5 Developmental activities to do with your 1-2 year old.

Rei is getting bigger and bigger every single day. This is a wonderful thing to witness as a mother. But to be honest with you all, it’s also slightly stressful. No, not for any of the standard reasons you hear. Yes, I’m worried about him growing up in today's world, yes I want him to stay my little baby forever. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about making sure he’s learning enough, if I’m teaching him enough, if he’s getting enough attention. How can I be a better mother? How can I help guide him on his journey of learning new things? If you’re reading this, you probably feel at least somewhat the same.

Most mothers probably wonder the same things. We always feel like there was a little bit more we could have done before we put our children down to sleep. Maybe we could have fed them better, or been more patient with them. You’re doing fine mama!

A message to the dads:

Dads if you’re reading this, going forward I’ll be addressing mothers, as that’s who this blog is geared towards.

However, it’s important that you understand that I am not discrediting you, I know there are plenty of dads out there who are actively involved in their children's lives, and even a few that are single dads. As a mother I first want to say Thank you. Thank you for being there for your children, thank you for being there for your significant other, thank you for being you and doing everything that you can.

And lastly. I’d be curious to know how you found my blog please feel free to leave a comment below! 

Rei is 19 months old and I still find that I’m constantly thinking about how he’s learning, if it’s enough, what else he needs and so on. So, the other night I sat down and wrote a few things down (Yes, I wrote it down. I’m old fashioned and think better by writing... don’t judge me) and after a few crumpled pieces of paper I think I finally came up with a couple solid ideas that can help not only myself, but you as well!

Children are sponges

At this age, our children absorb everything around them. All the sounds, colors, and movement they’ve seen each day is absorbed and processed. Yes, our children are sponges; mentally of course, they don’t absorb water (although there is osmosis... Off subject, forgive me). It's true, and honestly your 1 year old probably understands a great deal more than you actually think they can. With every action, and all that we do during the day we are teaching our children.

It may seem like you aren’t doing enough, but keep in mind that our children are always learning. They learn by watching and listening to us all through the day. But if you’re looking for some activities to ensure they are learning what's important. Read on my friend!

The greatest thing about these activities? Setup is minimal, possibly even nonexistent. You don’t even need to spend loads of money. The best way for our children to learn is through problem solving and imagination. So, the toys can be simple and dare I say... Old fashioned! *Gasp*

Describe what they’re doing.

This is a super simple activity, but crucial as it helps them develop language. It may seem pointless, but I promise it helps. We’ve seen a huge increase in Rei’s vocabulary since we started doing this with him. The best thing is that this can be done anywhere, no matter what’s happening.

At home playing with toys?  “You’re holding the yellow star”

At the supermarket? “You’re pointing at the blue box”

Such a simple little change helps your children associate actions with words. Which helps to promote proper and increased language development.

Pretend Play

Do you remember playing pretend as you were growing up? No? Cops & Robbers, Cowboys & Indians, Tea parties. These are all forms of pretend play. Now think about it, you weren’t taught to play these games. It came naturally to you as a child, the same thing is going to happen with your child. It’s a great skill to reinforce, so praise them when they pretend play, maybe even play with them.

Now honestly, as a 1 year old your child's pretend play is going to be vastly different than the kind of play, I referenced earlier. But hear me out on this one. They will do it. It could be as simply as pretending to sweep, or playing with pots and pans.

If you see that your child is playing with pots and pans often it could that they are pretending to cook. Maybe buying them a fake kitchen like this one would be a good idea.

Rei is constantly running over to our broom or dustpan and trying to sweep up whatever he can find throughout the house. It's cute, except for when he takes the broom or dustpan from us when we’re actually cleaning. To solve this, we bought him his own cleaning set. Which you can find here

Use Puzzles

Puzzles are a perfect activity to help your little one develop immensely crucial life skills. By playing with puzzles you’ll help them to develop hand-eye coordination as they flip and twist the pieces to fit them in to place. You’ll boost their problem-solving skills with a puzzle as they have to analyze how the pieces fit into the different shape cutouts. Their fine motor skills will also develop as they have to use those tiny little fingers to hold on to each little peg and then guide those in to the cut-outs.

If you pair puzzle play with describing what your child is doing, you’ll also help develop their cognitive skills, as well as image recognition. Explain what each shape is, the colors, the animal on it, or the food, etc. All of this paired together will get your child off to a wonderful start developmentally. And it's fun for them!

Dedicated & uninterrupted one on one time

It may seem crazy to have to say this, but its 2019 and we’re all guilty of spending too much time on our phones. Yes, even me. Sometimes it's hard for me to get off my phone, especially running my own business. As a small business owner, work hours never truly end which makes it difficult to find uninterrupted time. But lately, as my work load has increased I’ve prioritized time with Rei for just him and I (No cell phone, no iPad, no email, just him and I) and it’s been great for him.

I know he’s young, but he notices when I’m not paying enough attention to him. And just like my little guy, your little one’s will notice as well. It’s important to show them focused undivided attention, they’ll appreciate it.

Sing nursery rhymes with them

At this point in life, we’re probably all very aware of what nursery rhymes are. We’ve been hearing them since we were children ourselves, they helped us learn quite a few things. And, you guessed it, they’ll help your little ones as well.

Take your pick, almost all nursery rhymes have some form of dance or gesture that go along with it and that’s by design. These songs not only help our children learn vocabulary, they also reinforce learning motor skills and how to perform every day actions.

These nursery rhymes will help our children learn certain parts of their bodies, it will help them understand daily movement concepts such as open & close, up & down, and left & right. They also aid in learning the sounds of animals. And bonus! We now live in a technological age, which means we have animated videos for almost all of the nursery rhymes, which is great because it allows our children to visualize colors, animals, and shapes in nursery rhymes.

Keep in mind though, just because we have these great technological aids doesn’t mean we can just sit our children in front of the TV and hope they learn. Like I said before, children are sponges, and the appreciate and thrive on our attention. Make sure you’re singing and dancing to the nursery rhymes with them even when using these digital aids. 

Some of Rei’s favorite nursery rhymes are below.

• Open shut them

• The Itsy-bitsy spider

• Head, shoulders, knees and toes

• Old McDonald

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

You’re doing great mama!

Just like my little guy, your children will continue to grow and surprise you every single day. Take the time to ensure they learn key developmental skills and qualities. Cherish the moments you have with them, before we know it our little ones will be too cool to hang out with mom.

No matter what you do, remember this. If you’re caring for, and spending quality time with your little one, they’ll grow up just fine. Everything listed above is just icing on the cake and makes the learning process easier and much for fun for them and you.