Sometimes we forget to make time for the simplest play with our babies. To wit, here’s a fantastic game to fill the time with a thirteen month old (or thereabouts), using any and all balls you have around the house.

I set out a variety of baby sensory balls as well as a few larger sports balls. The soccer ball was an instant favorite!

Working with one verb at a time, we worked our way through all the different motions we could do with the balls. Rolling of course is always fun.

But even more so, Veronika likes to make them bounce!

Then we worked on throwing. This was a little more advanced, but I showed her how to toss sensory balls into a little bucket.

You can also stand your little one up for “baby soccer”. As I brought her toe against the ball each time, I said, “Kick!”

She can’t execute the motion on her own yet, but she’s getting there. Since I left out the assortment of balls all day, there was lots more rolling, dropping, and bouncing to be had.