How to properly develop a baby at the age of 6 months?

Pregnancy, children > Child development > Games with the baby: what to do with a child at 6 months for young parents

As soon as a child appears in the family, he immediately becomes the central character. Parents enjoy watching the baby's daily development. The way he holds his head, the way he tucks his legs, the way his eyebrows frown—every new action is perceived as an event on a universal scale.

Time flies unnoticed and after just six months, the baby’s affectionate communication with his mother is no longer enough; he wants to explore the whole world around him. It is important for parents to know what to do with their child at 6 months for his active and harmonious development.

Six months is an important age

A six-month-old child is a real tough and smart guy. His muscles and skeleton have become so strong that they allow him to sit down, stand up on his legs, keep his back straight, crawl on his bellies (and some can even do this “for real”, getting on all fours). Therefore, parents of a 6-month-old child, at home, on the street, and at a party, need to be constantly on alert: there is a risk of falling, hitting, or grabbing something dangerous.

Mental and thought processes also do not stand still. So, a baby can easily recognize the voice of his parents without even seeing them. He will call them back, and when he sees them, he will ask to be held in their arms. Many children now already know how to express tenderness to their relatives: cuddle, stroke the face, hug. At the same time, communication with parents is no longer reduced to simple tactile or speech contact. It is important for the baby that adults help him study the properties of objects that interest him. Moreover, the simplest logic is already in his mind. He understands that if you call his mother, she will come, if you hit a toy, there will be a sound, if you throw it, it will fall.

If we summarize all the skills of a child at this age, they look like this:

• the baby crawls on its belly or on all fours;
• sits on his own (with slight support);
• grabbing hold of the support, he tries to rise to his feet;
• tries to step over, holding onto support;
• is interested in small details and objects, grasps them with three fingers;
• confidently holds toys in his hands, can knock them against each other, move them from hand to hand, throw them, pick up fallen toys;
• can eat from a spoon and drink from a mug or sippy cup with the help of his mother;
• lying on his tummy, leans on one arm to reach the toy with the other;
• lying on his back, firmly holds on to the fingers of an adult, rising to a sitting position and even standing on his legs;
• learns to put small objects into larger ones;
• if a toy is lost during play, the baby begins to look for it;
• finds objects covered with something;
• can entertain himself with toys on his own for about 15 minutes, repeating the learned manipulations many times (knocking, opening, throwing, pressing);
• recognizes his reflection in the mirror, rejoices in it, responds to his name;
• at the mother’s request, he can point to a familiar object or repeat learned actions (“let’s fly,” “okay,” “hello,” “bye”);
• begins to understand the speech of adults addressed to him, distinguishes intonations, reacts to facial expressions, already knows exactly the meaning of the word “impossible” and reacts to it;
• The baby's speech has entered the babbling stage: vowels and consonants in his speech are combined in various combinations. A child can perfectly imitate the sounds he hears, imitates the words of adults, but the first real words are still far away - these are just sound chains.

Important aspects: what are we developing?

It is necessary to develop a child at 6 months in accordance with what skills he already has, improving and complicating them. If the baby has mastered some skills poorly (doesn’t know how to get on all fours, move toys, step with his feet), this should be given special attention, because he will need all these skills more and more every day. But in any case, it is important to develop the child in many ways, so that he reaches new heights in all areas.

So what's most important right now?

• Physical development (exercises, exercises that strengthen the muscles of the legs, back, hip joints; massage, hardening). The diet of the baby is of no small importance. Usually, it is from 6 months that children begin to receive complementary foods. It is important for parents to monitor the absence of allergic reactions and a balanced diet.
• Coordination of movements and balance. These skills are needed so that the baby can feel confident in the surrounding space, especially while walking, which he will master in just a few months.
• Speech skills. On the way to the first independent words, it is necessary to pay attention to simple speech exercises, finger games, and fine motor skills.
• Hearing development. The child now hears different sounds well. Therefore, it is important to replenish this luggage, to teach the baby to recognize the rhythm of speech and music. This will help him construct his own speech correctly in the future.
• The baby's mental abilities also require attention. The simplest games for logic, memory, and attention will help with this.
• Emotions. Positive emotions help to develop correctly and harmoniously, cause attachment to loved ones, create a feeling of comfort, and lay the foundations of a sense of humor.

To ensure that your baby has enough strength for all his daily “exploits,” try to provide him with adequate day and night rest, and also include frequent walks and games in the fresh air in his daily routine, if the weather permits. This will have a beneficial effect on the functioning of all parts of the child’s brain.

Recommendations for playing with a 6-month-old baby

A mother should not only work with her baby every day, but also know how to do it correctly. The effectiveness of pedagogical influences depends on the correct approach to the game.

1. The gameplay should not last more than 15 minutes. Six-month-old children are not able to concentrate for too long.
2. Play with your child after sleep or feeding, when he is in high spirits. If your child is overtired or ill, postpone the lesson.
3. For greater emotional impact, remember for yourself what it is like to be a child.
4. While playing, stay close to your baby and look into his eyes.
5. Do not forget to regularly ventilate the play area. Fresh air stimulates intellectual activity.
6. Smile and praise your little one every time he succeeds at something. Approval and praise work wonders. The kid will want to prove to you that he can do better.

Pediatricians recommend playing active games in the first half of the day, and educational games after lunch.

What are we going to play?

So, educational games for children aged 6 months should be varied. Let us give an example of just a few of these activities. Parents can choose many others. The main thing is that they bring pleasure to the child, arouse his interest and do not tire him: their duration should not exceed several minutes.

• Physical form.

This is, first of all, movement. Let the child crawl as much as possible, stand up, reach for toys, and lift them. You should not limit the space around the baby, but you need to make it as safe as possible: remove, close, secure everything that can injure or be dangerous if swallowed. To encourage your baby to crawl, you can place bright toys in front of him that he will want to reach for. If he already knows how to sit, it is useful to roll the ball from mom to him, encouraging him to push the ball back to mom or reach for it.

If the toddler gets on all fours, you can create artificial obstacles in front of him in the form of small pillows or toys, overcoming which on the way to his calling mother, he will master the skill of crawling.

• Coordination and vestibular apparatus.

A great game for this is shoulder riding. You can put the baby on your shoulders and, holding it, lean back and forth. The mother can also rock the baby on her leg, changing the pace: first slowly, then quickly. It would be great if such games are accompanied by fun nursery rhymes. Then they will definitely bring the baby, in addition to practical benefits, a lot of positive emotions.

In addition, exercises with changing positions in space develop the vestibular apparatus well. It is useful to turn the baby over, rock him in his arms or on a blanket. You can spin around the room with him, especially to music that is pleasant to him, or play “tumbler”: pull him by the handles from a position on his back and lightly push him to the starting position.

You can also rock your child on a fitball. The baby is placed on the ball first with his tummy, then with his back, slowly rocking back and forth. Lying on his tummy, the child can reach the floor with his arms while moving forward. Especially if there is a beautiful toy waiting for him there.

• Hearing.

The child’s hearing must develop both general (recognition of all sounds and noises), and musical (the difference between slow and fast music, a sense of rhythm), and phonemic - recognition of sounds and individual words by ear.

For general development, it is useful to listen to a variety of sounds (nature, household appliances, animals, sound toys) with varying volumes. For example, if a sound is heard in another room, you can ask where it sounds, explaining what exactly makes the sound and what it can be called (ringing, noise, humming, hissing, rustling). It will be interesting for the baby to rustle with newspaper, plastic bags or foil. It is only important to carefully monitor that he does not put it all in his mouth, because no one has yet canceled this method of cognition.

Auditory perception is perfectly developed by toys that make different sounds (rattled, rustling, ringing), children's musical instruments (tambourine, pipe, xylophone, drum, keyboard instruments such as the simplest children's piano).

Mom can easily make useful development toys on her own by filling plastic and metal jars with different contents (coins, cereals, small construction set parts). If you show your baby that the sounds in each container are different, he will soon begin to shake them himself and listen. Another option is to pour different amounts of water into several identical glass bottles and show the child that they ring at different pitches.

Well, to develop phonemic hearing, it is enough to constantly talk to the baby, especially repeating poetic lines, rhythmically or in a chant.

• Thinking.

At this age, the baby needs to be given an idea of ​​simple logical actions and their consequences (if you throw a toy, it will fall, but you can pick it up and play with it again; if mom hid, then she has not disappeared, you just need to look for her - the same applies to toys). It is also important for him to learn new ways of manipulating objects. For example, placing a smaller part of an insert toy into a larger one.

Useful games for developing thinking are not complicated. For example, hide and seek (you can hide a mother, child or toys by covering them with a scarf or napkin). The main thing is that the “search” brings positive emotions.

The game of hide and seek can be somewhat complicated. Mom leaves the room for a while and then appears. This technique will help you teach your child that his mother does not abandon him, but always returns. After all, he has a period of separation anxiety ahead, when he fears that his mother is lost and will not come again. This game helps to perfectly prepare the baby for this stage.

If you give a child a toy in each hand and then offer him a third, he will first try to take it, but will soon realize that in order to do this he will have to put some toy aside in order to free one hand.

Another useful toy at this age is a pyramid. The baby needs to be taught to disassemble it, removing one ring after another. And all kinds of jars and boxes will teach him to open and unscrew the lids.

Toys for six-month-olds

Taking into account the baby’s tactile, visual and auditory capabilities, he is offered things that meet the following requirements:

1. safety for the small user (no sharp corners and edges, easily torn/breaking fragments, toxic dyes, etc.);
2. attractiveness - bright colors (preferably contrasting, light), pleasant to the touch surface, interesting sound;
3. sizes suitable for the size of the baby;
4. possibility of cleaning (washing) the surface.

These characteristics correspond to:

• various rattles;
• small soft cubes and balls;
• floating bath toys;
• pillows and “little animals” without allergenic fillers;
• sorters, industrial production and homemade;
• textile books and pictures;
• composite multifunctional toys, including an educational cube for children from 6 months.

For a peaceful fall asleep, special musical and luminous mobiles with hanging small figures or rattles are suitable. Household items can also act as toys: from boxes to cutlery (except knives and sharp forks).

Speech skills

Speech classes with a child should include several types of play activities.

• Finger games ("ladushki", "magpie-crow", "horned goat" are perfect), massage and kneading of fingers.
• Development of fine motor skills. To do this, you can fill several small bags with different contents (cereals, buttons, beans, polyethylene, cotton wool) and let the baby touch them. You can squeeze and unclench rubber balls or squeaky toys, roll small balls or nuts in your palms.
• Reading books with bright pictures, funny poems, nursery rhymes, singing songs, lullabies.
• Speech environment. You need to constantly talk to your child. Talk about everything that surrounds him, what is happening around him, what mom is doing, what objects are made of, what they are needed for, etc. It is important to repeat after the baby what he says while participating in communication: using facial expressions, intonations, changing voice volume. Soon the baby will begin to repeat after the adults. Then it will be necessary to pronounce new sounds for him slowly, articulating clearly, exaggeratedly, so that he can remember the movements of the adult’s lips.

You need to work with a 6-month-old baby more than with younger children. This trend will continue further. But the fruits of parental efforts will be obvious. Especially if the baby grows up in the confidence that he is loved, that he is needed, and in the world called “family” it is warm and cloudless.

Baby development with the help of books

Every day you need to look at pictures in books with your child. Books for babies should be made of hard cardboard. They should show bright and large pictures. The books should be different , for example, they should contain:

1. Nursery rhymes.
2. Fairy tales.
3. Poetry.

Pictures should be looked at together with the child, and poems and fairy tales should be read to him every day. You can make a manual for the development of your baby with your own hands. For example, you can make an album with different pictures. , plants, toys, photographs and plants in it To make the manual yourself, you will need unnecessary children's books, baby food packaging and pictures. Each photograph must be signed in block letters; when the manual is flipped through, the child must be told in detail what is shown in the photograph.

You can create a teaching aid for your child called “My Day.” To do this, you need to place baby food tags, various pieces of fabric and pictures in the album that depict objects surrounding the baby. All items in the album must be signed in block letters. In this way, you can create a large number of teaching aids for your child.

If you want the album to last longer, it must be made from A4 cardboard. Then the album must be placed in a folder with files, and the album sheets must be fastened with iron rings. If a child wants to be entertained , then he can turn on the cartoon Tiny Love. It is designed for children from 3 months to 12 months. Children really like this cartoon; it captivates them for a long time.