This winter in Boston has been particularly brutal. Navigating the sidewalks with a stroller is still a challenge. My Little Guy (LG) is starting to get too big to carry long distances in the Bjorn carrier, now that he has turned one last week. This leaves us inside more than I would normally like. I felt I was getting into a bit of a rut with the activities we were doing, and comprised a fresh list in my head to keep in mind for this week. I thought I would share them here in case any other nannies or moms were looking for new ideas to try with their one year old.
1. Big coloring project. My LG will frequently try to rip up any standard size piece of paper, rather than use crayons on it. While this is a worthy experiment, to encourage small kids to use the crayons I will sometimes use larger sheets of paper from a roll, and tape them down to the floor to avoid that temptation. If they are still hesitant or confused even with you showing how it's done, try dotting the crayon against the paper- most little kids at this stage love banging things! Bigger crayons also can help too. Make sure to add in some education to the activity, by always identifying the color each of you is using, drawing and naming shapes, outlining feet or hands, and counting how many crayons people are holding.
2. Water play. Many kids love playing with water, and you can add to the fun and education using food coloring for different buckets, and testing to see which items sink or float, and which can hold water.
3. Read books. A common sense one, but might as well include it on the list to point out in addition to reading, you can name different objects, and start having them "Find something red" or a particular shape.
4. Paint with food. At this stage using paint isn't really a viable option, so sometimes we break the rules, and play with our food instead! I mix in the food processor beets and pear (LG can get picky with just beets) for pink, spinach and tofu for green, sweet potatoes for orange, blueberries for purple, and banana with a little turmeric for yellow. You can experiment with other foods as well! You can also use something that absorbs color like yogurt and food dye to make an easier arrangement, I just don't like little kids eating too much food coloring, so I use things with more natural coloring. I just put some in little dishes in front of him on his highchair tray, and let him go to town.
5. Singing songs. Songs like "head, shoulders, knees and toes" are great for naming parts, and kids like any song- especially if it has you being interactive with them like making little hand spiders climb up them or spinning in a circle and falling down.
6. Dancing. Shouldn't be surprised this is on my list. Related to singing, but instead of you making the music I put on toddler radio on Pandora, or when I get tired of those songs, I switch to my library which is just ballet albums (Ballet Goes Pop and Princess at the Ballet are my favorites right now). My LG is walking, but if they aren't you can hold their hands and encourage them to take steps and eventually let go of one hand, then the other. This is how he actually started walking a few months ago!
7. Ball games. Babies love rolling and playing with balls. Use ones of different sizes and colors to talk about and show them, and get a big basket to let them try either rolling it or placing it inside.
8. Bubbles. In addition to kids liking them, I learned this year it can make dogs go insane trying to eat them. Have them try blowing it too! This page on Mama OT has some awesome reasons why bubbles are great for kids if you need to be sold some more on them!
9. Playdough. Another great sensory activity. There are a lot of recipes online you can find easily. For 2 year olds and up it can be a whole different activity to make it together! For this age, I worry about him eating it, so I usually just add oatflakes and a little cornstarch to the "paint" recipe and have them just play with that.
10. Sensory tub. Get a big bin, and you can fill it with different things on different days from rice, dry beans, jingle bells, cotton balls, yarn- whatever you have on hand. Put some of their toys in there (like cars, farm animals, shapes). Have them "find" different things and in addition to naming what is found, you can count the objects. Just be sure any small items don't go into the mouth if your baby is prone to doing that still.
11. Kinetic sand. I love this stuff. It's a dry sand that acts like it's wet and is totally moldable and "moves". I typically don't feel comfortable asking parents to get it, so I usually give this to them for their first birthday. That way we can explore and play with it!
12. Make a fort. One of the many times I love my job. Build a fort using furniture and blankets. Bring a flashlight and book inside and have a mini camp out!
13. Playing peek-a-boo. This game is still a big hit with LG. In addition to using hands, he LOVES using blankets. Lately he's taken charge and will cover my head with a blanket and eventually take it off shouting and laughing , "Boo you!".
14. Puppets. If you don't have any in the house, you can always make simple ones with paper bags. Trust me, this can entertain them more than the real thing sometimes. This house has animal ones, so we are sure to go through the different sounds they make.
15. Boxes. Babies (and toddlers) love playing with boxes. If they are really big, you can put them inside and push them around in it. Smaller ones, you can put different toys inside and have them "find" their own toys.
16. Chase. Count to three (or higher if they are slow, but LG is FAST!), then run after them. I Lift him up once I catch him, and play "up baby, down baby" to get him more familiar with those words, because he still doesn't use them. You can work on whatever you like though!
17. Building. At this stage, they might not understand how to build with blocks, but most can definitely get into knocking down anything you build! If you don't have a set of blocks you can use almost anything, smaller boxes, puzzle pieces- the possibilities are endless. I like soft "foam" ones at this stage as they can't hurt themselves on the edges knocking it over, but they usually like things that have a bigger sound knocking to the floor.
18. Play with clothes. Another thing I find kids like at this age is playing with their clothes. They love pulling it out of drawers and I show them how to put it back inside. You can work on colors, where each item goes- "where do these socks go? Oh, on your feet!" and point to them, and cleaning up skills. I know some people probably don't want to encourage them doing this (pulling folded clothes out), but I've found every baby I've worked with has done it organically at some point. It's then I usually introduce this "game", and make sure they start trying to work on putting things back where they belong, as we also work on colors and such. I know many parents want neat drawers, so I always refold everything to make sure it's the same or better then when we started.
20. Ramps. Babies love watching things roll, and it's great to experiment with what rolls, and how fast it will go. Use cars, balls, and then some things that might not work as well like some of their stuffed animals. For older toddlers using paint, you can cover this with white paper, set against a wall also covered with paper. Let them dip balls and easy to wash cars in paint and have them roll it down to see the path it takes! You have to be prepared for some pretty heavy duty cleanup, but it's usually worth it.
I hope that list helps some other people who might be sick of this winter also!
1. Big coloring project. My LG will frequently try to rip up any standard size piece of paper, rather than use crayons on it. While this is a worthy experiment, to encourage small kids to use the crayons I will sometimes use larger sheets of paper from a roll, and tape them down to the floor to avoid that temptation. If they are still hesitant or confused even with you showing how it's done, try dotting the crayon against the paper- most little kids at this stage love banging things! Bigger crayons also can help too. Make sure to add in some education to the activity, by always identifying the color each of you is using, drawing and naming shapes, outlining feet or hands, and counting how many crayons people are holding.
2. Water play. Many kids love playing with water, and you can add to the fun and education using food coloring for different buckets, and testing to see which items sink or float, and which can hold water.
3. Read books. A common sense one, but might as well include it on the list to point out in addition to reading, you can name different objects, and start having them "Find something red" or a particular shape.
4. Paint with food. At this stage using paint isn't really a viable option, so sometimes we break the rules, and play with our food instead! I mix in the food processor beets and pear (LG can get picky with just beets) for pink, spinach and tofu for green, sweet potatoes for orange, blueberries for purple, and banana with a little turmeric for yellow. You can experiment with other foods as well! You can also use something that absorbs color like yogurt and food dye to make an easier arrangement, I just don't like little kids eating too much food coloring, so I use things with more natural coloring. I just put some in little dishes in front of him on his highchair tray, and let him go to town.
5. Singing songs. Songs like "head, shoulders, knees and toes" are great for naming parts, and kids like any song- especially if it has you being interactive with them like making little hand spiders climb up them or spinning in a circle and falling down.
6. Dancing. Shouldn't be surprised this is on my list. Related to singing, but instead of you making the music I put on toddler radio on Pandora, or when I get tired of those songs, I switch to my library which is just ballet albums (Ballet Goes Pop and Princess at the Ballet are my favorites right now). My LG is walking, but if they aren't you can hold their hands and encourage them to take steps and eventually let go of one hand, then the other. This is how he actually started walking a few months ago!
7. Ball games. Babies love rolling and playing with balls. Use ones of different sizes and colors to talk about and show them, and get a big basket to let them try either rolling it or placing it inside.
8. Bubbles. In addition to kids liking them, I learned this year it can make dogs go insane trying to eat them. Have them try blowing it too! This page on Mama OT has some awesome reasons why bubbles are great for kids if you need to be sold some more on them!
9. Playdough. Another great sensory activity. There are a lot of recipes online you can find easily. For 2 year olds and up it can be a whole different activity to make it together! For this age, I worry about him eating it, so I usually just add oatflakes and a little cornstarch to the "paint" recipe and have them just play with that.
10. Sensory tub. Get a big bin, and you can fill it with different things on different days from rice, dry beans, jingle bells, cotton balls, yarn- whatever you have on hand. Put some of their toys in there (like cars, farm animals, shapes). Have them "find" different things and in addition to naming what is found, you can count the objects. Just be sure any small items don't go into the mouth if your baby is prone to doing that still.
11. Kinetic sand. I love this stuff. It's a dry sand that acts like it's wet and is totally moldable and "moves". I typically don't feel comfortable asking parents to get it, so I usually give this to them for their first birthday. That way we can explore and play with it!
12. Make a fort. One of the many times I love my job. Build a fort using furniture and blankets. Bring a flashlight and book inside and have a mini camp out!
13. Playing peek-a-boo. This game is still a big hit with LG. In addition to using hands, he LOVES using blankets. Lately he's taken charge and will cover my head with a blanket and eventually take it off shouting and laughing , "Boo you!".
14. Puppets. If you don't have any in the house, you can always make simple ones with paper bags. Trust me, this can entertain them more than the real thing sometimes. This house has animal ones, so we are sure to go through the different sounds they make.
15. Boxes. Babies (and toddlers) love playing with boxes. If they are really big, you can put them inside and push them around in it. Smaller ones, you can put different toys inside and have them "find" their own toys.
16. Chase. Count to three (or higher if they are slow, but LG is FAST!), then run after them. I Lift him up once I catch him, and play "up baby, down baby" to get him more familiar with those words, because he still doesn't use them. You can work on whatever you like though!
17. Building. At this stage, they might not understand how to build with blocks, but most can definitely get into knocking down anything you build! If you don't have a set of blocks you can use almost anything, smaller boxes, puzzle pieces- the possibilities are endless. I like soft "foam" ones at this stage as they can't hurt themselves on the edges knocking it over, but they usually like things that have a bigger sound knocking to the floor.
18. Play with clothes. Another thing I find kids like at this age is playing with their clothes. They love pulling it out of drawers and I show them how to put it back inside. You can work on colors, where each item goes- "where do these socks go? Oh, on your feet!" and point to them, and cleaning up skills. I know some people probably don't want to encourage them doing this (pulling folded clothes out), but I've found every baby I've worked with has done it organically at some point. It's then I usually introduce this "game", and make sure they start trying to work on putting things back where they belong, as we also work on colors and such. I know many parents want neat drawers, so I always refold everything to make sure it's the same or better then when we started.
20. Ramps. Babies love watching things roll, and it's great to experiment with what rolls, and how fast it will go. Use cars, balls, and then some things that might not work as well like some of their stuffed animals. For older toddlers using paint, you can cover this with white paper, set against a wall also covered with paper. Let them dip balls and easy to wash cars in paint and have them roll it down to see the path it takes! You have to be prepared for some pretty heavy duty cleanup, but it's usually worth it.
I hope that list helps some other people who might be sick of this winter also!