This post is sponsored by buybuyBABY. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make LivingLesh possible.
One of the biggest things that we are all facing at home right now is how to keep baby entertained while at home, and for some of us, keep baby educated since daycares and preschools are closed. In my case, this is something I have been doing and will continue doing since my current job is a remote position. Our little man will be turning 9 months in about a week and he’s been giving us a run for our money. He’s crawling all over the place and he is also working on trying to stand by himself, so it’s only a matter of time before he’s walking. And other than his physical developments, we also want to make sure that we are working on his mental development so that he begins to use words and understand what things mean. It’s been trial and error with some things, but we’ve found some very sure-fire ways. So in today’s post, I want to share with you the different ways that we are keeping baby entertained while at home with some great picks from our go-to store buybuyBABY.
SHOP BABY & TODDLER ESSENTIALS FROM BUYBUYBABY:
CREATING A BABY FRIENDLY SPACE
The first thing that we wanted to do before truly figuring out how to keep baby entertained while at home was to make a space that was baby-friendly and would keep our son entertained while we were nearby working. So, as many parents do, we turned our living room into his play area.
We first started by laying down a foam mat to help with the little falls that he has – especially because we have hardwood floors. Since our son likes to stand and attempt to talk a lot, we wanted to make sure that as he’s playing around and working on taking those steps that he has a soft floor to fall onto so that he doesn’t hurt himself. The great thing about this floor is that it is also developmental, so as he gets older, we can continue to use it to teach him letters and numbers. So when we get to the age when he understands what letters and numbers are, I can sit in the space and ask him to go pick me up the letter ‘M’ for MOMMY!
After making the floor soft, we sectioned off the area so that he would safely stay in one area. Everyone knows that babies like to explore, and with us also having a dog, we didn’t want to have one of those moments when our son would get into the dog’s bowl and ingest some dog food. The great thing with this playpen is that it takes multiple shaps and also has a portion that is interactive that can be hung on the side.
Additionally, around the house we put up baby gates so that if we take him out of the playpen, he still has the ability to roam around the house but won’t go too far down the hallway or, if upstairs, he won’t crawl away and end up taking a tumble down the stairs.
FUN DEVELOPMENTAL TOYS FOR BABY
The one thing that we wanted to focus on when considering how to keep baby entertained while at home was, when picking out toys for our little man, to get toys that weren’t only entertaining but also developmental. At his stage, it’s highly recommended to get stacking toys such as blocks or the stacking rings to teach him about cause and effect and also to teach colors, building, and sequence. Though at this age, he’s more focused on knocking them down, it’s quite fun to see him try to build it back up and explore the different parts when he has it in his hands.
The one fun toy that we found at buybuyBABY that has been his most favorite toy is the SKIPHOP Follow-Bee Crawl Toy. It is great for beginner crawlers all the way to beginner walkers because the toy flies across the floor and baby chases it. And then when caught, baby takes the little bee off and the toy dances around and lights up. Our son adores it and crawls after it everywhere. It keeps him super entertained and active and let’s him explore around the house that we have sectioned off for him to be in.
And to keep him upright, other than when he stands up on his own, we have a jumper for him that he adores and a cute walker that looks like a Ford Raptor. He bounces around in the Nemo bouncer when he wants a little time listening to music and dancing, and then when he wants to run around the house and chase the dog, he jumps in his little Raptor and off he goes.
Lastly, it’s definitely recommended to get yourself some books to read to baby. What we do is when we take a break during the day, which is usually right after his naps, we take a few minutes and read our son a book. He loves some of the classic books such as Rainbow Fish and the new books such as some of the indestructible books that we found at buybuyBABY that allow him to chew and try to rip apart. It lets him interact with the book in all sorts of ways. Because, if baby likes it, it automatically goes into the mouth.
