Best Activities for a 4-Month-Old Baby

As your baby grows and begins to wake up from the foggy newborn phase where it seems like all she does is eat, sleep and poop, you’ll find you have a slightly more active baby on your hands. Sure, by 4 months, she won’t yet be crawling or pulling up on the table causing mischief, but she’ll likely be beginning to engage with you on a deeper social and emotional level, and be able to move her body with more intent and purpose.

You can help give your growing infant a push in the right direction simply by getting down on the floor — or at least getting eye to eye with her — and playing. Play and learning are one in the same in early childhood: Simple actions, like playing peekaboo or mimicking facial expressions, help your child explore and interact with the world around her.

What skills is your child developing at 4 months? 

Skills like babbling and, later, standing up are called developmental milestones. These markers of a baby's progress help pediatricians and parents track baby’s growth in four crucial developmental categories: social and emotional, language and communication, cognition and movement, and gross and fine motor skills.

But these milestones should be general guidelines, not a strict schedule, as every baby develops at her own pace. If your child isn’t meeting these milestones and you have concerns, talk to your pediatrician — they’re your best resource. 

But, in general, here’s what you’ll likely begin to see baby attempt around the 4-month mark:

Social and emotional skills

• Begins to copy facial expressions
• May show signs of sadness when playing stops

Language and communication skills

• Begins to babble
• Starts to copy sounds
• Laughs out loud
• Turns toward voices

Cognitive skills

• Follows moving things with eyes from side to side
• Watches faces closely
• Recognizes familiar people and things at a distance
• Responds to affection

Gross and fine motor skills

• Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface
• Begins to roll over from stomach to back
• Brings hands to mouth
• Grasps objects

Best activities for a 4-month-old baby

So what can you do to help foster the rapid development that occurs as your little one transitions from a bleary-eyed newborn to an active infant? To play with your 4-month-old and help her meet the milestones above, try the following activities.

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Make faces

At 4 months, your baby is emerging from the sleepier newborn phase and will begin to show more social skills — she’s probably beginning to master that sweet smile! And believe it or not, your little one may even be able to mimic simple facial expressions, particularly sticking her tongue out.

Bring yourself to baby’s eye level, stick your tongue out and see if she’ll copy you. This simple game can help enhance her social and emotional, language and cognitive skills. 

Let baby explore toys with his mouth

Give baby something light to bring up to her mouth. (Or course, you’ll want to make sure that any toys you give your little one are age-appropriate. Read: No small parts or items small enough to fit entirely into his mouth that could be choking hazards.)

Through this simple action, she’ll be honing his physical skills as she learns to smoothly bring objects up and to her mouth, but she’ll also learn about texture as she — safely — explores new objects (a soft fabric ball, a smooth plastic teething ring, for example). 

Help baby stand on your legs

To help your child develop the large muscles in her legs that will eventually help her stand, crawl and walk, sit on a chair or the couch and hold baby in your arms. Gently raise her to a standing position with her feet on your thighs. Let her push back against your legs while you support her with your arms. Eventually, with enough practice, she'll be able to bounce up and down on your legs. 

Play with textures

Grab a few objects with different textures — think a fuzzy blanket, a smooth fabric ball and a bumpy teething toy. Let your child touch the fabric (you may need to guide her hand). As she touches each one, use the identifying adjective to describe it: fuzzy, smooth, bumpy.

Though your baby won’t yet understand the meaning of these words, she will begin to learn more about the world around her through her sense of touch — and it’s always good to encourage language development. 

Put on a show

Now is your time to shine! Act out the sounds of barnyard animals, do the letter moves as you sing and dance along to the “Y.M.C.A.” song or come up with your own expressive performance to entertain your baby. The goal is to get your little one laughing at your over-the-top actions — an important social skill. Plus, as baby follows your movements, she’ll learn to focus her attention and improve tracking skills.

Bottom line? As long as you’re offering your 4-month-old plenty of opportunities to play, you’re on the right track. Remember: All children develop at different speeds, so don’t worry too much if your little one seems to be taking a longer to engage with the above activities.