5 Fun Activities For Your 10 Month Old To Do At Home (Budget-Friendly)

Entertaining a baby can be tough.

When you’re bored of wooden blocks and pom poms these great activities will provide your baby with a whole new sensory experience.

10-month old babies should be showing real progress in their gross motor skills. This list of activities assumes your baby is able to sit and crawl unaided.

So let’s get to it

Rice Krispy Sand

Christina playing in Rice Krispie Sand

I love this idea because it’s a fun way to have messy play, that isn’t all that messy to clean up! The props are super simple

  • An entire pack of cheap supermarkets own rice krispies (about £1)
  • Large container (Or cardboard box)
  • Washable toys

Empty the pack of krispies into a cardboard box and voila! Baby safe sand. Burying toys in the mix is a great way to teach object permanence and fab fun to bash into the krispies and make lots of crunchy different sounds.

I’ve found the best toys for this are solid ones without moving pieces that can be rinsed easily. Avoid the use of plush toys as they will end up really sticky.

Picking up individual Krispies is good for practising those fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. 

Cleaning up if you have dogs is fabulously simple, but even without the krispies hoover up from the kitchen floor really well. A bonus of this is you’re left with a crinkly cereal bag which is great as a fun activity for baby to crush and wave about during clean up.

If you’re really dedicated you can blend the dry Krispies and make actual soft edible sand. I tried this once but I haven’t bothered since.

It took me about 10-15 minutes of blending and sieving to make the sand, and Christina didn’t seem to get any additional joy over the solid Krispies.

It was harder to hide toys and also much more annoying to clean up. I was wiping smudgey dust fingerprints off surfaces for days. I might be tempted to try again for outdoor fun, but definitely not a rainy day success for us.

Pasta Aliens

This great idea was suggested by a friend of mine and I admit initially I tried it thinking it would make for a hilarious photo on my family whatsapp but probably wouldn’t actually entertain her.

How wrong I was! Turns out babies LOVE pulling the individual strands out. Props are again super simple

  • Dry spaghetti (50p)
  • Colander

Thread the dry spaghetti into the colander making your alien.

It looks a bit menacing, but as dry spaghetti is so thin and brittle it breaks easily into small pieces and any strands that aren’t removed with a pincer grasp immediately snap off. 

The first time this was met with trepidation, but now Christina loves it. I have to fill the alien out of sight or she’s pulling the strands out faster than I can get them in with a big smile on her face.

Once the alien has been de-stranded I refill him as many times as possible before all the strands are too broken. 

Again clean up is quick and simple. To reduce waste I rinse and cook the pasta and mix it with the dog’s dinner as a treat. (Jamie has drawn the line at us eating “floor pasta”)

Bath Snow

Christina and Bath Snow

Another messy play idea with minimal clean up (You may notice a theme!). 

Squirt blobs at one end of the bath to make snowballs. Your baby will love patting and squashing the snowballs.

Christina also enjoyed smearing her tiny hands through the cream and then wiping it on the sides of the bath. 

Sensory play is great for cognitive development and this fun game builds physical development as your baby twists and stretches to pat each snowball.

This is also a great activity to build language skills. I found if I used simple words like “this one” and “get it” she was able to follow my instructions and really enjoyed the game. 

The cream dissolves and rinses off almost immediately in water. Leave plenty of time to play this game, and when your baby is bored of the snow, turn on the shower to rinse it away and it can become water play as well.

Climb the Stairs

Depending on where your baby is developmentally this one can be a real winner.

We started when Christina was just turning 10 months of age. By this time she was able to confidently pull herself to standing and crawl.

I sit at the bottom of the step very close to her with my body forming a block so any fall or sudden change in direction and I’m there to catch her.

I put a toy just out of reach and encourage her when she reaches for it or manages to climb up and grab it. 

She loves the praise and the physical challenge of the climb. At first she needed little breaks, but now she confidently climbs the “mountain” in one.

Once we get to the top I carry her back down, swap the toy and we often do this 3-4 times before her interest wanes. 

It’s a simple game that builds your baby’s development and helps them towards that important milestone of taking their first steps.

A bonus of this is that it’s physically tiring for her as well as mentally stimulating, so it often leads to a good quality nap after.

Edible Paint

This one is truly messy! I’d advise playing in the bath and just use a little bit of dye so you don’t stain your sealant or grout!

If you don’t want to use the bath I recommend securing your baby to a fixed spot like in a high chair rather than using something like a water table with free movement.

Props 

  • Plain yogurt. You can use flavoured if you like, but bear in mind a lot might get eaten so total sugar intake could be quite high
  • Food dye pack (Ideally bright colors)

Divide the yogurt into 3 bowls. Add a small amount of dye to each bowl (honestly 2 drops is plenty).

Strip the baby and place everything in the bath. Although I keep a watchful eye I let Christina go at her own pace and be creative.

I only really get involved if she’s giving me bowls to hold or seeking my attention. Mostly though she just wants to do her own thing.

Well, there we go, my 5 fun activities for you to try with your 10-month-old at home. Perfect for those rainy days and budget-friendly. I hope you’ve found these useful and have great fun working through them with your little one.

If you like this content, please share it so I can grow my audience. If you have other ideas to add to this, please comment below.

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Categorized as Baby