Here are a few more simple activities that you can do with your 13 month old. You may also be interested in Part 1.
Xylophone Music: Emma loves music - I think that is true of most babies! We were lucky enough to find a toy xylophone at a garage sale before Emma was born, and it has been a good investment! I can recall one afternoon before Emma was even big enough to hold the striker, when Derek and I spent about an hour figuring out how to play Happy Birthday on the xylophone while Emma practiced rolling over. Fun times were had by all! But now Emma is old enough to play music all by herself. I usually start by striking the xylophone once, then I let her hold the striker. Sometimes she strikes it once, sometimes she bangs and bangs! We take turns playing. Lately we have been working on having Emma repeat the number of strikes that I do, or playing a musical pattern. Some days she follows my strikes very well, other days - not so much! If your baby is not ready to repeat patterns, continue playing and keep trying patterns in the future.
Button Jars: When my sister and I were little girls, and we would visit my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving, my grandma would give us a big jar of buttons to play with. Even now, I can remember the fun we had with those buttons: sorting them into piles by their color, size and shapes, and counting them over and over again! These days, I have a button jar for my own little one. Emma enjoys listening to the buttons as she drops them plink, plink, plink into the glass jar, and shaking the jar like a rattle. We also practice sorting and counting, just as I used to do. I only use buttons that are too big for Emma to swallow, but always use adult supervision when playing with small objects and glass containers.
Blanket Sledding: This is just a fun, silly way to travel around the house. Place your baby in the middle of a blanket. Hold the edge of the blanket securely and gently pull your baby around the room. The blanket will slide better on a hard surface like hardwood or tile, but can also be done on carpet. I like to narrate each room as if they were different train stations. "Next stop, kitchen!" This is certainly one of our favorite activities, and you will probably be asked to do it over and over again!
And, as always...
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:
My 3 good things for today are:
Xylophone Music: Emma loves music - I think that is true of most babies! We were lucky enough to find a toy xylophone at a garage sale before Emma was born, and it has been a good investment! I can recall one afternoon before Emma was even big enough to hold the striker, when Derek and I spent about an hour figuring out how to play Happy Birthday on the xylophone while Emma practiced rolling over. Fun times were had by all! But now Emma is old enough to play music all by herself. I usually start by striking the xylophone once, then I let her hold the striker. Sometimes she strikes it once, sometimes she bangs and bangs! We take turns playing. Lately we have been working on having Emma repeat the number of strikes that I do, or playing a musical pattern. Some days she follows my strikes very well, other days - not so much! If your baby is not ready to repeat patterns, continue playing and keep trying patterns in the future.
Button Jars: When my sister and I were little girls, and we would visit my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving, my grandma would give us a big jar of buttons to play with. Even now, I can remember the fun we had with those buttons: sorting them into piles by their color, size and shapes, and counting them over and over again! These days, I have a button jar for my own little one. Emma enjoys listening to the buttons as she drops them plink, plink, plink into the glass jar, and shaking the jar like a rattle. We also practice sorting and counting, just as I used to do. I only use buttons that are too big for Emma to swallow, but always use adult supervision when playing with small objects and glass containers.
Blanket Sledding: This is just a fun, silly way to travel around the house. Place your baby in the middle of a blanket. Hold the edge of the blanket securely and gently pull your baby around the room. The blanket will slide better on a hard surface like hardwood or tile, but can also be done on carpet. I like to narrate each room as if they were different train stations. "Next stop, kitchen!" This is certainly one of our favorite activities, and you will probably be asked to do it over and over again!
And, as always...
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 Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer
- Duck, Duck, Goose by Tad Hills
- You Are My Cupcake by Joyce Wan
My 3 good things for today are:
- I got some great kids books (for Christmas presents, shhh!) at our local library book sale fundraiser. It feels good to have a couple presents crossed off the list!
- Two new teeth have finally made an appearance in Emma's top gums.
- Emma was quite feisty today due to the aforementioned new teeth. I was getting frustrated with her constant fussing despite my efforts to distract and comfort her. I could tell I was getting grumpy and snappy, so we stopped what we were doing and had a round of blanket sledding. It is impossible NOT to smile - whether you have sore gums or you're dealing with a cranky baby - when you are racing around on a blanket. The whole day was better after that.
What activities do you like to do when your little one is fussy?
I love the idea of blanket sledding! So creative!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It really is one of our favorites!
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