Play ideas

[megs4413]

OK you ladies have had some wonderful ideas in the past and now I need some more! DD and I need some stuff to do together that's fun for her and helps her in her development. She is 14 mos old and is on pace with everything and excels in speech development. I would like to see her make some strides in fine motor development. Any ideas? What kinds of things are you doing with your 14 month old? I'm a sahm so we have LOTS of time to fill! TIA!

[kedss]

Do you have space outside where she can play with chalk? It depends if she is in the eating the chalk stage, but I think my DS was near that age where he liked playing with chalk. You might also try playdo, I know there are some recipes for homemade in Around the House. And fingerpainting, with chocolate pudding on wax paper might be fun, but messy!

hth!

[californiagirl]

DD loves painting with water, and started liking it around then. I'm talking large sheet of cheap construction paper, small dish of water, cheap paint brush. (The construction paper sometimes bleeds, so it's not totally mess-free, but close.) Often this involves fingerpainting with water, but hey, it's water. For variety, try a big brush, a bucket (supervised carefully) and a sidewalk or wall.

[MelissaTC]

Definitely playdough. You can even make your own which will be a fun activity. I realize she is young but maybe she can "help" with the ingredients or at the very least, it will be fun for you!! You can also get some cheap stickers and let her peel them off and stick them onto paper. Do some finger plays or get some finger puppets (or make some!). Do you have a surface where she can use chalk? What about puzzles? There are some great knob puzzles out there. Also, help her glue pictures from magazines, fabric squares, etc.. on to paper.

HTH!!!

[ajmom]

Cheerios! Really any kind of food that she has to pinch to pick up will help her develop fine motor. Give her only 1 or 2 at a time, so she isn't grabbing handfuls! :)

The other posters have also given some great ideas!

[dules]

You've got some great suggestions. Also check out lacing beads (make sure they are big enough not to be concerned she'll eat them, or you can use large, raw pasta). Start with pipecleaners and then move on to laces as she gets better with the pipecleaners.

Pulling all the Kleenex out of the box is good for fine motor skills too, as long as she does it one at a time....lol.

Best,
Mary

[MamaKath]

Things that you could try...

Clothespins and a milk bottle- drop in the clothespins

Tissue box- Let her pull out tissues, ar put soft toys in for her to pull out. Discovery toys used to have a fabulous soft cube with toys of different textures to pull in and out.

Fruit loops- colored cups and fruit loops can be fun. Have her put the fruit loop in the corresponding colored cup. There are health food versions of similar cereals, they would also work. ;-)

Water Play- Give her measuring cups, bottles, spoons, boats, etc and a basin with some water.

Shaving Cream- Clean a formica or plastic surface with shaving cream. Put some on and let her go to town. It is whipped soap, so it comes easily out of clothes. ;-)

Dress Me Dolls- Lots of styles available. My kids LOVED the caterpillar from Discovery Toys (I think it is Dress-a-pillar). Buttons, zips, velcro etc to learn. Dressapillar is cool because the sections are pockets, you can put somtehing inside for them to find.

Crayons- I forget the brand that the Around the House board recommends, but they are VERY difficult to break, perfect for this age. A cheap coloring sheet is a paper table cloth, a 6 pack often sells for about $3 in our area.

HTH~

[ajmom]

Mentioning crayons reminded me of something... 14 months is still maybe a bit young for crayons, but the occupational therapist in the school where I work does NOT recommend the fat crayons for little ones. She said it's actually better to buy the regular size crayons and break them in half. Then children really work on fine motor skills. So DON'T buy the fat ones!