To ask for ideas to entertain my 1 year old at home?

[Fieldings15]

Struggling to think of ways to keep my 14 month old entertained. He's not quite walking independently yet, but cruising round furniture etc. Pre - lockdown I relied heavily on baby groups/classes, trips to town for shopping, going to the library and park etc. He's not interested in painting/messy play, but does love books and being read to. Any ideas for activities we can do inside or in the garden? Suggestions would be much appreciated :)

My DD is 14 months too and I'm going spare. She's not walking either but climbing on everything.

I've resorted to bringing thr baby bath outside and letting her have a splash around in that. She likes to sort. So 3 bowls and dried pasta and she'll entertain herself moving them from one bowl to the next.

Other than that it's letting her play with her toys/climb on me that's about it. But I do have some toys and books hidden away so I can rotate them round and that makes it a bit more interesting. I'm finding it hard though. I'm having to make sure my other DD who's 8 is doing her school stuff too so it's tricky.

I have a 15 month old who's also just cruising. He will walk holding hands though so that's basically all we do all day 😂

I've also got a plastic box (Like a big storage one) with a load of plastic utensils from the kitchen and we play in the bathroom with water. That will waste an hour easily. We do a lot of dancing around to nursery rhymes and the radio because he's just learnt to dance. He loves playing 'hide and seek' (It's not really but he thinks it is!). He climbs all over me a lot. We have a robot vacuum that he follows around putting toy cars on. Toy cars also take up a lot of our day as well 😂. We don't really do specific activities but the days seem to go quickly! I basically just play with him all day on the floor and he's happy. Oh and we stretch eating out for as long as possible as well 😁

I say this on every thread but FINGER PUPPETS. Look up the Puppet Company on Amazon. My DD is 14mo and spends hours a day playing with her finger puppets. We use them to go along with stories (the Dear Zoo set is particularly good), songs, we do animal noises, we do BSL for all the different animals, we have nursery rhyme ones, I ask her to bring me certain ones, she can now put them on her finger by herself and play with them that way. They're her favourite toys by far. Books with noisy buttons are a hit too. The Listen to The... range are good.

She also loves making towers so we got her some Mega Bloks and she will spend quite a long time just making really wonky towers and knocking them over.

Outside we have a sand and water table, which she enjoys dumping all the sand out of

Oh and magnets, DD loves putting her dinosaur magnets on and off the radiators. She's just started walking so we keep finding them stuck to weird places

14 month old here too, he has just started to walk but if he likes climbing (and you have some spare money) the toys by nature rainbow bug is really nice. He loves climbing over it, and then if you turn it upside down it makes it into a really nice little reading rocker (probably best to look on Google or insta for inspiration!). They are expensive but hoping it will last a good few years and then we can donate it to one of the playgroups, or they sell on for a decent price. It was also good when he was learning to walk as we popped it in the middle of the room and it worked as a kind of launch pad hah. Also as has been said, fingerpuppets, books to play with and flick through as well as to be read, we got an adjustable easel with a chalkboard side and a side to put paper on, it's the only crafts he will do but that usually takes about half an hour. In honesty more telly than I would like, but at the moment getting through the days is enough haha. Anything that can be stacked and then knocked over, anything that rolls down a ramp or spiral like the vtech treehouse, shape sorter (not to sort the shapes that would be silly, but to hide all around the living room), anything water based- we bought a water table second hand and he loves that with a bucket etc, also bought a playhouse which he will happily spend ages in. I think just try different stuff, even something like kitchen foil usually keeps them occupied for a bit.

I would try to replicate the activities they do at baby groups, obviously on a smaller scale.
Bit of water play as suggested.
A bit of time to sit on your lap and sing nursery rhymes.
A few baby books.
You could make a “treasure chest” they were all the range in EYFS settings a few years ago. It’s just a box of different textured normal items that they can touch, chew and explore. Which is pretty much how the play at this stage.
Stacking toys.
Mirrors for him to look in to.
Scarves and fabric to play peekaboo
Pots, pans and wooden spoons.
If you’ve got old boxes you could make tunnels for him to crawl into.
Honestly though, he’s a baby he will be fine tinkering about and chewing whatever you put in front of him. Although I understand your need to dosomething with him. I was the same when my dc were little.
The fact that he likes being read to is a really positive I would do as much reading as singing as I possibly could with him.

Water. Put them in the bath with toys. Fill a basin with soapy water and "wash" toys ..etc etc.
Anything that is putting things in &out if things e g. Get a bag and fill with random things, keys, a shoe etc . Give it to him and make a really big deal when he takes things out "oh you found the keys!" And over excited " oh, where have the keys gone? " etc when he puts them in. Kept my kids busy for ages at that age.

My daughter is 14 months and just walking although not all the time. We have been doing cosmic kids yoga every morning, she can’t do all of it, and some of it I have to put her into the positions but she seems to like it! We sometimes follow baby club on CBeebies, we play nursery rhymes through Alexa and play with her toys. We have long walks and play in the garden with her water table and busy board. I’ve got a few messy play ideas to do too this week. We tried to make a rainbow with tissue paper and glue which was a disaster! Well maybe not a disaster but it’s definitely more my handiwork than hers I found a thing on Pinterest which was 20 things to do with your one year old every day - it’s all basic stuff but it’s good to have a prompt sometimes!

Thank you everyone, some really great ideas here!