Activities for 12-13 month old

The past few months have flown by!  I can't believe Christmas is almost here and so is 2014!  Crazy! Luke and I have been busy playing away (mostly inside) on these cold winter days.  Here are some of  the activities we have done the past two months:

On and Off

This might seem super simple and easy and it is!  Luke is now tall enough to reach some light switches in our house.  He loves to turn the lights on and off.  We practice the vocabulary of 'on' and 'off' and he is also learning cause and effect.

Play-dough

I always thought homemade play-dough would be super fun and easy to make.  Well, it was neither for Luke and I.  That being said, we made the best of it.  After spending an entire morning trying to get the play-dough to not be so sticky, I put Luke in his high chair and he...took a huge bite.  If you've ever made homemade play-dough there is like half a cup of salt in it.  Yum. Needless to say, there were tears and we didn't get much playing done with the play-dough.  We will try the play-dough thing again after Christmas.  Play-dough is great for sensory exploration and building fine motor skills.  Maybe next time...

Fabric Box

I made this little fabric box for Luke to explore different textures as a sensory experience.  I used fleece, ribbon, and felt, because that's what I had lying around.  I am hoping to add some different fabrics once I make it to Hobby Lobby (probably in February).  Anyways, this is a breeze to make and Luke enjoyed it for a bit.

Window Painting

I'm sure many of you have seen this before on Pinterest.  I dumped some paint in a Ziploc bag, taped it to the window, and tadaa...mess free painting.  Luke mainly wanted to pull the Ziploc bag off the window, but he did get explore the painting a little.  Painting helps develop fine motor skills and will someday help Luke to write.  It's also somewhat of a sensory experience, as he feels the paint in the bag.

  

Color rings and cookie cutters

Luke and I practiced our colors the other day using cookie cutters, rings, and a necklace organizer one of my friend's dads made for me in college (thanks Paula and Rick!).  We (I mean I) sorted the rings and cookie cutters by colors.  Luke loved holding up a ring or cookie cutter like he won a gold medal.  So funny.  Every time Luke held up a ring or cookie cutter I would say 'the ring is blue' or 'the cookie cutter is green'.  I read a study that said saying the color after the noun helps children learn their colors and understand language better.  Most languages put the adjective after the noun, except in English we have to be a wee bit complicated.  We love to put twelve adjectives in front of a noun to describe something.  It's better for babies and children if we put the adjective after the noun, at least for now.  Though, this is very hard to remember to do!

If you have any ideas or activities to try, please let me know!  I would love to hear about them!