What does your 6 month old like to play with?

[mrs.t]

DS is 6 months and crawling. He is exploring everything he can get his hands on, he usually crawls over to things, grasps them, mouths them, shakes them, etc. but he get EXTREMELY frustrated when he can't have something. He will crawl across the room to get his hands on something like the remote control. If I block him or take something away he SCREAMS. Basically, I have resigned myself to the idea of completely emptying my living room of anything dangerous and filling it with things he will like. The problem is, he seems to get bored with toys so easily and I really don't want to spend a fortune to keep him entertained. So, what objects do your babies like to explore that are completely safe for a 6 month old? I just want to be able to set him up with some stuff while I do some chores around the house.

[jenfl]

Little exploring boxes/baskets are good. Get a couple small ones, fill them with interesting things to explore -- bean bags in different textures, scraps of fabric, things that rattle and shake, different things in all one color. Swap those out frequently, and it might get you a few more minutes!

[elmh23]

A big bouncy ball. He really loves crawling after it, getting to it and hitting it (out of excitement!), and then having to go chase it again. He spent a good half hour doing that this afternoon!

The only other thing that will keep his attention that long is a newspaper. He loves to eat that stuff.

[Knitting Mama]

Pretty much everything by Manhattan Toys, though especially Ziggles, Whoozit, Winkel and Skwish. Also, she adore her maraca, and I have been teaching her how to shake it (she's doing a great job with it).

[momto4plus4]

Jeremiah isn't crawling but loves his exersaucer. Toys though, his favorite is a set of jingle bells I have that is actually a Christmas ornament (they're the super big ones and I supervise him the whole time!).

[newmamalizzy]

In typical baby fashion, ours likes the things we wouldn't expect or plan on. Her absolute favorite is the wooden Jacob's Ladder I've had since high school. Otherwise, she likes to get a reaction out of things lately - her grandparents got her this obnoxious Sesame Street plastic radio thing that plays songs and lights up when you press the buttons. She could entertain herself with it for hours if I let her. It's nice because she doesn't have to be very precise to get it to work. Also, she really likes her plush jingly beach ball, her stacking rings (not plain plastic/wood ones - these are each a different material and rattle, jingle, crinkle, etc.). And cups, cups, cups.

[Oliver's Mama]

Ds2 is obsessed with his older brother's Thomas trains, which easily become scattered across the room, and I totally understand, OP, he screams whenever I have to take something inappropriate away! However, a thomas train was the motivation that got him to crawl for the first time. He actually crawled OVER a pile of baby toys to get to it. So I'm looking for baby vehicles that he'll take to.Now, he's discovered the laundry basket, so I guess that's a homemade version of those fill-and-spill toys.I just bought these, which he likes: http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_comp...wo_squeeze.cfm squeaky, chewable blocks. Great baby toy if you have an older sibling who will play along with them.

[busymama77]

My DS is the same way. I would say that his current favorite is his exersaucer. He also enjoys stackable toys - not putting them together, but knocking them over after I stack them up for him. He also enjoys this little dinosaur piano that I had gotten for DS1 a couple of years ago. He bangs on the keys and thinks it's the funniest thing!

[mrs.t]

Thanks Mamas! Some great ideas here!!! Maybe my DS will stop attackng my DH's shoes now.

Any more suggestions???

[rhiOrion]

DD loves the ever-present Sophie and her nipple-headed mushroom man friend, Chan.

Plastic keys.

At day care when I drop her off I've noticed they have a basket of random toys (plastic keys, rattles, etc) and LOVES to reeaaaach (not crawling yet) for the basket and then play with one, put it down, pull out another, play with it, put it down, repeat repeat repeat.

[ivymae]

Cloth blocks (she will knock them down and cackle for as long as I will sit and stack them) - also good for chewing on.
Stacking cups - again with the stacking, but also fun to put things in and play 'where did the toy go?'
A crinkle toy
Wooden rattle/chewer
Rattle phone
Anything her sisters leave on the floor and she can wiggle her way to. yesterday it was a library book.

[LittleLegos]

I have a six month old too. She has lots of hand me down toys (wooden ring teethers, balls, soft stuffed toys, small wooden blocks), but also likes kitchen things too. A wooden spoon and a small bowl can entertain for a while (each independently). The small bowl is fun to see it weeble and turn over, ect, especially at a table or on a hard surface. It's noisy too.

We have a soft sorter which has four different shaped toys with different noises, crinkle, jingle ball, squeak and shaker. I love that she's old enough now to take things out of containers. Before she would only pay attention to the container.

Cloth is a great thing too! She'll grab just about anything and try to chew on it. A blanket, clothing, a burb cloth... Good for peek a boo too.

Loves books too...sometimes she'll look w/ me, sometimes she wants to mouth them too much, so then we look for something else.

Have fun!
Amy

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

DD loves the ever-present Sophie and her nipple-headed mushroom man friend, Chan.

this sounds like a bad trip

[braidmama]

Max turned 6 months on Oct 5th and isn't sitting up yet on his own or crawling. If I put him on his tummy he actually just lays his head down most of the time...he's totally not interested in it, haha. He loves standing postion though!

Anyway...he has an exersaucer that he's been really digging and we have a few toys that have piqued his interest...little stuffed animals with rattles inside. He has a blue ball that almost feels like its made out of silicone...not sure, and it has rattles attached to it and he LOVES it. He's also attached himself to the yellow ring in his ring stacker, haha. He will go to that before anything else!

He loves books, grabbing them, grabbing different "pages" (board books) and trying to eat the,. Everything goes right into his mouth. He loves dangly things, also.

[P.J.]

You mentioned wanting to save money. There are loads and loads of "toys" you can make for free or very cheaply. There must be some website or blog that explains more options, a quick google search would turn up I bet. But a couple ideas: fill a small plastic water bottle with pebbles or beans and seal it well with packing tape. If it's the kind of bottle with ridges the pebbles make a rain-stick like sound and it's pretty fun...or just the bottle alone; my 4.5 month old loves playing with plastic bottles. You can also fill an old vitamin bottle with rice or beans and seal it well and then put shiny stickers on it. Also as a PP mentioned colorful fabric or scarves you already have. The Sears book mentions piles of old yarn (but that requires supervision unless you tie them all together into a ball). Anyway it's pretty much endless what a baby will play with, and you really needn't spend much money to keep them entertained, but just get creative. GL!