With your supervision, you can choose one of these fun learning activities to entertain and teach your one-year-old. If you have or had a one-year-old, you know they are not as easy to entertain as they used to. They are growing into their own person and having preferences. Sometimes they feel strongly about these preferences. Plopping them down on the mat and giving them toys isn’t enough to entertain them. Good news is you don’t need fancy toys or gadgets to keep your baby’s body and brain stimulated and help your child’s development.
The older they get, the more activities they can do – just like how you plan for their developmental activities when they are under 6 months old, and sensory activities when under one year old.
Playing with Musical Instruments
Babies respond well to music. They dance or sing when they hear music. Teaching them how they can make music and how musical instruments make sound will be an entertaining activity for them and one of the important developmental activities. Introduce percussion instruments such as drums, bells, and rattles. You can also get your baby a toy piano. For a most cost-effective musical playtime, pots, pans, and spoons will do the trick. You can play along with her or encourage her to make music on her own. Who knows, maybe your baby will turn out to be a musical genius.
Fingerpainting
Give those little hands some exercise to develop your baby’s fine motor skills. Fingerpainting is a fun learning activity that encourages your child to create with their hands. Use this activity to teach them about colors and textures.
There are few ways to do this activity. The messy variation includes washable tarp, canvas, and non-toxic or edible paints. Dress up your baby in clothes they can stain and set them down on washable tarp or plastic sheet. Squeeze a few drops of paint on a canvas and give it to your little painter to create his first masterpiece.
For the less messy version, you will need a clear resealable plastic bag, paints, and a canvas. Squeeze drops of paint on a canvas. Put the canvas inside the resealable plastic bag. Now, you can let your child paint with his fingers without a mess.
Running Outside
Aside from indoor activities for 1 year olds, you can also explore the outside. Your baby is a bundle of energy. What better way to spend that than by letting them run around as they please. Running, walking, and jumping give your child an outlet for their energy while strengthening their body. Play tag, hide and seek, and other active play can be done outside. Now that restrictions have eased up, you can even schedule a trip to the park. Besides exercise, your child will also learn how to socialize and communicate with other children.
Storytelling Time
Children like storytelling. They particularly like it when you’re animated in telling a story. Picture books show them what happens in the story, but how you read it will add another layer of excitement. So, don’t worry about acting silly. Storytelling encourages children to imagine. Stories help with language development and communication skills. As you make a habit of reading a book together, you are also teaching your child how to enjoy reading. You can even make up stories and include your child into the story. Add another layer of creativity by using puppets or role-playing.
Solving Puzzles
Puzzles for babies and toddlers have sizeable pieces and look very easy. Then you see your child try to force wrong pieces together. While it’s tempting to correct or help them out, resist. Figuring out how pieces go together develops their concentration, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and cognitive skills. They may take a few tries, weeks, or months to solve the puzzle on their own, but after that, other similar puzzles will be a piece of cake.
Takeaway
Starting in their first year, your baby grows into a little person with preferences and unique characteristics. Your child’s development is more important than ever.
They need more attention, but it doesn’t mean you need to spend more to keep them entertained. Avoid screen time by engaging them with fun learning activities. Make time for play and bonding with your child. Fun will happen.
Have you tried these fun learning activities at home? If we missed anything, please feel free to share in the comment section below.
Lastly, remember that playing with your child build a bond that last forever.