UPDATE: Developmental activities 19 months

3 months ago I set a goal to do some activities according to this list below to make sure we have a lot of fun things to do that also improve different developmental skills of M. In this summary, I will write which of the activities we tried and how our experience was.

Art

- Drawing with crayons on blank paper

At first, she was more interested in putting the crayons in and out of the box, but she now really likes to draw. She can't draw a circle yet, but she shows interest in using different colors.

- Drawing with pencils on white paper

I bought her pencils that make a good line when a little one uses them and asked the lady at the shop if there is a point introducing both pencils and crayons and she thought that there is. Now M draws with both of them. Pencils have the disadvantage of breaking when they fall though.

- Drawing on a paper with a black-white image

We haven't done it yet.

- 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 suck water from it. She still continues doing that.

We bought her some special pictures that color when you paint them with water and she can do that for a while until she starts sucking the brush again.

- Painting with a brush & paint

We tried it, but she started eating the paint.

- Painting with finger paints

Idem...

- Painting with finger colors through a layer of plastic wrap

We haven't done it yet.

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

Playdoh has become a regular activity here, we use the "real" Playdoh instead the other brands... She likes putting it in a jar and taking it out, walking with animals on it but she doesn't use the shapes yet. We still struggle with her putting the Playdoh in her mouth.

- Folding colored paper

We haven't done it yet.

- Visit an art museum

Yes! We did it! We visited the childrens' biennale exposition at the local museum with our friends and their child and little M enjoyed this interactive display a lot. We want to visit the international press photo exhibition next.

PHOTO

Life skills

- Putting on her jacket

We have seen a couple of kids putting their jackets on themselves in a very cool way. At 19 months, she can't do it yet.

- Putting her shoes away

We wanted to make her a little coathanger and a place for her shoes, but we haven't gotten there yet.

- Putting the jacket away

See above.

- Continuing potty training

16 months: She 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.

19 months: Sadly, she is refusing to sit on the potty 95% of the time without an apparent reason. I am planning to introduce her books about toddlers and potty and try to approach this issue like that.

Fine motor skills

- Pompom activities: sorting them, lifting from one place to another,

One of the favorite activities! She likes sorting them, putting them from one place to another.

- Taking pompoms out of the whisk

19 months: Too difficult

- Taking masking tape off and stickering it

M likes to peel the masking tape off surfaces. Stickering it back is fun too.

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

19 months: No interest yet.

- Stickering with realistic stickers

M likes this a lot. One set of the stickers is in the car and another set is inside.

- Puzzles

16 months: 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 pieces now (we don't have any with 2 pieces, otherwise I would start from there.

19 months: I ended up buying a set of 2-piece-puzzles where one needs to connect the edges but she can't quite get it yet. She has some regular puzzles with bigger pieces and she can do them. Nevertheless, she likes stacking toys and a toy with coins that slip inside the surface better.

- Fishing game

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

19 months: I ended up finding a fishing game at a second hand store. It is too difficult for her now. On the other hand, a child of our friends has a set which is a hybrid between a puzzle and a fishing game and this was a big success.

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

I made her a toy like that and she was interested for a bit but went off to another activity very soon. I haven't made it color-based yet.

Gross motor skills

- Running

She learned to run at 17,5 months and she loves it!

- 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.

We haven't gotten around that much.

- Throwing a ball

19 months: She likes to throw a ball, but she can't understand rolling it yet.

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

19 months: We haven't done this yet.

- 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 :-)

19 months: We tried it and she liked practicing it for a little bit. Not succeding yet :-)

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.

We do it on the weekends.

Language

- Matching animal figures to pictures

16 months: 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).

19 months: She can match the animals when there are a few options (not all of them yet). She still names them all "aua" (dog).

- Matching items to pictures

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

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

19 months: She is more interested in putting the cards into the basket than working on them targeted, sadly.

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

19 months: We haven't done it yet.

- Understanding the concepts "similar" and "different"

19 months: We haven't done it yet.

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

19 months: We haven't gotten it yet.

- 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.

19 months: I just got us a new bookshelf upstairs and will get one for downstairs as well.

Mathematics

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

19 months: We haven't done it yet.

Other

- Enjoying time together with a hike to appreciate nature

19 months: We haven't done it yet.

- 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.

19 months: Partially because of the dance class, she is really good at cleanup! She throws the trash in a trash bin, bants to wipe up dust etc.

NEW

Body parts

19 months: We are working on it.