Developmental activities per category at 16 to 18 months

I've always thought I'm not talented and artsy enough or have enough time to do targeted activities with M. But I do have some talented friends and many internet sources that provide me with lots of information, so I thought to give it a try. I might not be artsy, but I am at least devoted :-) It looks like weekend days are the times these activities will work out, as, throughout the week, she eats right after coming home from daycare, can play about 30 minutes, and then it's bedtime.

I have aimed at providing her a set of developmentally challenging toys since the beginning.

About a week ago, I started giving her crayons and paper. Last weekend, we did some play-doh activities. Having seen that she now has the concentration span to do something for even 15 minutes (!) I set about making an Excel sheet with different activities to offer her this upcoming 1,5 months. My inspiration is from a couple of blogs (like this, this and the blog of my friend S) and different websites (e.g. Momjunction).

I will try to evaluate this list when she is turning 19 months, now I will write how a couple of activities have been going so far. It does take some extra stuff to have at home (like a proper placemat and a bib for only art-time) and some extra clean-up time, but it has been a lot of fun already!

Art

- Drawing with crayons on blank paper

She will make a couple of lines but doesn't have too much interest. More she likes to put the crayons inside the package and take them out again.

- Drawing with pencils on white paper

- Drawing on a paper with a black-white image

- Painting with a brush with water on colored paper

We tried this a couple of days ago, but she started to put the brush in her mouth and sucking water from it. She did "paint" the floor with water in her dance class last weekend.

- Painting with a brush & paint

- Painting with finger paints

- Painting with finger colors through a layer of plastic wrap

- Playdoh: smoothing a layer on the surface, using forms on it, making animal pawprints (with Schleich animals), driving with a car on it.

She liked crushing the Playdoh and smashing it, she also liked walking with the animals on it. She prefers the "real" Playdoh in a plastic jar over the single packaged Hema playdoh.

- Folding colored paper

- Visit an art museum (Groningen Museum has an exhibition of children's biennale and we have an international photo exhibition in the city for a month as well).

Life skills

- Putting on her jacket

She shows a lot of interest in putting her jacket and shoes on.

- Putting her shoes away

- Putting the jacket away

- Continuing potty training

Will sit on the potty when well entertained, but one needs to have perfect timing for some success. She likes to sit on the potty when she plays with her Duplo or with a playsilk in a tissue box.

Fine motor skills

- Pompom activities: sorting them, lift from one place to another, wiping them with a broom

She likes putting items in other items very much. The sorting activity with wooden bowls was a big success.

- Taking pompoms out of the whisk

- Taking masking tape off and stickering it

She likes to peel the masking tape off surfaces. Stickering it back is not yet succeding so well.

- "Saving" toys from under a layer of masking tape

No interest yet.

- Stickering with realistic stickers

I saw this activity in my mommy group Whatsapp thread, it was recommended to use them on car windows or inside. The stickers will arrive in a week.

- Puzzles

She has grown out of the single shape puzzles and the puzzles with 3 different shapes. Putting the "regular" puzzle with farm animals is too difficult yet. I will try to introduce puzzles with 3 shapes now (we don't have any with 2 shapes, otherwise I would start from there.

- Fishing game

We don't yet have one, I have put it on her Christmas list.

- Putting items through holes in a box (later per color)

Gross motor skills

- Running

Lots of outside time will help! She's an outside child for sure!

- Climbing the stairs with the use of the low railing

We don't have a low railing at home, but I've seen them at some playgrounds.

- Throwing a ball

- Passing the ball (you hold 1 ball, she holds 1, she needs to throw you her ball to get the other one)

- Walk the line - you'll put a line of masking tape on the ground and motivate her to walk on it. Preparation for a neurological exam in the future :-)

Music

- We attend a weekly little toddler dance class, not as much dancing but more playtime and getting used to music.

- We play Estonian and English children's songs every couple of days.

Language

- Matching animal figures to pictures

I made her a set of 4 cards with matching animal figures we already had (dog, cat, sheep, rooster). She showed interest, but can't match them yet. She certainly recognizes the cat and the dog (but she already knew them before).

- Matching items to pictures

- Recognizing family members with the help of her own family album

I made her some laminated cards with pictures of her closest family members. Haven't gotten around using it yet.

- Matching the same items (e.g. pairing baby socks)

- Understanding the concepts "similar" and "different"

- Animal action cards - I saw this set and I thought it would be fun to do.

- Looking at books together in a more systematic way - I need to read more about it how to read and how to display books better. Our current way with many shelves and 2 little Ikea shelves for display isn't working well.

Mathematics

- Counting fingers - understanding the concept of amounts (1 and 2)

Other

- Enjoying time together with a hike to appreciate nature

- Cleanup - I saw that she has a hard time putting items back during the cleanup song at her dance class. We need to practice that and maybe it will make our life easier too.