Month 5 Activities

With each passing month, it has been a delight to see LO hitting new developmental milestones. She had been rolling over most of her playtime. LO was also brimming with personality and we could see her strong preferences emerge. Lots of smiles and lots of mouthing as well. Below are some activities which we enjoyed in month 5 as part of our daily routine. As always, please remember to follow your child and our goal as prepared adult is to facilitate their development needs by preparing their environment.

Motor skills

• Motivation to roll

LO had been rolling over front to back and back to front, grabbing things during her activity time. Clearly she had been enjoying the spinning sensation. But it wasn’t that easy for her when it all began. When LO was starting to show signs of rolling over but was still figuring out how to flip, we used to lie down beside and place a toy such as a rattle or grasping beads at her reach to get her attention. It definitely took a lot of effort for her to flip; she would get frustrated but in a good way. But she kept trying and we supported her by being patient and giving her all the time. When babies are trying out something constantly, they are working hard to master the activity or developmental need and the best we can do is not to interrupt them.

• Egg shaker / rattles

Grasping had been another major developmental need for LO this month. Be it at her changing table or bath time, she was all over the place trying to grasp things that she sees and mouth them. During her play time, we would give her a rattle or a shaker since they are perfect for her little hands to hold, explore and shake them too. She was also curious about the sound produced by the rattle upon shaking them. Learning cause and effect begins right there! Check out my blog post on shakers and rattles where I have shared about the versatility of these simple yet wonderful toys.

Sensory development

• Tactile mobile

The clutch ball was the last among the tactile mobiles that we introduced to LO. We repurposed the puzzle ball to add variety to the size of objects to grasp. Check out my Instagram post on this tactile mobile.

• Art time

To me art, particularly painting is therapeutic. Art has been part of LO’s environment from her initial days which is also a source of visual stimulation. We have wall art at her eye level in her activity area and she enjoys admiring them during tummy time. To expose her to the making of art, we created our first set of art work using her hand-prints and footprints for Father’s Day and 4th of July. As I held LO to paint, she enjoyed watching the mixing of colors and the paper turning colorful.

• Sensory books

The crinkle noise can keep babies engaged for an extended period.; this sensory play can be calming for them too. Peek-a-boo forest is a crinkly cloth book which introduces different textures of animals and is one of LO’s favorites. The other sensory book on our shelf is Indestructibles: Baby Animals which LO enjoys ripping, crinkling and chewing this book more than anything else!

Language development

• Book basket

Reading is an integral part of our daily rhythm and we provide more opportunities for reading by having books accessible in all living spaces and not necessarily confining to one room. We also don’t limit ourselves to reading only around bedtime, but instead read whenever and wherever LO’s interested.

• Increased Tamil exposure

We continue to expose LO to Tamil by conversing in Tamil at home / during video chats with family. Our collection of Tamil poems has been growing too with the most recent addition being the classic children's Tamil rhyme Nila nila odi vaa / நிலா நிலா ஓடி வா.

Social and emotional skills

• Peekaboo

This has been an age-old favorite activity for babies. Babies love seeing faces more than anything else. By covering the face using a cloth or even hands and then saying peekaboo results in lots of giggling. 😊 We also add a twist by adding different facial expressions as we uncover the face each time. This can also be done in front of mirror for an added variety.

• Music time

Babies thrive on routine; it gives them the sense of security. We incorporate music to wind down by singing a couple of her favorite songs during bedtime. And we sing the same songs every day which might become boring to adults, but for babies they help establish the awareness that it’s time to sleep, thereby helping them get into the rhythm.

• Goodnight game

Ever since we began reading Goodnight Moon bedtime book in which the bunny says Good night to everything around, we have been doing that as we head to our room for LO’s bedtime - another signal that it’s time to sleep.

One thing I’d like to call out is that some of the activities from the early months are still part of our routine or and we continue to include them as long as LO enjoys. I don’t set a hard and fast timeline of activities to perform each month, but instead gradually evolve them based on her developmental need.

Related: Activities for Month 1, Month 2, Month 3, Month 4