Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Baby drops all balls out of the ball pit, one by one?

48 replies

Abcabcabcee · 03/10/2025 16:25

I have never seen any baby ‘play’ in a ball pit like this.

She is 12 months old and if we put her in a ball pit, one by one she will just pick up the balls and drop them outside of the pit.

Has anyone else ever seen this happen?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
BusWankers · 03/10/2025 16:26

Yes. She's just experimenting. Are you worried?

Allswellthatendswelll · 03/10/2025 16:26

Yes she's a baby 😂

Butterflyfern · 03/10/2025 16:26

Yes, the babies at the group I go to all seem to enjoy dropping the balls over the side of the ball pit

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

BarnacleBeasley · 03/10/2025 16:27

We don't have a ball pit but mine would have done this at that age, and then would have put them all back in again. He really likes taking things out of boxes and then putting them back in again. I'd recommend training yours to do the putting-back-in part too as it's ace having a baby who tidies up (unlike DC1).

Needmorelego · 03/10/2025 16:27

Yep. Loads of them do that.
Hours of fun.

ToKittyornottoKitty · 03/10/2025 16:27

Doesn’t sound out of the ordinary. Really not sure what you could be worried about here

BusWankers · 03/10/2025 16:27

How many babies have you even seen play in ball pits?

Did they read the "in a ball pit, babies must only play this way manual" and yours forgot to read it or something?

Bluebottlerecycling · 03/10/2025 16:27

Picking things up and throwing them away is very much standard behaviour for a year old baby!

WallLight · 03/10/2025 16:28

It’s the best thing about a ball pit!

Needmorelego · 03/10/2025 16:28

You'll also get the moving all the balls one by one from one end of the room to the other for no particular reason.

TeenLifeMum · 03/10/2025 16:29

She’s testing to see how many times you’ll collect them back before you lose your mind. Very normal behaviour.

zazazaaar · 03/10/2025 16:31

See also removing all saucepans out of the cupboard.

VivienneDelacroix · 03/10/2025 16:32

Absolutely totally normal. All three of mine did this, I used to try and encourage them to keep the balls in the ball pit, but it was entirely futile. At soft play places you'll see the same.
I hated ballpits! 🤣

Abcabcabcee · 03/10/2025 16:32

Thank you so much for the reassuring responses!

Yes, if I sit her outside of the ballpit, she will then drop the balls back in.

She will also bang two together, especially if I model it.

OP posts:
ToKittyornottoKitty · 03/10/2025 16:34

Abcabcabcee · 03/10/2025 16:32

Thank you so much for the reassuring responses!

Yes, if I sit her outside of the ballpit, she will then drop the balls back in.

She will also bang two together, especially if I model it.

Yep you have a bog standard baby! Glad you’ve been reassured. Try and remember the baby didn’t get a manual on how to be a human so she will continue to experiment for years

Bluebottlerecycling · 03/10/2025 16:34

There isn’t really a wrong way for a baby to play.

They all get where they are going in their own time.

Abcabcabcee · 03/10/2025 16:34

BusWankers · 03/10/2025 16:27

How many babies have you even seen play in ball pits?

Did they read the "in a ball pit, babies must only play this way manual" and yours forgot to read it or something?

Edited

Only a couple, if I’m honest. And they didn’t sit and systematically drop the balls out of the pit one by one. They just sort of crawled around in it.

OP posts:
Hedgehogbrown · 03/10/2025 16:50

Yes about 100 times. Stop looking for problems with your baby.

MidnightPatrol · 03/10/2025 17:02

TeenLifeMum · 03/10/2025 16:29

She’s testing to see how many times you’ll collect them back before you lose your mind. Very normal behaviour.

Training for ‘dropping things off the table so you have to pick them up off the floor until you lose your mind’.

Notagain75 · 03/10/2025 17:06

It's sounds very normal. She is exploring her surroundings. Why did it surprise you?

CaptainMyCaptain · 03/10/2025 17:06

This very behaviour was described in a lecture when I was training to be a teacher. It's absolutely normal. (Except it was play pens and cots then because ball pools hadn't been invented.)

Fushoutofwata · 03/10/2025 17:08

and they think it’s hilarious and keep doing it😂

QueenClinomania · 03/10/2025 17:13

Babies can laugh their nappies off at you ripping a piece of paper in half. They are weird little critters.

Everything is new to them. Imagine being that young. Everything is new and fun and you've only just got over the joy of realising you have toes. Dropping stuff is fascinating!

Forkmaiden · 03/10/2025 17:18

I've ONLY seen babies play like this 😂