Category: 12 to 18 months

Squeeze Bottle Bath

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Learning to squirt water is great for strengthening little hands and fists, all in preparation for bigger skills down the line like holding a pen or scissors. And there’s no better place to practice squirting water than in the bathtub!

So tonight, Veronika and I simply brought an empty squeeze bottle into the tub (leftover from a tie-dye project, in fact).

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I showed her how to fill up the bottle, which was fun because it made big bubbles blub blub to the surface.

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Then I demonstrated how squeezing it made a stream of water jet out. At first she simply held the bottle upside down, waiting for the water to appear. Then she realized she needed to squeeze hard before seeing results. A great lesson in both cause-and-effect and motor skills!

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Sun Catcher Sensory Bags

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This easy sensory bag doubles as a sun catcher for toddlers… so be sure to play on a sunny day!

My original intent had been to make several of these bags, using different combinations of primary colors in each. But I quickly realized that my one container of hair gel was only going to fill a single large zip-top bag, so one version it was! If you have hair gel in bulk, by all means make several.

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I decided to work with blue and yellow. Squirt the hair gel into the bag and then drip in food coloring so that two separate colors are in opposite corners of the bag. I then taped it to our patio door, which catches the morning sunlight beautifully.

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Veronika was entranced!

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She loved how squishy it was when she poked at it.

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She loved how the colors splashed around when she tapped it with her full palm.

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She loved the way we could chase bubbles through it with our fingers.

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Meanwhile, I loved pointing out the reflections it made on our wall, and how the blue and yellow were combining toward green in the center. Plus I loved watching her sunlit smile as she played.

We left this one up for a few days!

 

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Dirt Balls

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This was my first recipe not just for Veronika, but with Veronika! Yes, even a 16 month old can help in the kitchen, given a simple enough task. In this case, I involved her hands-on during several steps, including crushing graham crackers in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin, rolling sticky balls of dough, and more.

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During steps that she couldn’t help with, I sat her in the high chair with a few ingredients to sample. She loved nibbling on graham crackers and putting raisins in and out of a snack-sized box!

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For the actual recipe, you’ll need the following:

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup vanilla-flavored vegan protein powder
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
  1. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, agave, protein powder, and raisins. Note: If you do eat dairy, you could make this recipe with dry milk powder; however, I like that using protein powder adds an extra nutrient boost to each serving!
  2. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs until you have a workable “dough”; you may need to add a little more or a little less.Mud Balls (3)
  3. Roll the mixture into small balls. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat.

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Note: If you want to make “Mud Balls” instead of “Dirt Ball”, you can roll these in a little cocoa powder.

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Turn the Beat Around

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I recently read that recognizing the patterns and rhythms of music can help children with gross motor skills, everything from walking to jumping to dancing. Did this game today actually tip Veronika over the edge into a true walker? I’ll never know for sure, but I think it did the trick!

Veronika has been hesitant to walk, but I noticed a few times that the “stomp feet” verse of If You’re Happy and You Know It had her lifting her feet and almost walking forwards. Today, I was determined to get those feet stomping into a walk.

We started off with the above-mentioned song. Getting your toddler to clap along at this age is great fun, too.

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Then it was time to stomp. She gamely stomped her little feet, which she accompanied with a little pat pat to her belly. Still no steps though…

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After that we danced to a few more favorite songs, each time choosing something with a strong beat. We clapped our hands and wiggled and tapped our toes.

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Well wouldn’t you know, a few hours later I turned around and Veronika was walking. She was so proud of herself and spent the rest of the evening doing circuits of our apartment.

So if you have an almost-walker, I’d love to hear if a similar activity also helps with first true steps! Please share in the comments.

Splish, Splash

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The next time your toddler takes a bath, take a moment to focus not on the feel of the water, but on the sounds that you can make with water. This is a great opportunity for some auditory sensory play.

First, I filled the tub with warm water and got Veronika in her bathing suit for a little added element of difference and fun.

Turn the tap on very lightly and allow just a trickle of water to come out. We listened to the light plip plop sound this made, and Veronika reached curious fingers under the stream.

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I paused before I turned the tap on to a full roar. I thought this might alarm her, but she stared at it, mesmerized. Encourage your child to run a hand under this strong stream, too, as you listen to the roar and whoosh.

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Finally, I turned the tap off and helped her discover other ways we could listen to the water. Tapping the surface made a delightful slapping sound.

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And pouring water from a cup made a lovely splish splash.

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Have fun using lots of onomatopoeia as you play! In sum, this was an auditory delight. If you want to continue the fun outside of the tub, consider playing soothing water sounds on the computer while your child plays.

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Rainbow Rice Sensory Bags

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These easy sensory bags kept my toddler busy for ages… and they look so pretty, too!

If you are playing this game with preschoolers, definitely enlist their help when putting the rice bags together since it’s great scooping practice.

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With my 16 month old, though, I did the set-up solo. Here’s my little helper standing by:

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Scoop 2 cups rice into each of 6 sandwich-size zip-top bags. Pour a little paint into each in all the colors of the rainbow, using red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Seal the bag and shake until the rice is completely covered in the paint.

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It’s then helpful to open back up and squeeze out as much air as possible before resealing. Now you have a sort of rice “brick” for your child to play with. Repeat for the remaining colors.

Veronika couldn’t wait to come see what it was all about. She stacked them…

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…threw them…

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…squeezed them…

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…and of course tried to open them up (phew, with no success!). In other words, they kept her very busy. There was lots of talking to herself as she played, so she must have had some game going in her head.

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For a little learning, I briefly lined the bags up in rainbow order and took the opportunity to sing The Rainbow Song.

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You can also pile them in rainbow order, although don’t expect the pile to stay neat for long with a toddler around!

Easy Scarf Pull Activity

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This gross motor skill activity for toddlers is sure to tantalize!

For set up, attach containers to the wall with painter’s tape. These could be empty paper towel tubes or old bottles or really any container through which you can pull a scarf. For the bottles, you’ll need to cut off the closed end first. Make sure to tape over any sharp or jagged edges. I used two empty juice bottles, but water bottles or even an empty gallon jug would work!

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While Veronika was napping, I secured these to the wall and stuffed a scarf into each with the end dangling out.

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She came wandering over mildly curious. Because she loves draping herself in scarves, I thought she would be so into this.

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Surprisingly, she really only gave each one a single tug through its tunnel, but then lost interest. She showed a bit more interest about the containers themselves, and how they were stuck to the wall.

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Well, at least we got in a little gross motor play as she pulled those scarves. Your kids may want to stuff the scarves back into the containers and play this game over and over.

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Crinkle, Crunch

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Paper games never get old for a toddler, and while materials like wrapping paper and newspaper might seem mundane to a grown-up, they are a goldmine of fun for little ones. There’s sound, there’s texture, and there’s also fine motor skill building from ripping paper. So yes all this fun even has a purpose!

First up was the sound aspect. I set out three different kinds of paper for Veronika: brown paper bags, wrapping paper, and tissue paper.

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One by one, we crumpled them up. The brown paper was the loudest, and then the game grew quieter and quieter with the tissue paper making the softest sound.

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Of course then Veronika needed her own turn to take a piece of each material and crumple crumple until she’d formed a small ball in her hands.

A great twist on this auditory play is to hold one ball of paper behind your back and squish it so it makes a crinkle sound. Veronika came to find it!

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Sit back and watch what your child does with the paper. Veronika liked tossing it in the air, and wearing it as a hat!

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Then I demonstrated the sound that wrapping paper made as I ripped a piece in two. “More more!” she immediately asked. I had to start a small tear for her, but then she was able to wrench the two halves apart. Which she then did over and over, testing all three materials.

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What delight to learn she can rip! I thought she might enjoy returning to an old classic game, hiding toys in balls of the paper.

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But she was having so much fun ripping the paper she barely noticed the toys! (Okay, maybe one quick bus zoom).

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I guess that makes this game a winner.

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Touch Adventure

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Veronika makes it quite clear when we’re out and about these days that she’s no longer a baby, content to sit and watch the world. She wants to touch and explore! This “touch adventure” game is one you can play anywhere – a restaurant, a waiting room, a playground – and will hopefully help pass the time with a curious toddler. For the sake of photographs, we also played a round at home today!

The idea is just to look around you, select and object, and put your toddler’s hand on it. Describe everything he or she is feeling, and invite them to hold the object. Some children may just want to look at first, which is just fine, but Veronika definitely wanted to hold.

A stuffed animal was soft and fluffy.

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A ball was hard and smooth. Duplo blocks were bumpy.

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A tea cup was cold and metallic.

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Now that she had the idea, we could play out and about! At the library, a pom pom was crinkly and scratchy.

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A toy pirate was plastic and hard.

Touch Adventure altAt a restaurant, ravioli was soft, warm and squishy.

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You get the idea! You can literally play this game anywhere, so let the touch adventures begin.

Follow the Leader

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Veronika has taken five steps forward on her own… but she’s reluctant to do so and will drop to a crawl more often than not. Today, I was hoping a good old-fashioned game of Follow the Leader might inspire her forward.

We started out with a few copying moves (almost like ‘Simon Says‘) to get her in a follow-along mood. Could she tap sticks like me?

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Stomp her feet like me?

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(Note: We have a silly sloth toy that claps its hands and moves to the beat. Toys like these are also great to teach your toddler to play copycat).

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Now it was time to follow the leader! Big brother marched ahead and we sang “We’re Following the Leader” as we marched around the apartment.

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Finally, I let go of her hands and kept marching to see if she would continue to follow. It’s still a work in progress, but this was a great game to set her steps in motion!

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Don’t forget to play a reverse version and let your toddler be the leader. I took a few minutes to copy her moves, whether crawling after her or tapping our tummies, and she loved being the one in charge!