1. The Tickle game
We made this game by gluing wipes lids to a cardstock. I placed stickers under each lid, and a feather under one random lid. When Stone opens each lid, we get to learn the name of the object on the sticker, and if he finds a feather he gets a tickle attack with that feather 😄
2. Lift the flaps
Sticky notes can convert any book into a flap book. For this activity, I took a bunch of sticky notes and fully covered a book spread. Then Stone removed the sticky notes to discover the picture underneath. This activity can also be done over a family portrait. When a child removes the sticky notes, he discovers a family picture.
3. Drop a ball into a box
One of Stone’s favorite activities at 12 months old was dropping balls into the opening in a shoe box. Sometimes he would open the lid to see how many balls there are inside the box. This activity develops object permanence and gross motor skills.
4. Opening various boxes
This is a simple activity that can keep a baby’s interest for a while. All you need is a few different boxes and a few toys. Shoe boxes work great for this. I hide a toy in each box, and my child opens up each box to discover what toy is inside. Stone loves cars so I usually hide different kinds of cars in each box. He takes them out, plays with them, puts them back in, opens and closes the box tops.
5. Seek and find activity with pictures of the family members.
Stone is 13 months old here, and this activity helped him learn the names of our family members. We used a seek-and-find activity board for this game. I printed and cut out pictures of me, my husband, my daughter, grandparents, and pets. I used self-laminating sheets to protect them and placed them into each slot. Optionally you can also attach a sticky magnet to each picture so it’s easier for little hands to grab the pictures. Stone always has fun discovering everyone!
6. Matching container lids to containers/bottles
For this activity, we took a few plastic containers and a few empty bottles. I originally put lids separately from containers but they got all mixed up a few minutes later. I noticed that Stone preferred smaller size lids. He especially spent lots of time placing caps on bottles, removing them, filling bottles with small-sized balls, emptying them, and placing caps on them again.
7. Cups game
There are 2 ways to play this game:
1. Hide 1 small toy under one cup, and leave the others empty. Move cups around, and ask your toddler to find the toy you’ve hidden. We play this game over and over. I usually variate the toys I hide under a cup to get him surprised. It’s especially fun to use wind-up toys. Once Stone discovers one toy, I wind it up to do some action.
2. Hide a small toy under each cup. Every time your child lifts a cup, he discovers a new toy.
8. Crawl inside a laundry basket to retrieve a toy
This is a fun little activity for younger toddlers. Roll a toy into a laundry basket that’s laying on the floor, and encourage your child to crawl inside to get it. Tunnels could be used for this activity as well. Of course, I rolled a car into the basket since Stone is all about cars.
9. Pompom rain
This is a messy activity so I usually need to mentally prepare myself before we do this one. I keep the pompoms away from kids in a container, and once in a while, we get them out for a fun play. Here’s how we play with them: throw them in the air to make a pompom rain (yes, you’ll be finding pompoms all over the house for days), walk and dance on them, put them in a plastic bottle and shake it, practice fine motor skills by picking them up and placing them in a plastic cup/bottle, find pompoms of only one color.
10. Card drop
One thing that my toddler loves to do is drop various objects into openings in boxes. Here’s one option on how to recycle plastic wipes box. Collect old credit cards, gift cards, and id cards and show your toddler how to drop them into an empty wipes box. My toddler especially likes old id cards where he can find mommy’s and daddy’s pictures.
11. Drop straw halves into a cup
Here’s another drop activity. Any plastic cup with a straw lid would work. Just cut straws into halves so that they would fit into a cup and show your child how to insert them. This activity develops fine motor skills.
12. Drumming on pots and pans
Everyone knows about this activity but I wanted to add it to the list as a reminder. Encourage your child to explore different sounds that come out when you use metal spoons and wooden spoons and sticks and show them how to drum fast and slow. Great for gross motor development and understanding rhythm.
13. Obstacle course for toddlers
When it’s too hot or too cold outside, we try to play active games with kids inside the house. We built this obstacle course using the items we had – a play tunnel, a toddler slide, stepping stones,
and a play couch. We invested in these items to help kids get their energy out, and so far they are being used over and over again.
14. Insert toothpicks into a playdoh ball
This activity is great for developing fine motor skills. My toddler spent about 10 minutes inserting toothpicks into a playdoh and then taking them out.
15. Pom pom feeder with your family member’s picture
For this activity, we printed my husband’s picture and glued it to a tissue box. Then I cut out an opening in his mouth area, and then my toddler got busy feeding dada with pompoms 🙂 If your toddler tends to put things in his mouth, pom poms can be replaced with actual eatable items like cheerios.
16. Paper car tunnels
My son is obsessed with cars so all car activities are welcome in our house. These paper tunnels create just another way how to play with the cars. My son especially liked to use larger pull-back cars since they go a bit further. For extra fun, we also used a tape road to build roads and have cars go through the tunnels on the roads.
17. Learning body part names with stickers
We used dot stickers for this activity. I was placing stickers on my son’s body parts and each time I was saying “This is your foot, this is your hand”, etc. We got to practice fine motor skills as he was removing the stickers, as well as learning body part names.
18. Removing clothes pins from clothes
Here’s another activity for developing grasping skills. As I’m placing clothes pins on my toddler’s clothes, he takes each one and removes it.
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