24 Free and Simple Developmental Activities for 8-Month-Olds
Keeping your little one entertained with free and simple developmental activities for 8-month-olds doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. At this age, your baby explores their world through touch, sound, and movement. Simple activities during their wake windows can be fun and beneficial for their development. The best part is that it doesn’t have to cost you a thing.
In this post, I’ll share free and easy activities to help your little one learn, play, and grow while strengthening your bond.
At 8 months old, your baby is learning rapidly. Their brains are absorbing information from everything they see, hear, and touch. They may even be crawling, sitting, or even pulling themselves up on furniture. This is why playtime is essential because it helps babies with:
1. Tummy Time
Be consistent with tummy time and aim for daily sessions with your baby. This is such a simple, but crucial way to improve your baby’s development. Although babies don’t always enjoy tummy time, try and make it fun for them by introducing toys. Always engage with your baby during this time to make it a more enjoyable experience and encourage their exploration. This is also a chance for you to bond with your little one through physical interaction and play.
Incorporating tummy time into your baby’s daily routine can significantly contribute to their physical, cognitive, and sensory development, one that sets a strong foundation for future milestones.
2. Mirror Play
Babies love to look at faces, and a mirror is a great way to entertain them, especially during tummy time. At this age, your baby does not fully comprehend that the reflection is them, but they’ll enjoy interacting with it. It’s as simple as sitting or lying your baby in front of a mirror.
You can point to their face and name their features, for example: “Here’s your nose! These are your eyes!”. Make silly faces and watch their reaction. Encourage them to reach out and touch the mirror. Get creative! Your baby will love it. Mirror play benefits include;
- Increases self-awareness
- Develops visual senses
- Helps your baby learn to focus and follow images
- Learn to identify familiar faces
- Track movements
3. Sticky Notes on Mirror/Wall
Chances are you already have sticky notes in a drawer somewhere, this free and simple developmental activity for 8–month-olds will have them practicing their fine motor skills. Simply place a handful of sticky notes on a mirror or wall low enough for baby to reach and let baby have so much fun. If using a mirror always make sure that it is securely attached to a wall to avoid any injuries.
Materials needed: Mirror, sticky notes
Benefits include:
- Hand-eye coordination as your baby moves their hand to grasp the sticky notes.
- Strengthening fine motor muscles.
- Sensorial experiences as they feel the sticky note.
- Retaining attention as they focus on grabbing various sticky notes off the mirror.
- Problem-solving skills
4. Sensory Bags
Sensory play for little ones offers a fun and engaging way to enhance their senses and promote their development. Best part is they are easy to put together and they enhance 8-month-old babies’ sense of touch, sight, and sound. It also encourages grasping and manipulating objects while keeping your little one entertained and focused during playtime.
Materials Needed: Ziplock bags, tape, filling materials such as frozen peas, ice, water, oil, food coloring, glitter, or any other material you’d like to place inside the Ziplock bag.
This is an awesome video by Mama Tried for sensory bag ideas for your little one!
5. Sensory Bins
Sensory activities and bins will help your baby explore different textures and develop fine motor skills. Be warned that some of these sensory bins are suitable for messy play. There are numerous developmental benefits to sensory bins , including:
- Language Developemnt
- Cognitive Development
- Social Skills
- Emotional Regulation
- Fine and Gross Motor Skills
- Stimulating Imagination and Creativity
Materials Needed: Bin of choice, soft fabrics, plastic measuring spoons, soft toys, water, and/or cups. You can also introduce water play, simply by putting some water in a bin with sliced oranges or lemons to make an easy sensory bin your 8-month-old will love.
Simply put water in a bin with their favorite toy and let your baby explore by touching and grabbing. This will encourage their sensory exploration and help with fine motor skills development.
6. Peek-a-Boo
Play peek-a-boo with your baby by grabbing a piece of cloth and holding it up in front of your face. This is the best way to introduce:
Object permanence: This is an important concept for memory and problem-solving in their later years. This game will teach babies that objects still exist even when they can’t see them.
Emotional development: Babies will experience emotions like anticipation, surprise, happiness, and excitement while playing peek-a-boo with you.
Social Skills: Peek-a-boo teaches babies turn-taking and reciprocity. Additionally, the laughter and giggles create positive associations with socializing.
Gross Motor Skills: They can develop gross motor skills related to tracking, reaching, and responding to the movements of the game.
Visual Tracking: When you hide and reappear,your baby will follow your movements with their eyes, doing so will strengthen their visual tracking skills.
Hand-eye coordination: They can learn these skills when playing peek-a-boo by reaching outwards towards your face or the object you’re using to hide behind during the game.
7. Homemade Musical Instruments
Babies love to make all types of noises, and turning everyday household items into an instrument is a great way to introduce different objects. For example, filling an empty plastic bottle with dry pasta, rice, or beans to make a shaker. You can also use wooden spoons and a container as a drum while you clap along with your baby to encourage their rhythm and learn new skills.
Homemade musical instruments are an easy, free, and simple developmental activity for 8-month-olds that will enhance their auditory development. It can also help your little one improve their coordination and fine motor skills while encouraging creativity and cause-and-effect learning.
8. Story Time/Reading
You might not think that reading to your baby at such a young age adds any benefit, but reading to little ones provides the building blocks for language and gives them the tools used to form lifelong social and emotional skills.
Reading isn’t just about words, it’s about engagement. At this age, your little one will love looking at pictures and hearing different tones in your voice as you read some nursery rhymes.
Key points:
- Choose books with bright colors and large pictures
- Use different tones of voice for characters
- Let them turn the pages as best as they can
- Point to pictures and name their objects
Benefits:
- Bonding- When you snuggle up with your little one and read a book together, it signals safety and emotional connection. One-on-one attention strengthens the bond between you and your little one.
- Language Skills-Reading introduces your little one to more complex language than they might otherwise hear in day-to-day conversations.
- Emotional Learning-When you read to your baby, they’re paying attention to your facial expressions. Baby will soon be mimicking your facial expressions and sounds, that alone helps with their early brain development
Reading helps with their language development and strengthens their listening and attention skills. It will also encourage bonding with your little one through cuddles and interaction.
9. Outdoor Picnics
There’s nothing like the outdoors, especially days when you need a breather, or you are just tired of being cooped up inside the house. Nature has a calming effect that will help reduce your stress and anxiety. Your little one will love having picnics outside under a shaded tree watching the branches and their surroundings.
10. Blanket Ride
Blanket rides will help your little one develop their head control, spatial awareness, balance, reactions, and vestibular system. The vestibular system helps your body understand how it’s moving and how things are moving. It also allows the body to make rapid movements in response to forces. These blanket rides are a fun way to have your little one enjoy tummy time!
11. Learning to Remove
Another free and simple developmental activity for 8-month-olds is taking any small balls you have around the house and taping them to the wall or to anything you’d like. You can also do this with any item/toy that is safe for baby. Allow your baby to figure out how to remove the tape and rescue the balls/toys. This will help develop their fine motor skills.
12. Playing With a Ball
You don’t need to purchase one, but if you happen to have a large ball for your baby to play with, this is a great activity that will keep them entertained. This simple activity will help them meet developmental milestones while offering your little one numerous benefits, such as:
- Enhancing hand-eye coordination
- Spatial awareness
- Fine and gross motor skills
- Grasping
- Problem-solving abilities
13. Painting in a Ziplock Bag
A very simple way to get creative with your little one without the hassle of cleaning up is adding some paper and paint inside a Ziplock bag. This is a mess-free, engaging, and safe way to encourage exploration and discovery while developing their fine motor skills.
14. Socks In a Whisk
This free and simple developmental activity for 8-month-olds helps your little one with fine motor skills like their pincer grasp. This skill is essential for future tasks such as self-feeding, holding a pencil, and buttoning clothes. It also helps your 8-month-old with problem-solving and coordination, while offering sensory development. Simply grab a whisk and stuff it with baby socks and watch your little one have fun while learning new skills.
15. Teaching Baby Sign Language
Since your baby isn’t speaking yet, teaching them sign language at this age is very important for your baby to be able to communicate their needs to you. You may think teaching them sign language is a difficult task, like I did before, but it isn’t. You will be surprised at how fast your little one will pick it up, and it will make communication easier for you both. If you don’t know where to start, I will link a video below from Learn How to Sign of simple words to teach your baby.
Why you should teach them sign language
- Decrease tantrum behavior
- You will be able to communicate with your little one before they speak
- Increase your bond
- Can increase your little one’s language skills
- Helps build that gap in development
16. Independent Play
Independent play for little ones is very important and fosters their development in numerous ways. It allows your baby to explore on their own while building problem-solving skills. It will also help boost your 8-month-old’s sense of self and confidence and help develop their interests.
17. Self-feeding
Self-feeding is great in allowing baby self-control while exploring different foods and textures with their hands. They will learn to self-regulate their intake, encourage their independence, work on their fine motor skills, all while developing a positive relationship with food.
18. Introduce Them to Body Parts
This free and simple developmental activity for your 8-month-old will help them start learning body awareness. It also promotes:
- Language skills
- Encourages engagement
- Encourages play
- Promotes communication
- Prepares them for future learning
You can do this in front of a mirror, pointing and saying each body part as you go.
19. Teach Them to Climb
Once your baby starts climbing and crawling, it is beneficial to teach your baby how to safely climb stairs, on a chair, couch, etc. This will help prevent injuries and will improve their spatial awareness. Not only that, but teaching them to climb safely will increase their confidence and independence, help with cognitive development, strengthen their muscles and bones, and prepare them for future skills.
20. Jell-O Dig Play
If you happen to have a box of Jell-O lying around, this activity is perfect for 8-month-olds or even younger babies. It is a sensory activity that will help build their fine motor skills while having a great time doing so. Your child will have to “dig” through prepared Jell-O to find hidden toys or objects. They’ll explore new textures while strengthening their little hands. All you need to do is pop in a few baby-safe toys in some prepared Jell-O and allow your baby to dig them out. It’s a great sensory activity that encourages
- Curiosity
- Fine motor skills
- Problem-solving
Check out this video from MOMstar_LK
21. Spaghetti Sensory Bin
An exciting time in your baby’s development is when they start exploring new foods, and sensory play is a fun way to support that journey. A cooked spaghetti sensory bin is perfect for your little one because it allows them the chance to feel and taste the spaghetti noodles while discovering new textures at their own pace. The most important thing to keep in mind is that this kind of play encourages curiosity without any pressure to eat; this is especially helpful in the early stages of solid food introduction. Plus, it’s messy in the best way, just throw down a towel and let the fun begin. Check out this post by Discovering Mommyhood on how to make the perfect spaghetti sensory bin for your little one.
22. Add Household Items to a Basket
Filling a basket with random household items is one of the easiest and most engaging ways to add variety to your baby’s play area. At 8 months old, babies are naturally curious and love exploring different materials, so giving them access to safe everyday objects like wooden spoons, silicone spatulas, or anything you can find can turn into one of their favorite fun activities. This is a great way to switch things up from their usual different toys and introduce textures, shapes, and even sounds they might not get from traditional baby gear.
23. Pulling Kleenex
This activity for your 8-month-old might seem simple, but it supports a lot of exciting developmental milestones. Around this age, babies start showing signs of separation anxiety, and giving them a little bit of independence through safe, repetitive play, like tugging tissues, can help build confidence. It’s also a fun way to introduce new things while encouraging fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
24. Fill Empty Water Bottles
Filling an empty water bottle with your choice of liquid and small objects that capture your little one’s attention makes an easy, fun toy for your little one. They’ll love watching everything swirl and move. It’s a great way to support focus and curiosity. Plus, it’s a mess-free, safe, and baby-approved.
25. Empty Box
Playing with an empty box promotes spatial awareness as your little one climbs in and out and crawls through the box. Let your little one explore and have fun!
As you talk about what they’re doing in these free and simple developmental activities for 8-month-olds, you can model new words, respond to your baby’s babbling, and follow your baby’s cues to keep the interaction meaningful. These small moments of connection and exploration will pave the way for big milestones ahead, like first steps and deeper communication. They will encourage independent play and discovery, which builds confidence while keeping those little hands and minds busy.
If you’re looking for activities for smaller littles, check out this post!
