What to do with a 1-year old at home during winter ?

[babyfiorina1]

DD is one year old and I swear to God it seems like it is so difficult to "entertain" her these days and now with the winter in Minnesota, we are pretty much indoor for the moment and it is driving me nuts and her nuts too probably.
She likes books so I read to her, however, with her short attention span, that doesn't last long. I crawled with her because she likes it, sitting next to windows watching cars passed by (she loves that), we do baby signing time. I let her play with the clean laundry, etc. I'm pretty much run out of ideas and let her do whatever I can think of (as long as it is safe of course). We have Zany Zoo and she used to play with that, but now she didn't stay that for long. I'm getting her the RF walker wagon as she's learning to walk now.
I think I'm trying too hard or not enough ? maybe I'm a little bit at the saturated point! arrgghhhh!! help....! I love being SAHM and I want to make it fun for me and for her. Thank you for sharing your ideas.

[BabyBearsMom]

Not a SAHM, but trying to think about what the teachers do at our daycare and what we do on the weekends...Have you tried coloring with her? At maybe around 14 mo, my DD started to like scribbling with crayons on paper. She definitely enjoyed finger painting too but that is a lot messier. We are getting DD a Little Tykes slide to play with for Christmas. Can you take a class? We are doing a Gymboree style class at our local rec center this winter to get us out of the house one day a week. Do you do music/dance time. I put Toddler Time (a Pandora station) on all the time at home and DD likes to groove out to it. She likes it when I sing song with movements (itsy bitsy spider, I'm a little tea pot, Where is thumkin, This little piggy are her favorites).

[roseyloxs]

Sounds like you are doing great. I like going to the blog play at home mom for ideas. They have a few that they recommend for infants. http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/search/label/Things%20to%20do%20with%20infants

[wellyes]

Is the baby barely 1? 18 months is a huge turning point in terms of play - her abilities and attention span deepen dramatically and the cute factor ramps up to unbelievable levels. I love that 18-24 month stretch.

In the meantime:
roll around balls
playdough, supervised
peekaboo
baby yoga
"soup" - get a big pot and wooden spoon and let her mix a .25 inch of water around
aquadoodle!
teach all the barnyard noises
give her a zipper or some velcro to play with

[babyfiorina1]

Not a SAHM, but trying to think about what the teachers do at our daycare and what we do on the weekends...Have you tried coloring with her? At maybe around 14 mo, my DD started to like scribbling with crayons on paper. She definitely enjoyed finger painting too but that is a lot messier. We are getting DD a Little Tykes slide to play with for Christmas. Can you take a class? We are doing a Gymboree style class at our local rec center this winter to get us out of the house one day a week. Do you do music/dance time. I put Toddler Time (a Pandora station) on all the time at home and DD likes to groove out to it. She likes it when I sing song with movements (itsy bitsy spider, I'm a little tea pot, Where is thumkin, This little piggy are her favorites).

I haven't tried coloring with her yet, but I'm thinking about finger painting because I gave her dollop of whip cream the other day and she had a blast squishing, spreading that whip cream. We are taking class right now too, so, yes, at least we do get out once a week and not to mention grocery shopping and other errands.

We have nursery songs on all the time too and she loves it. Thank you for the idea on Pandora station. I think she will enjoy that too.

[babyfiorina1]

Is the baby barely 1? 18 months is a huge turning point in terms of play - her abilities and attention span deepen dramatically and the cute factor ramps up to unbelievable levels. I love that 18-24 month stretch.

In the meantime:
roll around balls
playdough, supervised
peekaboo
baby yoga
"soup" - get a big pot and wooden spoon and let her mix a .25 inch of water around
aquadoodle!
teach all the barnyard noises
give her a zipper or some velcro to play with

She's actually going to be 13-month next week. I know what you mean, I've seen older toddlers at the class we are taking and watching them playing and doing what they do are just too cute.

She likes balls, peekaboo, barnyard noises, zipper (obsessed with zipper and velcro for sure). She tried to eat the playdoh so I kinda stayed away from that for now. I like the soup idea. Thanks.

[babyfiorina1]

Sounds like you are doing great. I like going to the blog play at home mom for ideas. They have a few that they recommend for infants. http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/search/label/Things%20to%20do%20with%20infants

:yeahthat:

[hillview]

Bath time with toys?
I used to give my son a large bowl full of dried beans with some scoops and a whisk etc
Blocks to stack up and knock down
Those tubes you can crawl through could be fun
Water play in the sink or tub with a bathing suit on
musical instruments (even pots and pans with wooden spoons etc)
Marching with above
A birthday party for her lovie or a stuffed animal or pet in the house

[ourbabygirl]

DS is 13 months, and this is what he loves to do right now:

*jumping on our bed/ his or his sister's crib mattress,
*playing peek-a-boo (he does this a ton at his high chair during meals & also loves doing it with towels and blankets, etc.)
*doing songs like "The Itsy bitsy spider," "This little piggy," and other fingerplays
*toddling around the house, grabbing whatever he can (ornaments off the tree, stuff out of cabinets, cat food :shake:, DVD cases, you name it! I give him the basket that has our sippy cups, kid utensils, etc., and he loves pulling everything out of that and carrying it around

That's all I can think of right now. He's so much different than DD was at this age; so much more active, he's like a little tornado and I'm constantly running around picking up after him! ;) Unlike his sister at age 1, DS doesn't have much attention span for books, so I pretty much reserve them for nap and bedtime when he's drowsy and will sit still. He also puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, so coloring, finger painting, and scooping beans back and forth (etc.) are out of the question, still.

Have you done library story time? I'm not sure what county you're in, but I'm in Dakota County and we have an awesome library system with great childrens' librarians that have fun baby (age 2 and under) storytimes. We read a couple of board books, but mostly sing a bunch of songs and dance around to them, shake maracas, etc. And the last 15 minutes the kids crawl around and play with the toys that the librarian dumps out on the floor. :)

How about a walk around the mall? MOA is great for that! Host a play date with some friends? There might be local drop-in-and-play times through your local ECFE, too. We did that a lot when DD was that age, and it was fun for both of us.

[babyfiorina1]

DS is 13 months, and this is what he loves to do right now:

*jumping on our bed/ his or his sister's crib mattress,
*playing peek-a-boo (he does this a ton at his high chair during meals & also loves doing it with towels and blankets, etc.)
*doing songs like "The Itsy bitsy spider," "This little piggy," and other fingerplays
*toddling around the house, grabbing whatever he can (ornaments off the tree, stuff out of cabinets, cat food :shake:, DVD cases, you name it! I give him the basket that has our sippy cups, kid utensils, etc., and he loves pulling everything out of that and carrying it around

That's all I can think of right now. He's so much different than DD was at this age; so much more active, he's like a little tornado and I'm constantly running around picking up after him! ;) Unlike his sister at age 1, DS doesn't have much attention span for books, so I pretty much reserve them for nap and bedtime when he's drowsy and will sit still. He also puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, so coloring, finger painting, and scooping beans back and forth (etc.) are out of the question, still.

Have you done library story time? I'm not sure what county you're in, but I'm in Dakota County and we have an awesome library system with great childrens' librarians that have fun baby (age 2 and under) storytimes. We read a couple of board books, but mostly sing a bunch of songs and dance around to them, shake maracas, etc. And the last 15 minutes the kids crawl around and play with the toys that the librarian dumps out on the floor. :)

How about a walk around the mall? MOA is great for that! Host a play date with some friends? There might be local drop-in-and-play times through your local ECFE, too. We did that a lot when DD was that age, and it was fun for both of us.

I'm looking forward to the story time. I'm in Scott county and the story time is for toddler starting at 18 month old. I often brought her to the library too to check out some books because she likes books, well, likes flipping them, but have no patient listening to me reading to her :tongue5:

I don't know if she will get over this or not, but she doesn't like being in her stroller and tried to fight me most of the time, so our trip to the mall didn't last very long because she's constantly fussing wanting out from the stroller. But she likes shopping carts though. I'll check on the drop-in-and-play times. Thank you.