How To Entertain A 5 Month Old

How To Entertain A 5 Month Old 10 Games To Play

ByJoyce Dawson Updated on
Home » How To Entertain A 5 Month Old 10 Games To Play

Struggling with different way on how to entertain a 5 month old? Watching your little bundle of joy grow is probably the most beautiful thing you can ever experience. The cute baba-gagas, putting everything in their mouth, throwing toys on the ground 65 times, and touching everything, shows it’s time for your baby to get around and explore the life outside her crib.

 

As she turns 5 months old, you can start to notice how social and expressive she has become. She can understand what you’re saying, talk (even if it’s ba ba..ga ga..ma ma) show happiness, sadness is more physically active to play with you. Therefore, this is the time you can expand your baby’s horizons and develop exceptional abilities all while making it fun for you both. 

 

However before we delve into specifics, make sure you properly clean and sanitize each toy you bring closer to your baby. Since they will be teething, keep choking hazardous items out of her reach so you can rest assured your baby isn’t in any sort of danger while you’re having the time of your life playing. 

 

Stay tuned till the end to get bonus momma tips for your bundle of joy.

 

So, let’s get started!

 

10 Games to Play If Your Wondering How To Entertain a 5 Month Old

Games can be an excellent way to bond with your babies and indulge in sensory activities that can help both the physical and mental health of your 5-month-old bundle of joy. Here are the top 10 best ways to entertain your sunshine.

 

  1. Peekaboo

Take your baby in front of the mirror and play peekaboo with her. You can start by doing it with yourself, then with her hands, and, finally, let her do it herself. Ask her ” where did my baby go, oh there you are!” and praise her with applause and endless kisses everything she gets it right. You would be surprised to see the undying toothless grin and laughs across her face the whole time. 

 

You can also add a blanket and other toys to chew like teething rings, cottage cheese, or yogurt to help ease her teething process. If not in front of the mirror, you can simply do it in her crib by covering your face with your hand and saying peekaboo to watch her burst into laughter. This can help your baby to understand different reactions and recognize herself in the mirror. 

 

  1. Bubble Play

While taking a bath, you and your baby can spend quality time blowing bubbles near each other and popping them for that ever-needed shriek of excitement on your baby’s face. You can do this by setting up the bathtub with a baby bath foam and let your baby blow bubbles in the tab. If you find it hard to bathe your baby, this can be a great way for her to enjoy herself while bathing. 

 

 

  1. Floor workouts 

Lay your baby on her stomach on the floor. Put some of her favorite toys around her so she can strive to get up and pick things on her own. During this time, you can also give a helping hand to let her use her legs to stand and grab things on the table. And before you know it, your baby is crawling and moving things around her tiny fingers the whole house.

 

However, bear in mind, you can never be completely sure what she can grab and put in her mouth. So before you start off with a tummy session, make sure you’ve kept away all the hazardous toys out of her reach.

 

  1. Treasure box 

You can gather some of your baby’s toys and put them in a box for your baby to open and grab. Every time she takes something out, talk to her about the color, shape, name, and whether it is squishy/hard/or smooth.

 

At this time, you can interact with her normally so she can understand what you generally talk about. This game can also help boost up tactile and proprioceptive senses that allow her to make sense of how hard and or soft it is to grab an object. Although these skills take a while to master, you can always lay your foundations straight from the beginning. 

 

  1. Fly away

To entertain a 5-month-old, you can always lift her up and swing her in the air to help her develop the vestibular system. This is important since it helps babies understand the feeling of having their bodies in the air. 

 

Here you can try out different swinging positions and make sure to take short breaks to see how your baby is doing. Before doing this, remember that your baby is well-fed and burped so don’t risk having her throw up on your face while you have her up in her arms. 

 

  1. Story Time

To enhance the cognitive abilities and language skills, read a colorful bedtime story with your baby every night. They may not understand much for now, but you can always let her take over the book and try to make sense of the bright images and words.

 

While reading, make sound effects like “bam!”, or “oops” and play around with physical actions to bring the story to life. Take her little hands to touch the bright images and point at their names, characters, colors, and body parts. This game can be an incredible way to make your baby giggle and learn a few skills every night. I promise you, there will be a time when your baby would try to do the same!

 

  1. Dance Along the Music

Music can be a great way to develop a baby’s sound perception, locomotion, and motor skills if kept at a calming volume. You can sit with your baby and watch her as they move along the rhythm. If she is having trouble with movements, you can always put your hand behind her back and help her dance. 

 

You can play musical poems and peppy music which can never go wrong to entertain your child. Music can be very soothing for babies; they enjoy soft and melodious music, so play some music and have fun. Other than that, you can also try to sing along and loosen up yourself to enjoy a happy time together. 

 

  1. Fruits and Vegetables

At 5 months your baby can certainly eat solid foods now. Letting your baby smell and chewy slightly frozen fruits like mango, pumpkin, cucumber, and banana can be a great way to relieve your little one from the pain of teething. Inevitably, your babies would always like to eat the colorful food items that her parents eat. 

 

So make sure you bring the fruits and vegetables near her mouth to recognize its smell and encourage her to like healthy food from the start. This method is proven to improve olfactory and scent recognition for your baby. 

 

  1. Explore the Outside

As your child grows older every day, you also need to help her see things beyond her toys so she can understand the world around her. You can do this for a warm morning walk with your baby in the stroller or perhaps let her get her hands dirty with grass, leaves, and flowers of all sorts. You would be deeply happy to see your baby fun outdoors. 

 

Carry her to the beach and let her smell the salt in the ocean and the sound of the most relaxing waves for that ever-needed quality time with your baby. However, during all this, you must pay specific attention to see whether she is touching or eating anything harmful outdoors. 

 

  1. Water Fun

Another exciting and fun activity you can do during your baths is to bring out a squirting toy while she’s soaking in the water. In fact, a squirting bath toy is a favorite of many children out there. You can show how it works a couple of times and hand her the toy so she can explore the toy on her own. It can help your child to understand the object-sound association and visual perspective of the things around her. 

 

Here, you need to ensure your baby doesn’t point the nozzle at her face or doesn’t put it in her mouth. 

 

Bonus Tips For Development of 5-Month-Olds

Listen and talk to your baby in your usual way so she can pick up your language and link gestures with words. You can also emphasize sentences using expressions to encourage her to reply back in similar expressions

 

Since your baby is getting older, you can expect to start crawling and walking in no time. And with this comes a new set of challenges. She would inevitably want to touch and grab onto everything she can. Therefore, baby proof all the point edges and lock away all the cupboards that are within the reach of your baby. 

 

Let her meet and connect with new people. It is no surprise that children of this age can easily start to get irritated around many people. This is especially important if you don’t have many people at your home. You can let her enjoy her time with others and learn to be happy when people are showering her endless love.