to think it's tough to think up activities with a 9 month old?

[Putmynewshoeson]

Now the weather has turned I'm really struggling!

We sing nursery rhymes, he plays with his toys in the playpen, he goes in the bouncer while I do chores (in the same room), he sits in the highchair while I'm preparing his meals so I can talk to him, read books, we have splashy play at the sink, bash saucepans...he's not interested in opening cupboards or tupperware etc much apart from to put it in his mouth...

Usually we go on a long walk a day which he loves but it's such bad weather here it would be really unpleasant.

What do you do with your 9mo? He doesn't have a lot of screen time but has 10-15 mins of little baby bum nursery rhymes or the baby learning sensory on youtube most days, and I realised today he'd had more than that and don't want to get into that habit! I already feel bad about giving him any screen time, but he doesn't watch it constantly and is engaged while watching - talking at it and 'singing' with his nursery rhymes (shouting) and bouncing.

He's also getting grumpy because he still hasn't worked out how to crawl so is very frustrated, so is harder to entertain!

Any ideas?

Go round to your friend's have a coffee and a chat and stick him.on the floor with her baby?

I don't have any friends local with children and moved house just before lockdown so all my group friends are elsewhere. Our local baby groups and meet ups are still shut, only online and when I did those he just tried to eat the screen so it didn't really work out!
Thanks for the suggestion though.

We've been over to my parents and to my friends who has a dog, he loves the dog, but it's more the days where we are at home with not much going on that I'm struggling with!

Why can't you still go for your walk? Just get some decent outdoor clothing for you both.

DS2 is 8m,
after breakfast we always watch an episode of Heidi (old cartoon in Italian)
other than that he plays on the floor with his toys, does the school run in the afternoon, and then 'plays' with DS1 (chews on all his toys that are not too small).

We go to the supermarket for fun

Have any baby classes opened up near you?

I do the same things most days with my 9 month old. Read books, play with toys. I sing and try to make her laugh! She goes in her jumperoo. I usually go for two walks a day with the pushchair, as long as it’s not tipping down. She watches some baby sensory on YouTube. That’s about it for now!

Get a bubble machine (or a tube of bubbles like you get in a party bag) - that will keep her entertained for a while!

Waterproof cover on pushchair and decent coat for you for a walk morning and afternoon? Bonus, you'll both sleep better! Floor play - building blocks, hide a toy under another? Bath with toys? Bits of cut up veg and pots while you cook? Hide behind cushion/tea towel and play peekaboo? Paint in a ziplock bag to squish?

I bought decent outdoor clothes for us all so we could still go out in all weathers for walks. It was fucking miserable. Dd1 hates the rain in her face, dd2 hates the sling/carrier now so I have to use the buggy. We all ended up giving up after 20 mins of moaning from Dd1 and coming home. Where I then had 2 lots of waterproofs to dry, a soaking wet pushchair to dry out. I wouldn't mind but it was hardly even raining!

I think doing walks in all weathers is something either you love or you don't.

Depending on how brave you are, Asda do rolls of paper, I cover the kitchen floor and let Dd loose with crayons (she is 4 though) but you might be able to do something similar.

Look at getting a tuff spot. I've got the stand as well but for your 9 month old use it on the floor. You can do small world play, sensory play, messy play etc. When your done stick the tuff spot in the garden to clean itself in the rain 😂
There are loads of ideas on Pinterest.

Get a nice cosy footmuff for the pram so you can go for walks... it is a bit boring at this age though. Better if you can walk with somebody else.

It's good for him to have some unstructured independent play time - look up Janet Lansbury for loads of guidance on this. It doesn't need to be a choice between you entertaining him or a screen. Babies this age are inherently curious and love to discover new things.

Treasure baskets are great - that's where you include a load of non-toy items, can be everyday things (toothbrush, wooden spoon, clean washing up sponge) or nature items (stone, stick, pine cone, leaves) in a small basket and let them explore them. You don't lead or point or comment on anything, just let them explore and play. It's interesting to see what they do! Obviously you watch to make sure they don't hurt themselves, but try not to direct them.

My DD is 9.5 months.
We do CBeebies baby club most days (10:30am on CBeebies, but you can get it on catch up) it's singing, playing with a toy or object, an actions based song, a story & bubbles.
She quite often plays on her mat with her toys by herself while I (enjoy a cup of tea) supervise from the sofa. I like to let her play by herself so she's not reliant on always having someone to play with, but I'm still there to interact with her.
We go for lots of walks, especially in the rain as she loves it! She kicks away at the rain cover on the pushchair & laughs to herself. I get bundled up in a waterproof coat and go with it.
We "swim" in the bath. We both put our swimming costumes on and play in the bath.
She has a ball pit and her favourite game is chucking the balls out of it but it keeps her entertained!

It sounds like you’re doing pretty much everything that can be done until it just becomes about more toys, and then they grow and change so quickly that things evolve naturally anyway.

It must be hard when you can’t spend time at other people’s houses or baby groups to have a chance to see what bigger value toys they enjoy before you buy them. I remember a lot of our more expensive toy purchases were chosen because they’d been a hit elsewhere.

My 9 month old walks around chewing various household objects. That's his playing. Today was a pink bendy ruler and an orange coat hanger. We also went to the park. He walked a little bit and tried to eat a leaf. My 4 year old watches TV so sometimes baby will watch TV really really closely. Nose nearly touching TV. I like to put him on my knee and pretend to eat him.

I've got a 9month old and I set up sensory play such as a small pot of jelly on his high chair to squish and manipulate, rice krispies in a tray with spoons and bowls, cornflour and water makes this awesome consistency that's sometimes solid but then quickly a liquid again!

Things you could do

Golf umbrella and go for a walk. Put baby in a carrier
Go out for coffee
Visit family and friends
Go and see a farm/forest/park/zoo/museum
Trip to a shop- Ikea, weekly shop etc
Post on local groups for a meet up
Baby fitness buggy walk. You could set one up.
Online classes. The early years alliance website has a family corner which is quite good
Trip to the post office to post a letter

At home
Finger painting
Stacking
Posting items
Blowing bubbles and making bubble mixture
Treasure baskets

It's a hard age - attention span of a gnat.

DD2 is almost 9 months. To be honest if she didn't have a 2 year old sister she'd probably be bored stiff!

Maximise the time after they've had a nap when they tend to be happiest to self occupy.

Things I've found do work in rubbish weather -
Trips to supermarket
Time in the sling while you get some work done
A box of "real things" to explore supervised- kitchen utensils, bubble wrap, fir cones etc.
Ripping paper- big sheets of wrapping paper work well
Learning to climb the stairs
Lots of library's are open now
Big bowl of soapy water and cups

As soon as they get a bit bored mix it up with something quick- pop outside with a brolly for 5 minutes/ have a dance to a favourite song/ wash hands together in the sink/ bubbles. A change of scene/ sensory input works wonders.

It all sounds great op, but I wouldn’t be putting the tv/iPad on. You’re doing lots of fun things with him and he’s doing independent play too- perfect!

@Excited101 I know it's not great 🙈 I've got into a habit of it a bit now and it's something I don't want to get too stuck on - I know it won't be damaging him because it's only appropriate viewing and not on for ages but it's still not ideal.
He's pretty lazy as well - trying to crawl not there yet though, not pulling himself up yet and only wants to try to stand using my hands or me not anything else, so I don't want anything to distract him from trying with those things :)

Some great suggestions here.

I've discovered this week he hates the rain over after about thirty minutes and starts wiggling about and crying to get out

Maybe baby carrier and brolly is a good way to go, it's just so windy at the moment I don't think it will work right now but definitely once the wind breaks

You don't need to entertain your child all day.

Baby can play with different toys throughout the day.

My daughter didn't crawl till 14 months but she was quite happy sat on the floor surrounded by toys. 1 walk a day to walk the dog so she was in pushchair or sling, and apart from that we'd be at home. Couple of naps as well

I don't entertain him all day but I feel bad if he's just sat in the playpen with toys for ages, plus he's really clingy at the moment and seems to get bored easily so starts whining and complaining

I'll try some of the ideas suggested I like the treasure box one

He's still very much in the stage where everything goes in his mouth so I'm quite careful what I give him - precious first born here obviously!

cornflour and water makes this awesome consistency that's sometimes solid but then quickly a liquid again!

It’s brilliant, my son loved it. It was his favourite thing for years.

I second treasure boxes, DS hated sitting on his own at that age and would get really angry at me if I put him down. A lady at a playgroup mentioned treasure boxes and they were a revelation, DS got to "explore" on his own and would spend almost an hour sometimes going through the objects.

I did a whip round the house and filled a big basket with interesting but safe things. Then every day I would fill a smaller basket with a selection and give him those to play with and he loved it! Items can be anything as long as they're safe for baby to play with.

That sounds really good idea with the treasure boxes. What kind of things did you put in there?

I think anything like the rice crispies idea or cornflour mix he will just immediately eat! 🙈

That's fine, that's why they are made of food!

It's normal and appropriate for him to investigate things predominantly with his mouth at this age. It has so many more nerve endings than our hands, and he won't have much control to manipulate objects yet, so the mouth is key.

As long as something isn't a choking hazard, ruinable by chewing or poisonous I'd let him crack on :)

@Putmynewshoeson

That sounds really good idea with the treasure boxes. What kind of things did you put in there?

I think anything like the rice crispies idea or cornflour mix he will just immediately eat! 🙈

Anything really. Some favourites that we had in ours were:

A hairbrush
A fluffy makeup brush
Colander
Scraps of fabric
Egg cups
Pinecone
Old containers with various things to shake and look at (rice, lentils, star anise, cumin seeds, cardamom etc)
Cloth bags with things to smell (orange peel, star anise, various seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaves)
Beaded napkin rings
Paper tubes from empty loo or kitchen roll
Ornaments
Clean sponge
Clean washing up brush
Whisk
Empty squeezy bottles
One of his old shoes with Velcro on
Scrunchie (I made sure this couldn't stretch to fit over his head)
Little toy car
Metal bowl
Wooden spoon

I'm sure I'm missing some but it was loads and loads of stuff, it's important to rotate because otherwise they can get bored.

I moved continents with my lo so knew only my h who worked 12 hours a day. We walked rain or shine miles (no car) shopped at the market etc daily on foot as it was cheaper and gave me something to do each day. I did do mother and baby yoga (it's back running near where I live so perhaps try that) and toddler groups are a sanity saver - the one local to me restarts on Tuesday this week. I used to volunteer to fetch shopping for a lady in my apartment block when I had my dd your dcs age, we would have coffee on the shared balcony sometimes