12 Water Activities For 6 Month Old – Safe And Fun!
Now that your baby has reached six months old, their curiosity is at an all-time high. They are loving to learn and take in their environment and everything around them more than ever. They crave stimulation, and a great way to give them the entertainment they desire is through water activities.
Some fun and safe water activities are swimming with a parent, using an old water bottle, using a sheet pan, kiddies watering can, and more. All water activities should be done with careful supervision from a parent or guardian.
Let us take a look at some fun and safe water activities for you to do with your fun-loving 6-month-old baby that will help stimulate their minds as well as letting them use their hands and feet to play at the same time.
Tummy Time On A Paddleboard
One great way to incorporate water play into your baby’s daily activities is to do tummy time in the pool; one way that you can do this is by doing tummy time on a paddleboard.
The way you will do this is by placing your baby on their tummy on a kiddies paddleboard, making sure that their face is nowhere near the water, and allowing them to kick kick kick!
You will need to have one arm under the paddleboard holding it securely and your other arm wrapped carefully around your baby to ensure that there is no way that they could slip off of the paddleboard at any point.
Your baby will get to experience fun in the water on their little legs and toes while their upper bodies and face remain completely untouched and safe, being safely held by mom or dad.
Sheet Pan Sensory Play With Water
Using a sheet pan to do some water activities with your baby is a great and easy way to let your baby play with water safely.
The easiest way to do this is by laying out a towel on the floor (because there will definitely be splashing), and depending on how hard your floors are, possibly a baby blanket folded up to go under your baby’s tummy too.
Next, fill the bottom of a sheet pan with around one and a half/two inches of water – just enough water for a light toy to float on, but not enough water to pose a safety risk to your baby.
Then simply add 4 or 5 toys to the sheet pan – this could be s rubber ducky, a light ball (for example, the kind of balls that go in a ball pit), or even a silicone spatula if that is something that your baby likes to play with.
Place your baby on their stomach in front of the sheet pan and let them put their hands in the water, and enjoy the cool splashes they can make.
Remember to only ever let your baby play with water while they are being supervised.
Doorframe Jumper In Kiddy Pool
This is a great way to cool your baby down in summer while simultaneously letting them have a great time in the water by themselves.
Lay a towel down underneath your doorframe jumper, place the kiddies pool directly under the jumper and fill it up about a quarter of the way, aka, ankle-deep for your baby.
Pop your baby in the jumper and carefully watch them as they jump and splash away.
Baby In Water With Toys
If your six-month-old baby can sit up on their own, you can use a large sink, your bathtub, or a kiddies’ pool and let your baby play with some floating toys.
Put a little bit of water in the bottom of whatever you are using, just enough to let a light toy float, and let your baby sit in the water with their toys so that they can kick, splash and play with their toys in the water.
Always be vigilant; even though your baby can sit up on their own, they can still fall over by mistake, so always be right there, ready to catch them just in case.
Old Waterbottle
Using a water bottle to teach your baby about water is a fun and easy way to let your baby play with water, and as long as the cap is screwed on as tightly as you possibly can, it is also completely safe.
There are two ways to let your baby play with water in a water bottle.
The first way is to take a small, used water bottle, take off the label and wash it nicely. Then, fill the bottle with water and some glitter, and screw the lid on as tightly as you can.
Give the bottle to your baby and let them watch the water and glitter move around in the bottle as they shake it. It is so simple, but babies love it.
The second way is to literally just fill the way up about a quarter of the way (you can add a drop of food coloring in if you would like) and make sure the lid is screwed on tightly.
Then give your baby the bottle and watch them have a great time. They will love the whole “action and reaction” part of them shaking the bottle and then watching the water swirl around.
Watering Can
You can buy a small children’s watering can almost anywhere; toy stores, supermarkets, etc.
Fill the watering can about halfway so that it is not too heavy for your baby to hold,
then in a garden environment (or in the bath would work too), give your baby the watering can so that they can figure out how to pour the water out and have fun getting wet in the process.
This is a really fun way to let your baby play with water because they are essentially in control and have a full say over the water coming out.
Swimming In A Parent’s Arms.
This one may seem like it is obvious, but it is one of the best ways to introduce water to your little ones as they will feel that they are the safest while being in the arms of their mom or dad.
Take it slow and easy, walking around slowly in the water and allowing your little one to experience the water all around them without getting splashed or feeling overwhelmed.
Over time they will begin to feel comfortable in the water and will begin to splash and play in the water while you hold them and move them around the pool.
Water In A Ziplock Bag
Putting water in a ziplock bag is a great and safe way of letting your little one play with and experience water.
The best way for one to do this is to take a medium or large-sized ziplock bag and put some interesting things in it, like glitter or plastic confetti. You can even add a drop or two of food coloring in to make it even more fun if you would like to.
Then, go ahead and fill the bag about halfway with water and try to squeeze out as much air as possible before finally zipping the bag closed.
Give the bag a good shake to make sure that this mixture has spread out well, and then lay it flat in front of your baby.
If your baby likes to throw things more than look at them, you can use some duct tape and tape down the edges to the table they are sitting at.
Your baby now has the chance to poke and feel and move the water under their little hands and fingers in a completely safe way, not to mention that it should keep them fascinated for a few minutes with all of the fun things to look at inside the water.
Tub With Colorful Water And Toys That Match (do different colors each time)
One fun way to allow your child to play with water and learn about colors at the same time is to fill half a tub with water, and then add some food coloring to it, and then adding lots of toys with the same color into the water.
For example, if you add blue food dye to the water, go find blue toys like blue rubber duckies, balls, teething rings, and even a blue pool noodle cut up into small pieces.
Showing your baby thing color and then all the matching colors in there will help you to start introducing colors to them.
Each time that you do this, you can pick another color and slowly work your way through all the colors.
As they get older and eventually start to tell their colors apart, a fun twist can be to add bubble bath to the water so that they can not see their toys and make them try and fish for them.
Sprinkler
Ah, the sprinkler, what childhood memories are made of. A fun but very safe way to let your six-month-old baby enjoy some water is to let them play in the sprinkler.
Turn the sprinkler onto a very low setting and hold your baby close to the streams of water. Chances are they will try to grab the water and have some fun trying to figure out why it is they can’t quite get it.
They will also enjoy the way the water tickles their feet, so be sure to let them kick their feet in the streams of water too.
Hosepipe
Water the garden with your baby in your arms and let them hold the hosepipe with you. Try turning the pressure down real low and letting your baby put their hands in the stream of water as it flows from the pipe.
You can show them how to use the water from the hosepipe to make little puddles of water, and then let them splash in the water with their feet and hands.
Using the hosepipe is a great way for your baby to play with water since you can play with them with the hosepipe for a little while every day when you water your garden.
This is a good way to get your gardening done and entertain your baby at the same time.
Inflatable Play Water Mat
The inflatable play water mat is probably one of the most popular ways to give your baby some water play in a safe way.
This toy is a crowd favorite among parents, and it makes sense.
The inflatable play water mat is a play mat that has water inside of it with a small space underneath it to inflate.
You can then put your baby on their tummy directly on the play mat, and they can squish around at the water directly underneath them.
The playmat has little toy sea creatures and bubbles inside of it that really grabs your baby’s attention and helps keep them entertained, which helps to prolong tummy time and introduce your baby to water in a safe way.
Conclusion
Water is a super fun thing for your baby to play with and figure out, but it should only be done in a safe and secure environment.
All water activities, inside and outside of a body of water, should only be done under the careful supervision of a parent or guardian, as if the baby is left unattended, it could pose a safety risk to your baby.
There are many different ways that your baby can play with water in a safe way, whether the water is contained in something, like a bottle, ziplock bag, or play mat, or whether it is open for your baby to splash away in.
You should let your baby experience water in both ways if you can, as this will allow them to learn about water in many different and fun ways.
As long as you are safe about it, water is fun and exciting, and your baby will love it.
