with this), and a ball toy too. So many ways to play, all in one toy!
14. Pop it sensory toy
Fine motor and Sensory Activity
This one technically belongs to my 4 year old but my 10 month old has fully claimed it as her own! The toy lights up a pop and they have to press it down, and honestly she figured out how to play it faster than I expected. Now she goes at it with both hands like a pro and when she’s done she comes and finds me to reset it so she can pop them all again!
Every press is working those little finger muscles and building hand-eye coordination. There are so many Pop It toys that are not battery operated if you are avodiing flashy toys.
Shop the toy HERE (fidget toy with pop it HERE)
15. Peg Puzzle
Fine Motor & Problem Solving
They will start by unpuzzling the pieces, then putting them back. I like this same-shape, different-size puzzle, it’s a good starting puzzle. I put the pieces next to them to make it easy in the beginning.
The chunky pegs are perfectly sized for little hands to grip, pick up, and place back in.
Shop similar puzzle HERE; also love this shape puzzle
Shop all the Toys HERE
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