Introduction
Your seven-month-old baby is continuing to grow and change every day! Although they may be learning to play independently, they’ll need you to provide some developmentally-appropriate activities to keep them entertained all day long. In this post I share some fun activities and exercises that will help your baby sharpen their new skills as they play.
As always, feel free to check out the previous Exercise and Activity Guides for other ideas to keep your baby engaged. Below are some exercises and activities for 7-month-olds!
Exercises and Activities for 7-Month-Olds
Supported/Unsupported Sitting
At 7 months old, your baby should now be able to play in an unsupported sitting position. They may still lose their balance, so be sure your baby isn’t sitting near any sharp corners or other hazards. Below are some fun ways for them to play in the seated position while also building core strength!
- Small blocks such as these can help keep your baby occupied while they’re in a seated position. Your baby probably won’t be stacking them just yet, but they will love to pick them up, bang them together, or knock over a tower you built for them. The smaller size perfectly suits their little hands and engages their grasping skills—an added benefit to this kind of play!
- Shape-sorting toys are another fun option for seated-position play. The ball-drop toy from Lovevery (pictured) is one of Jack’s current favorites; it keeps him entertained for extended periods of time! You can find this toy, along with several other fun toys, in Lovevery’s 7–8 month playkit.
Grasping
You have likely noticed your baby’s grasp steadily improving, becoming stronger and more accurate as they grow. They may even use both hands to pick up and hold objects. Grasping is a skill they’ll work on all day long, with just about everything they do! But below are some specific activities that will target and challenge their grasp:
- Playing with small toys: It’s easy for your baby to pick up small items, so give them toys they can readily fit in their hand—granted the toys aren’t small enough to become a choking hazard. At 7 months your baby is still the age where everything goes into their mouth!
- Self-feeding: To help develop their pincer grasp, encourage your baby to self-feed. I’ll further discuss this idea in the feeding section below.
- Crawling: Getting around on all fours helps build strength in your baby’s hands, which in turn helps improve their grasp. Keep reading for crawling play ideas!
Crawling
While your baby may not be crawling quite yet, below are some activities you can do to encourage them to start crawling or to crawl more often.
- Fetch: Throw or roll your baby’s favorite ball or toy away from where they are playing. It should be far enough away that they can’t reach it easily from where they are, but not so far as to be discouraging.
- Chase: Another way to lure your baby into crawling more is by moving their toy away from them as they approach it. Some toys do this automatically, such as the Follow-Me bee toy. It lights up, makes sounds, and moves all on its own. Although this toy moves best on a hard surface, placing it on carpet will slow it down just enough to help your new crawler catch it more easily!
Sensory Play
Sensory play refers to any activity that helps your baby explore the 5 main senses: auditory, tactile, visual, taste, and olfactory. Below are some playtime ideas that will help your baby explore their senses!
- New Textures: To explore their tactile sense, your baby will enjoy playing with different textures. Try showing them unusual fabrics and scarves, grass and flowers, or other textures they don’t handle every day.
- Water play: As mentioned in previous guides, bath time is the perfect setting for sensory play! But a shallow pool in your backyard may work just as well, if the weather allows. You may also consider signing up your baby for swim lessons, a fun experience for both of you that will help develop life-saving skills. Check out your local swim schools or YMCA for their class offerings! *With all water play, be sure to supervise your baby at all times.*
- Toy Noise: In previous guides, I’ve mentioned the role of noise-making toys in sensory play. At this point, you’ve noticed your baby is learning how to make any toy a noise-maker, by banging toys together or against surfaces. Whether it’s a rattle or a couple blocks, toys can provide many (cacophonous) opportunities for your baby to further explore their auditory sense.
- Music: Listening to music together or singing to your baby are timeless activities with a myriad of developmental benefits for your baby. Patty-cake and other interactive songs will help keep your baby engaged as they explore their auditory sense.
- Auditory Toys: For more auditory play, check out Pop tubes. These neat toys make different noises depending on if they are pulled apart or pushed together. This provides the added benefit of engaging your baby’s bilateral coordination skills and upper extremity strength. They will need to use both hands to pull the toys apart!
Supervised Eating
Your little one is probably trying lots of new foods now—an exciting development for you and for them! Watching their face and mannerisms as they try foods they like (and don’t like!) can provide for some good laughs. Below are a few ideas to consider whenever you set your baby down to eat:
- Self-feeding: Although it is much cleaner and easier to feed them yourself at each mealtime, don’t be afraid to let them take the lead and hold the spoon for themselves. Granted, it will be messy, but self-feeding is a great form of sensory play that allows them to explore food.
- Pinchable bites: For less mess, try setting out small bites such as little puffs or other meltables. Besides making for easier cleanup, these foods can also help your baby develop their grasping skills. Try putting just a few on their tray to encourage a pincer grasp— between thumb and forefinger. But don’t worry if you aren’t seeing this kind of grasp yet; it typically doesn’t emerge until months 9 or 10.
- Frozen foods: As mentioned in the previous guide, your 7-month-old is possibly starting to get some teeth in and may have some pain. Try giving them a frozen breast milk popsicle, frozen fruit in a fresh food feeder, or a cold water teether.
Finally, remember to always supervise your baby during feeding, even when they are feeding themselves!
Reading Books
At this age, your baby is developing skills that will help them turn thick pages or lift flaps to reveal hidden pictures. Not only do interactive books help keep your baby engaged, they can also increase language skills as well as fine motor skills. It’s a win-win! Look for books like this one, featuring thick pages and flaps, perfect for this age!
Standing and Dancing
Kids of all ages love to dance, and your 7-month-old is not too young to start. Standing and dancing will help them develop foundational skills, such as strength, motor control, and body awareness. Find a kid-friendly playlist your baby likes and get up and dance!
