Older Babies (7 Months – 1 Year)
This is a busy time for your baby – everything is new and exciting and he or she can actually move around now and get to things that are interesting! Keep an eye out, Mom & Dad!
Development with Hands
During this time, your older baby will learn to:
- Grab for and hold to toys and books.
- Take things out of bags and containers.
- Play simple games such as peek-a-boo.
- Understand simple words and concepts such as up/down, near/far.
- Say a few words.
- Crawl, maybe stand and even walk.
How You Can Help
Here are some things you can do to help your baby develop early literacy skills:
- Allow him or her to help turn the pages of books.
- Reread favorite books often.
- Listen to your baby, praise attempts to use real words.
- Read books with flaps or parts that move.
- Sing songs, recite action rhymes, and do fingerplays.
- Point to and name objects in books, talk about pictures.
- Say names of objects as your older baby sees or uses them.
Note: Experts agree – children under two years of age shouldn’t watch television or other electronic media! Studies show that TV viewing hinders language development in young children and may increase the risk of developing attention problems.