The 5-month mark brings exciting new adventures, as your baby is likely much more engaged and expressive now. Suddenly, you’ll feel like you’re actually communicating with one another! Sure, it will be many more months before you're having a real conversation, but your 5-month-old is likely now showing all kinds of emotions and even responding to yours.
You can help foster these newfound skills — and expand upon them — by playing with your baby daily. Right now, your little one isn’t coordinated enough yet to clap his hands while playing patty-cake or hide his face during a game of peekaboo. But there are still a variety of fun ways to engage your baby at this stage.
What skills is your child developing at 5 months?
Skills like reaching for toys and, later, sitting up and walking are called developmental milestones. These markers are set to help pediatricians and parents track your baby’s progress in four important developmental categories: social and emotional, language and communication, cognition, and gross and fine motor skills.
They aren’t firm schedules, though — every child develops at a slightly different pace. So if your little one isn’t quite meeting these milestones, don’t stress. Voice any concerns you might have to your pediatrician at your child's next well visit.
In general, though, here’s what you’ll begin to see your baby do around 5 months:
Social and emotional skills
- Starts to express a deeper range of emotions
- Responds to others’ expressions of emotions
Language and communication skills
- Begins to babble coupled with expression, like frustration
Cognitive skills
- Tracks from side to side smoothly
- Struggles to get out-of-reach objects
Gross and fine motor skills
- Reaches for toys with both hands
- Attempts to cross the midline (reach across their body)
Best activities for a 5-month-old baby
So what can you do to help your increasingly active baby master these important skills? To engage your 5-month-old during playtime, try the following activities.
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Show your baby interesting objects
Each day, introduce your baby to a new-to-him object, such as a brightly colored toy or a high-contrast card. Let him bring safe objects — a teething ring, for example — to his mouth to explore and experience new textures. This helps with hand-eye coordination and motor strength as he grasps the item.
Let him explore his own reflection
Place a baby-safe mirror (secured or specifically designed as a baby toy) at your child's eye level and let him observe his own reflection. Continue to do this as your little one grows. Over time, he'll start making connections about what his body is doing and feeling in comparison to what he is seeing.
Go for a narrated walk
Hold your baby as you walk around the house, park or block and narrate what you see along the way. You might say things like, “Look, this is an apple!” or “Do you see the red car?” You can also use this as a chance to interact with your baby’s sounds and gestures as you narrate, which is called serve and return. This early "talking" with your child can positively impact his cognitive and language development.
Play the "on and off" game
As you walk around the house, show your baby how to turn things — lights, water faucets, even the vacuum or the blender — on and then off. With each action you take, say “on” or “off.” This is a great way to introduce the concept of cause and effect. You can also try this with a flashlight, which further encourages baby’s tracking skills as he follows the light beam around the room.
Roll a ball
Though you can use any medium- or large-sized ball, a multi-textured ball designed for babies is ideal for this activity, since it gives your infant a deeper sensory experience. Either way, hand your little one the ball and see what he does with it. You can also foster the development of new motor skills by showing him different ways to play with the ball, demonstrating how to roll it, throw it and drop it into a box or off the side of the table. Just make sure that the ball isn’t so small that it could be a choking hazard.
Finally, if your baby is showing signs that he's had enough — he seems distracted, bored, turns his head away or fusses — take a break and try again later. And remember that as long as you offer regular opportunities for play, you’re doing exactly what you should be doing. Your baby will reap the benefits and, over time, you'll notice more engagement from your little learner.
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