{"id":1726,"date":"2020-08-15T23:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-15T23:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/?p=1726"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:25:08","slug":"50-things-do-babies-during-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/50-things-do-babies-during-first-year\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Things To Do With Babies During the First Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Early parenting inevitably feels like &#8220;Groundhog Day&#8221;. In addition to breaking up the feed-change-sleep grind, an outing can build parents&#8217; confidence!  Around week 8, when babies begin to be more wakeful for longer periods, parents may wonder <em>What do I do with my baby?<\/em> Or <em>what activities are stimulating to for my little one?<\/em> 50 Th<strong>i<\/strong>ngs to Do with Babies During the First Year, gives ideas of everyday activities that we hope baby -and you- will enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">All major medical organizations agree that infants age 2 and under should not use screens unless they&#8217;re engaging in video chats with loved ones. In addition to being associated with behavioral changes and speech delays, children can also experience sleep disruptions. <a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/10\/you-should-know-blue-light-screen-time-and-babies\/\">You Should Know: Blue Light, Screen Time and Babies<\/a> explains this is greater detail. The good news is that your baby is interested in <em>everything<\/em> so even simple activities, like sitting on the porch listening to birds is an screen free activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-regular-font-size\">Baby Activities Around the House<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The activities below are all things you can easily do in your home or hopefully close to it. For example, there&#8217;s no need to go on a daylong outing to the zoo if you&#8217;re not up to it&#8230;the pet store with it&#8217;s up close views of fish and small animals can work just as well!  You also don&#8217;t need expensive toys; soft books that make crinkly noises, homemade maracas or using a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/49fWBHE\" title=\"sensory mat\">sensory <\/a>mat during<a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/02\/tummy-time-troubles-solved\/\" title=\" tummy time \"> tummy time <\/a>are all interesting science experiments to your infant. Of course, your baby should always be supervised during any activity. <br><br><strong>Bonus activities: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-regular-font-size\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/26\/grow-kitchen-scrap-garden\/\">Grow a Kitchen Scrap Garden!<\/a>&#8211; Place stump of a celery in water and new growth will start after just a day or 2<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-regular-font-size\">Throw a Kitchen Dance Party &#8211; We made you <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/0h9tUJKVMJGMKRMQ7xYgK7?si=dxBb9u_5Q3mLqNwZMYRwCQ&amp;pi=CbIwEEFWRZKph\" title=\"a playlist\">a playlist<\/a> and everything<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make a Homemade Sensory Tray &#8211; Use cupcake tray and put different sized toys and balls in each of the cups. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get those newborn photos taken! Find out the <a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/50-things-do-babies-during-first-year\/\" title=\"best age for newborn photos\">best age for newborn photos<\/a> here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">50 Things To Do With Babies During the First Year<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"791\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year-791x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5971\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7724609375;width:711px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year-791x1024.png 791w, https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year-232x300.png 232w, https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year-768x994.png 768w, https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year-1187x1536.png 1187w, https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year.png 1545w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-regular-font-size\">A Word About Screens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/kidshealth.org\/en\/parents\/screentime-baby-todd.html?ref=search\">KidsHealth.org<\/a>, &#8220;toddlers 18 months to 24 months old can start to enjoy some screen time with a parent or caregiver&#8221; and by ages 2 and 3, it\u2019s &#8220;OK for kids to watch up to 1 hour a day of high-quality educational programming.&#8221; Little ones should be monitored by an adult who can reinforce the lessons shown in this programming.  Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children ages 2 to 5 should get an hour or less of screen time per day.  The exception to these rules is video chats with loved ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Please download the PRINTABLE PDF version of this checklist below! For more ideas check out <a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/01\/toys-siblings-can-play-together\/\">Toys Siblings Can Play<\/a> with Together. As always please let us know your ideas too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Download here: <a href=\"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/50-Things-To-Do-With-Babies-During-the-First-Year.png\" title=\"op 50 Things To Do with Babies During the First Year\">50 Things To Do with Babies During the First Year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@graph\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": [\"Article\", \"MedicalWebPage\"],\n      \"@id\": \"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/50-things-do-babies-during-first-year\/\",\n      \"mainEntityOfPage\": \"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/50-things-do-babies-during-first-year\/\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/50-things-do-babies-during-first-year\/\",\n      \"headline\": \"50 Things To Do With Babies During the First Year\",\n      \"alternativeHeadline\": \"Simple, Screen-Free Baby Activities for the First Year\",\n      \"description\": \"Easy, developmentally appropriate baby activities for the first year of life\u2014plus a free printable checklist download. 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Or what activities are stimulating to for my little one? 50 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-archives"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letmommysleep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}