Baby Activities: 12 Months Old (Part 1)

 One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Animal sounds: You can help your baby to learn animal sounds by asking, "What does the sheep say?" And answer, "The sheep says baa!" I started this by reading books such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, and also singing songs like "Old McDonald Had A Farm." Emma loves listening to me make goofy sounds, and mooing and oinking herself.

Shapes Ball/Box: I've read that playing with various shapes can help with early math learning. Tupperware actually makes a great toy for shape play, but you can also make one very easily with an empty shoebox and various wooden blocks. This works best if your blocks are different shapes - cylinders, triangles, and rectangles as well as squares. Simply trace your blocks onto the shoebox lid and cut around your shape outlines. Then return the lid to the box and enjoy putting the shapes through the holes, shaking the box full of blocks, and taking the blocks in and out of the box.

Dry and Wet Sensory Learning: You will need two new (or clean) sponges for this game. Leave one of the sponges dry, but get the other wet. Let your baby touch the dry sponge and say, "Dry." Then touch the wet sponge and say, "Wet." After playing for a while, ask your baby to hand you the wet sponge or the dry sponge. Speaking of wet...

Water Play: Playing with water is a great sensory experience for your baby, and another great way to introduce the concept of "wet." Place a plastic bowl or tub of water outside, (or on a towel if you are inside). Let your baby splash! You can also use stacking cups or measuring cups to scoop and pour the water.

Clapping Games and Songs: At this age, babies love to mimic your actions. You can do simple pattern clapping with your little one. Sit with your child facing you and clap your hands 3 times. Encourage your baby to clap the same pattern. Repeat with different rhythms. We spend a lot of time singing songs such as "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands" and "Baby's Little Hands" which goes to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus."

Baby's little hands go clap, clap, clap
Clap, clap, clap; Clap, clap, clap
Baby's little hands go clap, clap, clap
Clap your little hands. 

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma's current favorites are:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
• Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

My 3 good things for today are:

1. Emma said "birdie" today (a new word) when she saw a bird outside with Derek.
2. We got some new books from the library.
3. The weather was beautiful today, so we got to play with water outside.