Your five month old may have just begun solids, or tasted a few purees by this point – and even if he or she is still only drinking milk, babies this age love mouthing everything. Taste is such an important way in which little ones learn about the world, and this game lets them explore with the mouth safely!

I sat Veronika comfortably in her high chair and placed a few curated objects in front of her: a wooden spoon, a rubber spatula, a frozen teether, and a few toys.

She got to pick what came first. Hmm, the wooden spoon looked so interesting…

…but it was hard and probably not very nice in the mouth.

The rubber spatula came next. Aah, this was a bit softer. I talked about the texture as she gnawed, as well as its bright bold color.

She always loves her frozen teether, and that got picked up next. This time I talked about its cold temperature, the soft nubby texture.

If you’re supervising closely, let your baby have a piece of banana to explore. Veronika loved holding this. It smelled good too!

She seemed very surprised when she put it in her mouth and found that it was really food. Be careful, since you don’t want a five month old biting off chunks. I did then smoosh some onto her tray for her to play with.

Any other small toys work great for this game, too. Talk about the different textures of each as you play, and help your baby learn so much about the world!