Category: 12 to 18 months

Ring of Love

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Today was a very different Easter for us, as I’m sure it was for many during Covid-19, just our family of 4 around a small table in the living room. To make it feel special for both siblings, I called everyone over before ourmeal began. We held hands and began to walk in a circle around our coffee table.

Immediately, this delighted Veronika! She no doubt loved taking us all for a “walk”, and the sight of our hands joined together. Travis felt the special nature of the moment, too, and stopped to give her a kiss.

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As we walked around, we each shared a hope for the family: that we are happy, that we are healthy, and so forth. It was a beautiful moment, so much so I might make this a tradition!

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You can even just have siblings join hands and spin each other around and around. Make it more of a game by having them change the way they move (walking, running, hopping), or switching directions. Either way, this one is sure to make everyone in the family feel the love.

Bunny Ears Craft for Easter

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If your baby or toddler will tolerate wearing these little bunny ears, it’s pretty much the cutest way to get a young child into the Easter spirit, long before they know who the Easter Bunny is!

To involve Veronika in the craft, I sat her down with construction paper and chalk to decorate the headband portion. Drawing on paper with chalk was novel!

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Meanwhile, I traced two bunny ear shapes on a separate piece of construction paper, and glued down cotton balls. Stretch the cotton out slightly for a softer look.

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Older toddlers may want to help with this step, too!

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Cut your child’s chalk drawing in half to make two strips, then measure around your child’s head and secure to the right circumference with double-sided tape or a stapler. I originally hoped to avoid staples, but they were definitely more durable than the double-sided tape, which gave out pretty quickly.

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Attach the bunny ears to the sides with additional staples. Next time I would make smaller ears, so they weren’t so heavy and floppy. But my little bunny loved it!

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Fine Motor Activity: Craft Sticks + Plastic Bottle

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I recently used up a bottle of non-dairy creamer with a lid that easily opens and closes, revealing a small opening inside. I knew this lid was going to be perfect for Veronika as soon as the bottle was empty, and boy was it ever!

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Rinse out any similar bottle and let dry completely, then give to your toddler along with colored craft sticks. Veronika immediately began transferring sticks into the bottle. She experimented with dropping in one at a time…

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…or seeing if she could fit in a whole handful!

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Of course dumping it out was great fun.

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As was shaking it for a maraca-like sound when it was filled.

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This easily became a color lesson, too. I sorted the sticks into piles for her as she busily filled the bottle. “Purple!” she tends to say when she sees any color right now, so I emphasized the names of some of the others.

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Even better than that hands-on moment with her, though, was the fact that she could return to this game all morning. She’d pop in a few sticks, dump out a few more, then be on her way, only to return again a little while later.

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Marker Painting or Drawing

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We run through markers pretty quickly around here, and normally Travis’s school has a great recycling program for dried-up ones. But with school closed, I found a new use for those dried-up markers today: toddler paint brushes!

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I simply set out paints for Veronika (using old play dough jars as paint pots), and showed her how to dip the tip of the marker in the paint. It then becomes a brush!

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These work best as “dot marker” paints. If you have enough paint on the tip, you can get more of a smeary line, but Veronika was quite content to dot dot dot.

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She worked so carefully, dabbing first in the paint and then on her “canvas”.

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I also squirted some paint onto her paper so she could run a marker through it for thicker lines.

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She eventually decided it was fun to smear all the lines together with her hands. Here’s her final masterpiece:

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As an alternative method, turn the dried-up markers into “watercolors”. For this version, I placed a shallow dish of water on Veronika’s high chair tray, along with white paper and a few markers with very little ink left.

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As you dip in the water, the colors become vibrant once more, with a pretty, swirly effect very similar to watercolor paints.

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Veronika again loved the process of dipping…

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…and painting.

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She also discovered the little dish was wonderful for splashing her hands in, and tried to make some watery handprints on the paper.

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Next time I would use thicker watercolor paper for this activity, but in a pinch, regular printer paper was fine. She dumped a little of the water right out onto the paper, which really made the colors blend and swirl!

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You’ll know the game is done once the tip of the marker turns white, and then it’s time to recycle.

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Easy Easter Eggs

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For Veronika’s final contribution to Easter decorations this year, I gave her wooden eggs to paint instead of egg-shaped paper. To set up, simply squirt pastel colors into a paint tray, then give your toddler q-tips and cotton balls to paint with rather than a regular paint brush!

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Of the two, Veronika definitely preferred the q-tips. She loved delicately dipping them into the paint and then dotting onto the egg. The little spots she produced seemed to fascinate her!

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I showed her how to dip a cotton ball in the paint, too, and press it against an egg for a larger smear, but she wasn’t as interested.

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She did, though, discover that she could dip a little fingertip into the paint and make a similar dot against the eggs. She so carefully repeated this several times, smearing the paint lightly.

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I didn’t help her out with the paint at all, aside from rotating the eggs. The resulting speckled and spotted eggs were decidedly her project, and she looked so proud.

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They looked so pretty gathered together in a glass bowl for a little Easter centerpiece!

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Explore with Me Panda Crate

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As with her past Panda crates, Veronika is a little old for the items that arrived this month from Kiwi Co., but they could also be tailored to fit her age. This month’s topic – making sense of the spatial world around us – included fun toys and innovative game ideas. I would recommend this crate for babies 8 months and up.

One: Fabric Tissues

These black and white tissues featured fun patterns, slightly different on each one. They didn’t make any crinkly noise, which I expected, but had a nice thickness that makes them more durable than regular Kleenex.

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In addition to just being fun to play with, Panda intends them to help with the idea of object permanence. Although old hat for my seventeen-month-old, the concept never grows stale! We hid her favorite toy and she was so pleased when she uncovered it.

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You can also stack the tissues, and encourage your child to lift one and reveal the one beneath.

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In this way, they can also be used in conjunction with…

Two: Tissue Box

This soft “tissue box” comes in the shape of Poppy Panda, and has nice heft to it thanks to a bean bag-like filling in the bottom. You can use the box to hide any object, like a toy car, but it’s really meant for the fabric tissues.

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Layer these in such a way that when you pull one, the next pops up.

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Veronika recently played this game with real tissues, so I appreciated that now we can do it without the waste of paper! It’s also a great object for self-directed play since you can leave the box out with the tissues dangling tantalizingly.

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Three: Bead Maze

Panda’s version of this classic toy had a few fun twists. We could talk about the colors and shapes of the beads and you canuse directional words related to the little Poppy Panda at the base.

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“The beads are above panda,” I said to her, or, “Panda is below the beads.” Since Veronika is older, I challenged her to follow directions too, like moving the yellow bead from one side to the other.

Four: Coin Box Puzzle

This item was the biggest hit in the crate. Veronika loved fitting the “coin” circles into the box, both through the large opening on top and the smaller slit on the side, which took a few tries.

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Then I challenged her to get the coins out. Dump! The toy is also good for counting out up to four, as the coins go in the box.

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Five: Board Book

The board book this month featured cute illustrations and was all about directional words (up, down, around, over). It would have been nice if the book included cut-outs and grooves to trace or flaps to lift; as it was, there was nothing really novel about the book for Veronika.

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Wonder Magazine contained stage-by-stage developmental advice, and reminded us of past games we’ve played having to do with body awareness, spatial language, textures and spatial objects. There was a useful article about making safe spaces for little crawlers and walkers, including the idea to rotate toys and game ideas like a Tupperware drawer.

The online singalong for this crate was to Itsy Bitsy Spider, featuring lots of spatial words of course!

Beyond the Crate suggestions included those we’ve already done, like What’s In the Bag?

Of course we had to play peek-a-boo, but with a twist: a Peek-a-Boo Parachute! I lay Veronika down and let a scarf fall onto her head gently. Where’s Veronika?

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Peek-a-boo!

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She giggle giggle giggled for this version, and then needed to cover me…

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…and her Baby!

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For books, we read:

  • Over, Under & Through, by Tana Hoban
  • Yellow Ball, by Molly Bang
  • Hide and Seek Harry: On the Farm, by Kenny Harrison

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Full and Empty

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In the category of everyday objects that can entertain your toddler, look no further than the sock drawer!

I set a large kitchen bowl on the ground and gave Veronika a pile of socks, including her own and big brother’s. More is better for this game, so separate the socks from bundled pairs.

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Now it was time to fill it up. She actually picked up the bowl and turned her back to me so she could do this on her own, without my help!

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I started out saying, “Look, the bowl is empty.” As she filled it, I added, “You’re filling up the bowl. The bowl is full!”

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Then we gave it a big dump upside down. “The bowl is empty!” I said again.

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If you want to be extra silly, dump it right on your toddler’s head! Of course it didn’t stay empty for long. Veronika busily loaded the socks in a second, third, and even fourth time.

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This was such a great way to keep her occupied!

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Carrot Footprints

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This cute little craft feels just right for springtime, particularly close to Easter as we’re thinking about bunnies! The resulting footprints make a sweet memento, too.

I sat Veronika down and painted the bottom of one foot orange with washable paint. She loved the way this felt, eagerly saying “foot” and imitating me with a second clean paintbrush.

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Firmly press your child’s foot to paper. Wipe clean, then repeat with the other foot. I thought the orange paint might show up on orange construction paper as the background, but in retrospect I would have done this on white cardstock.

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As it was, I ended up cutting out the orange paper, drawing pen around the footprints to make them clearer, and then gluing them down to to white cardstock.

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For the fronds of the carrots, cut strips of green construction paper and tape them to the back so little fronds stick up.

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If you want the fronds to be sturdier, consider cutting up green paint chip samples! Still, these turned out to be quite adorable.

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Finger Paint Easter Egg

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On the heels of her first Easter craft, Veronika made an equally easy toddler-friendly Easter egg today. This one requires only poster board and finger paint.

I initially thought to set up the activity outside, given a nice day of sunshine. You’ll notice the pack of wipes on hand for easy clean-up, a must whenever you use finger paint!

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After cutting an egg shape from white poster board, I squirted a few colors of finger paint out onto at ray and briefly demonstrated how she could dip a finger in the paint, and then press on the egg.

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I also squirted some of the paint directly onto the egg shape, thinking she might want to swirl it around with her whole palm. But after a moment to check it out, the outdoors proved far too distracting!

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So we moved the activity inside, where she was able to pay more attention. This time she dipped her fingertips into the paint. I can’t say she loved the craft, but she did make enough markings on a full sheet of poster board that I could cut out a smaller egg shape around it.

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So we ended up with mommy-and-me Easter eggs, which I think are pretty cute! For preschoolers, have fun making deliberate lines or patterns with the finger paint, to add a little education into the mix.

Sticker Easter Egg

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Sticker Easter Egg (5)

It seems strange even to think about the upcoming Easter holiday, knowing we’ll be celebrating with family at a distance… but that’s all the more reason to decorate here at home! This simple-as-can be sticker project allows even little toddlers to have egg decorating fun.

I cut an egg shape from construction paper, choosing purple for the background. and then gave Veronika a sheet of stickers. Knowing we wanted a springtime feel, I chose stickers of butterflies and flowers.

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These were puffy stickers, which are the perfect type to help toddlers learn to peel stickers off the sheet. If I folded the sheet ever so slightly, the puffy edge of a butterfly would stick up and Veronika could pull it up.

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In the past, she’s loved just adorning herself with stickers, which I worried might be the case today.

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But when I said, “Veronika, can you put the sticker on the purple paper?” she followed directions perfectly!

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She had started to pile a lot of them in one place on the paper, which was just fine; it’s her art work!

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But when I pointed to other areas of the “egg”, she moved her stickers over to that area. Again, this project turned out to be great for following directions.

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If big siblings want to join in on the project, challenge them to be more deliberate with their stickers, making rows or patterns.