What do you do with your 1 year old?

[imy]

Hello! I am a first time mum to a little girl who is currently 14 months old. She can't quite walk yet and I am finding this a bit of an awkward age where she isn't quite a baby nor a toddler. I was wondering what sorts of activities people tend to do with their child at this age, both at home as well as out and about?

She has lots of toys that she plays with but does get bored of them very quickly (open to toy recommendations!). She loves going out in her pram and spotting dogs in the park, practicing her walking and LOVES reading books. Every week she goes swimming, to a music class and to soft play. So we don't sit around doing nothing but I do find at some point each day I find her very bored and me wondering what I can do with her! I wonder if she's old enough for me to start doing some more crafty things - maybe this week I'll try painting.

Honestly at that age anything is exciting. Mine used to love sitting in a high chair in a cafe, going to the library, being in a trolley in Tesco. You sound like you're doing lots of classes and activities too.

I think the thing I find tricky with her is that she hates sitting still. She always has to be moving or actively entertained (and obviously her attention span is very short!). I think once she can walk it'll feel a lot easier and I'll spend more time taking her to places like the park where she can just be up and about. Good to know I'm not missing anything glaring though!

Mine is 15 months, doesn’t walk at all but cruises and crawls at speed. He’s my second so I think less about what to do with him than his sister and they play together when she’s not in school but when it’s just us things he enjoys:

bath, he’ll do half an hour with an empty shampoo bottle filling and emptying it

sitting on a rug in the garden picking grass

he loves play dough, does it at the table while I’m pottering or working at the table

stacking shapes, magnet tiles, books, puzzles

I use a carrier a lot, a back one and a front one, I very rarely ever use the buggy. If he’s close to me he’ll do most things happily.

When I’m cooking I sit him on the floor with a wooden spoon and a plastic bowl and give him bits of veg to chew on or I bring his highchair in when I’m making bread and let him poke stuff.

I know what you mean about feeling the need to entertain but I find we’re both happier when I get on with stuff and just let him join in and then we have specific time reading, singing, having cuddles throughout the day.

He helps me fill and empty the washing machine, he helps me unstack the dishwasher by passing me things, he’ll sit by when I’m hanging laundry out, he plays with pillows when I’m changing the beds. I did the same with DD and she’s grown to help more and taken on things as her own jobs and it’s worked pretty organically.

@AnneLovesGilbert This is so helpful and also so reassuring, thank you.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all halcyon afternoons baking bread to the sounds of classic FM.

But I think back to my mum who had 4 under 5 and the billions of women whose footsteps we walk in while bringing up our children and how many of them spent their days worrying about providing entertainment vs worrying about getting the clothes cleaned and the food on the table, the fields harvested etc etc. When in doubt I strap him onto me and do my stuff, I explain what I’m doing, ask him daft rhetorical questions, repeat things I’ve heard on the radio. I thank my lucky stars for the white goods that make my life so much easier and afford me time to give him my full attention for playing throughout the day but he’s learning from every single thing we do together and I’m not spending his nights and naps on housework so we do it slowly and messily but together where it’s safe to do so (eg not cleaning the bathroom…)

Great idea for a thread, I was thinking just the same about my 11 month old who is in an awkward not baby not toddler phase and I find quite a challenge to keep busy. Here’s what I fill the days with:

1. Picnics in the park. I bring a blanket, some toys, snacks, but really he’s more interested in grass/birds/dogs/squirrels.
2. Swings / slides / cruising around the playground.
3. Splash parks for hot days.
4. Rhyme time at the library, or just popping into the library to read new books and for a change of scenery.
5. Gallery’s/museums with activity rooms (Tate Modern etc) - these are better for older kids, but mine still finds it very stimulating.
6. Train/Tube journeys, he loves looking around and making friends on the train! I basically take him out to see friends, but I think the journey is his favourite part

We’ve tried big crayons for drawing but I think it’s a bit early in our case, as DS mainly tried to eat them 😅.
@AnneLovesGilbert I’d love to do more with DS around me rather than entertaining him, but he won’t tolerate me not giving him attention which is exhausting. He’s very happy watching DH cook,clean, do diy etc, but for some reason looses his marbles if I try and do the same!

Hopefully she'll be walking soon and feel less frustrated. My son started walking at one year old and the difficult phase for me was 6months to 1year as that's when he wanted to be more on the move. He was crawling and cruising in this period so could get about enough but not as much as he wanted.

For activities we did swimming, Book Bug, a couple of play groups, and lots of play dates with friends. We also used to have meet ups with other mums and kids in the park. We'd take food and picnic blankets and the kids would crawl about in the grass. I would go for walks with him in the carrier either outdoors or around museums.

A fun activity for my DD at that age was playing with sand - it wasn’t real sand cause she put everything in her mouth, but I used to blend Cheerios as the sand. She loved it.