Encourage Baby's Cognitive Development: 9-12 Months

By Jamie Loehr, M.D. and Jen Meyers
January 21, 2010
Credit: Kathryn Gamble
Jamie Loehr and Jen Meyers, authors of "Raising Your Child," suggest these activities to help enhance your baby's mental development.
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Ask Simple Questions

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Ask your baby questions that she can answer by pointing, such as, "Where is your nose? Where is Daddy?"

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Build Puzzles

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Introduce simple puzzles that have small handles on each puzzle piece. Although your baby may not be able to put the pieces back into the board right away, she will enjoy the colors and manipulating the pieces. She will eventually learn how they fit together.

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Play With Stacking Toys

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Have nesting toys such as cups or boxes that fit into each other. Show your baby how to stack them and nest them.

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Teach Her About Movement

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Find a toy with lots of moveable parts such as buttons, slides, and doors. Your baby will learn the concepts of up and down, open and shut, and in and out as she plays with the various parts.

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Hide Her Toys

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Play find the toy. Let your baby watch you put a large toy beneath a blanket. When you ask her to find it, she will notice that the blanket isn't flat and remember that you put the toy under the blanket. She will pull the blanket off to find the toy. Next, you can hide the toy in front of her, but cover it up with one of two blankets that are next to each other. Finally, use the two blankets but hide the toy without her watching you and see if she can figure out where it is hidden.

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Spice it Up

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Save empty, plastic spice jars that still carry the scent of the spices and let your baby play with them.

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Raising Your Child

Raising Your Child: The Complete Illustrated Guide is an information-packed guide that leads parents through the ever changing maze of new behaviors, developments, and challenges present in a child's first six years. It is filled with essential information, expert advice, practical solutions, and key choices to ensure a child's healthy development for their first six years -- and set them up for success in later developmental stages. In addition to understanding their child's stage of development, readers are given parenting techniques and activities they can use with their child to maximize physical, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral development at every age and stage.

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More Activities for 6-9 Month Babies

Credit: Kathryn Gamble

Get more ideas from Raising Your Child: The Complete Illustrated Guide to help with your baby's development.

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