Looking for things to do with a 7-month-old baby?
We’ve got you, mama.
Our list of super-fun learning activities for 7-month-olds is ideal for this illuminating stage of development.
Bright-eyed and curious, your little one is ready to play, and you’ll need plenty of imagination, energy, and bubble mixture to keep up.
But before we share our favorite 7-month-old baby activities, let’s take a quick look at the milestones your munchkin might be hitting around this point.
In this article: 📝
- What should I expect at 7 months?
- What should I be teaching my 7-month-old?
What should I expect at 7 months?
It’s important to remember that every baby is different.
7-month-old developmental milestones should only ever be used as a rough guide for your own child’s development.
Don’t worry if they’re not ticking all these boxes — they’ll get there.
Some of the things they may be doing at this age include:
- Rolling over in both directions
- Sitting up unaided
- Holding items and moving them from hand to hand
- Rocking backward and forward (often the first sign that crawling is next)
- Babbling away a whole bunch of gibberish, but threatening to imitate simple sounds like “mama,” “dada,” and “bye-bye” as they get to grips with consonants
What should I be teaching my 7-month-old?
There are plenty of activities you can use to teach your 7-month-old new skills.
From nursery rhymes and foodie fun to bubble popping and outdoor exploration, here are some of our favorites to inspire you.
1. Bubbles (and lots of them!)
Playing with bubbles is one of the most popular 7-month-old baby activities.
As well as helping develop your baby’s visual and tactile senses, it also encourages mobility.
Your baby will watch, giggle, and follow the bubbles as they float in different directions, improving their hand-eye coordination.
2. Nursery rhyme sing-along
A nursery rhyme sing-along isn’t just a fantastic way to bond with your baby.
Nursery rhymes also form an important part of cognitive development, helping your little one learn the alphabet, numbers, animals, and other day-to-day elements.
Singing nursery rhymes can also help your baby learn another language, even at this early age.
3. Outdoor exploration
As your little one is developing, enrich their experiences by exploring different outdoor areas.
Allow them to use all their senses (supervised, of course), playing with grass, sand, and mud.
Crunch leaves, pick up sticks, smell flowers, take a dip in the sea or paddle their feet in a lake.
Simple, yet highly effective, these are some of the best outdoor activities for a 7-month-old baby.
4. Crawling games
At 7-months-old, many babies are steadily getting to grips with crawling around on all-fours.
This makes crawling games some of the best developmental activities for 7-month-olds.
Set up a baby obstacle course with pillows or toys to maneuver around or over or have them crawl towards you through fabric tunnels or blanket forts.
This can help build their strength, coordination, and encourage them to move around in different directions.
5. Clapping together
Since babies often show signs of bringing their hands close together from as early as 7 months, this is a great time to start clapping together.
Clapping along to the beat of a nursery rhyme or song is a great way to develop your 7-month-old’s observation and cognitive skills.
Slowly clap to the tune in front of your little one while they mimic you, clapping in their own adorable way.
Your baby will love listening to the fun songs, the sounds of the clapping, and anticipating the movements to the beat.
When it comes to 7 month old baby games, clapping together is always a winner!
6. Family picture game
At this age, your little one is starting to recognize the faces they see on a regular basis.
You can help improve their visual perception skills by placing them on your lap and showing them brightly colored pictures of the key people in their life, pointing at them and saying their names.
Your baby will slowly start to associate each name with each face, helping them improve their ability to recognize facial features and understanding of names.
7. Food tasting
What can a 7-month-old eat?
Well, with most babies eating solids alongside breast or formula milk by the age of 6 months, now’s the ideal time to encourage them to experience new foods.
Letting them taste different flavors is a fun and engaging way to enhance their diet and set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating.
Offer a selection of pureed foods, giving your little one a taste of each one in turn.
As you watch their reaction to certain flavors, you may even notice your little food critic reach for the bowl they enjoyed the most.
8. Noisy fun
Inside a small cardboard box, place several different objects and materials.
Shake the box, encouraging your little one to do the same, and listen to the different sounds each object makes.
Your baby can practice their motor skills by grabbing the objects and placing them in the cardboard box, and this fun activity can also help develop your babe’s sense of hearing.
9. Hand puppets
Puppets are engaging toys that help support your baby’s language skills and communication as well as their social and emotional development.
Providing safe, imaginative play, puppets can help babies learn and understand the world around them.
When playing this game with your little one, sit behind an object so only the puppet is visible to your baby.
Move the puppet and make sounds so your baby thinks it is moving on its own, and sneak and peek to see their gleeful reaction.
10. Light and shadow play
One of the best things to do with a 7-month-old when they can’t sleep is to play around with light and shadows.
While it may sound simple, there are few things more enthralling to babies than watching the shadows dance across the wall.
All you need is a flashlight and some toys, household objects, or your hands to create a night-time shadow show to soothe your little one!
There you have it: our top activities for 7-month-old babies.
Even the simplest activities can spark wonder, learning, and connection in your babe.
Remember, the most important ingredient is you!
Your presence, your enthusiasm, and your love make the play so much more fun (which can only be a good thing for baby’s development).
Did we miss any? Share your favorites with the mamas on Peanut!
👶 Read next: Activities for 8-Month-Old Babies