Thursday, February 10, 2011

Activities For A One-Year-Old {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

Bubbles


It's crazy how just a few short months can transform a crawling, breastfed baby into a "big boy." Running, eating with the adults (just not quite like the adults, as my poor floor would testify), copying words, and making wide-eyed guilty looks when he's been caught in a "no-no."

Our little man is constantly on the move. His happy place is outside, with a stick in each hand. Rainy days are tragic.

After being cooped up on a wet afternoon, I started brainstorming some simple activities that I can engage him in. He's learning more every day, but has an easily distracted attention span. Here are some ideas I've come up with so far (and I'm counting on some of you experienced moms to chime in with your ideas!):

Bubbles! We've discovered that you can make really big ones out of dishsoap.

Coloring. I'm not sure if we've arrived at this one yet. The crayons are still at risk of being ingested.

Fingerpaints. Messy, for sure. But at this stage, I think I'm going to have to come to terms with some amount of mess. They do make washable fingerpaints...right?

Ballons! These could spark a plethora of creative games.

When I was googling one-year-old activities, I read the following recommendation: give your little one a paint brush and some water and let them go to town "painting" things outside.

At 14 (almost 15!) months, Squishy is starting to have a longer attention span for books, and has begun to imitate some of the animal sounds that we've been teaching him. And the tractor in Are You My Mother? is his favorite. I'm thinking that a picture Bible is in order!

What are your best one-year-old activities? I'm all ears...
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It's Thursday, so here's your chance to share any recent (or past!) adventures in your neck of the woods. :) Simply link up your blog post below, link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and visit around to see what other adventures people have been up to. You can follow along on twitter with the hashtag #TryNewAdventures.

In case you missed it, did ya'll check out the homemade goldfish that Our Suburban Circus linked up a couple of weeks ago? So cool!




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20 comments:

  1. At 20 months, we are into homemade playdough, playing with pots and pans and spoons, helping wash the dishes/playing in the soapy water, musical instruments, puppets, chunky puzzles, songs with hand motions, and dress-up hats. But of course playing outside is the best!

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  2. Thank you for this post Alicia. I have ran out of ideas on what activities to do with my very active 17 month old daughter. Her absolute favourite thing to do though is to "help" me prepare dinner. I give her a potato or a carrot and a baby spoon & leave her work away. She eats a lot of raw veggies while she is doing it so it has lots of benefits.

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  3. Great ideas! We've done a lot of "washing". Give the girls a wipe or rag and then let the wash things. And building/playing in forts. Squishy might be a little young for it, but Hannah seems to like them a lot, so you could give it a try.

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  4. Awesome picture! Way to work the new camera!

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  5. Trying to keep a 1 year old distracted and happy can be fun, hehe. I have read somewhere about getting a big bucket or pot and fill it with warm water. Then put it on top of a towel. Give them various cups and spoons and let them play. Haven't had to try this one yet, but ready too if the time comes.

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  6. Haha, Mommy Head, I might need LOTS of towels for that one!

    Sarah, tried your "washing" idea this morning...Squishy must be too young...he just dropped the rag and moved on to something else. Will try later!

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  7. Take his clothes off and try washable fingerpaint (or shaving cream) in the bath tub. So entertaining! He will probably need a bath afterwards though. Also, my son (17 mo) has started taking cereal boxes out of the cupboard and stacking them on top of each other. So we take out all the boxes that cannot be spilled and go at it, fun since he hasn't mastered duplos yet.

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  8. We use Press and Seal with a piece of poster board and put some paint on the poster board, seal the edges- voila- easy clean fingerpainting! :) Love your cute little pic of your cutie.

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  9. We have always loved to go to farms, to look at animals and we loved to go swimming (my daughter and I still do) on special parent-and-child mornings. In the house all water-activities take place either in the garden or in the bathtub. We started baking together early on (like cupcakes) and reading a lot like you. Dancing and singing together is also a favourite activity. And "folding" laundry, not very helpfull, but they liked it.
    Love Amelie

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  10. It's not a tractor. It's a SNORT!

    Hehe. Our favorite line from Are You My Mother? is "You are not my mother. You are a snort."

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  11. PS At one my daughter really liked the bean sensory tub. Fill a big bowl with dry beans and let him play with spoons, measuring cups, slotted spoons. Of course it's a choking hazard so you will need to keep an eye on him.

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  12. When my daughter Anna was one, she LOVED to play in a dishpan filled with water outside on the deck. On hot summer days, I would fill it up and give her some "toys" like cups and spoons to play with. Love the picture of your little guy and the big bubble!! :-)

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  13. Are you my mother is my ALL TIME FAVORITE kids book. My mom used to read it to me over and over and over again, and when I was pregnant with my first, she bought me a brand new copy for my daughter. Some of my kids favorite stuff to do is get a couple of soapy sponges and towels and "scrub" their play table and the floors sometimes. They live for brushing their teeth, they love to shred paper, pretty much anything MESSY!!! LOL. enjoy this stage, it's so much fun, isn't it???

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  14. songs with lots of easy hand motions...
    Open, Shut Them
    Rock and Roll Freeze Dance
    Shake Your Sillies Out
    Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
    I'm Gonna Catch You

    libraries often have music "hour" for toddlers in the kids section

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  15. This is a great list. It looks like you two have lots of fun. (I hope this doesn't come across as spammy because I am just trying to give you more ideas.) I have a blog with lots of ideas for little ones. My "Recipes for Fun" section has several fun recipes for various types of play dough and paints. Maybe you will find something fun to do with Squishy. :-)

    http://pocketful--of--posies.blogspot.com

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  16. Love this post Alicia! And the picture is beautiful! I'm not sure if you've visited this blogger's site before, but she has small children and lots of creative ideas.
    http://quirkymomma.com/

    You might also enjoy some Montessori-type activities for Squishy. It's very hands-on and kids love that kind of thing. Most everything can be tailored to what you have in the house. Here's one of my favorite blogs. She used to feature Toddler Tuesdays, but her "toddler" has grown up.
    http://onehookwonder.blogspot.com/search/label/Toddler%20Tuesdays
    Hope that helps!
    Candi

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  17. This is a great post. Thanks for the ideas. Our grandson is 17 months old and I am always looking for neat things to do with him when he comes to visit. I look forward to trying these with him.

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  18. Hey are two activities i've done with kids I teach that I think a 15 month old world like.

    Get a plastic tub may like an under the bed box and fill with rice or beans then give him cups and funnels or whatever to play with it. It just as fun as a water table but not as wet.
    You can also put shaving cream on the table and let him paint in it . He may try to eat it but once finding out how it taste most kids don't eat it again.

    Meredith

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  19. What great ideas! My boys (18 mo and 3.5 years) need a lot of activities to keep them busy. We like to build forts with blankets, take the couch apart and make obstacle courses with the cushions (great for little bodies learning to more around!) and any kind of cooking is always on the list. Easy recipes or mixes are best: fewest steps, quick results!

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