18 months - toys and activities
So, what is our 18 month old Adelaide interested in? How do our days go by?
She really has not been that interested lately in any shelf work, work for fine motor skills, which she was a lot more around 15-16 months. You can see in some older posts, what did I introduce or still had out for her around that time - like here. And here. The ones I made the last (post here), she takes out and plays a little sometimes, but rarely.
The exception is the new color sorting work (see my last post), which she loves. And I made her two other new little things, we'll see, how these go.
One, where you have to put these little furry wires through small holes.
And another, where you have to put small balls with a hole in them on a shoe lace. I don't think that's the best fit though, she doesn't seem to like it.
I finally removed some old work, that had been out for ages. It's not an easy decision, though, as she surprises me. For example, our DIY version of the Montessori coin box has been around forever, seriously long. I would think to take it away finally.. But then again, she takes it out today and is enjoying playing with it for a long, long time! So.. I should not take it away then yet, I guess.
Our shelves at the moment look like this:
But most of the day it's - books, books, books!!! She takes me to sit on the couch with her, and we must look through her books, she points and talks, and I have to name the things she points.. It makes sense, that she is so much into this at the moment.. It's great for language development. These are her favorites:
From toys she sometimes likes to take out her blocks - either the big Grimms stacking cubes, which are great and she has liked for a long time - she can put them into each other, build towers, or the best way of using - she likes to step on them! Or usual wooden blocks.
She also has gotten interested in Lego's. I think it's perfect, that we have such a small set for the beginning - she doesn't get distracted, but is slowly discovering them, learning to put the pieces together and take them apart. She enjoys that a lot.
She also likes drawing.. Still, but less than before. She can draw independently on her own, often she wants us to draw for/with her, I try to draw myself as little as possible, encourage more her to do it. And she draws "cats" and "planes".
Adelaide is very much into imaginative play. Meaning - dolls and any animals. I have been observing and thinking about this for a long time.. As Montessori is not that much about this. Not that it would be prohibited, just the thought is, that children actually enjoy other things (practical work, real tasks and developing work) more than playing with dolls and animals. Well.. Adelaide has liked dolls since she has been able to see and take them. I, seriously, as much as I can recall, have not encouraged it on purpose! At the very beginning, when she was like 11-12 months, I used the dolls to point out, where the doll has ears or eyes etc..
It was she herself, who first took the dolls and made them to sit or sleep, or ride her bike. It was totally her, who imagined, that the teddy bear should also eat porridge. And this has been going on ever since. Only way, how we have been implementing this (only after she started it) - it's a great trick - when it's nap time, which she might refuse, if she wants to do something else, we say - time to go sleep, the birdie (or dolly) is already sleeping, let's go see! And she genuinely wants to go see, goes to bed with no problem and is willing to go sleep too. :)
She sometimes likes to jump on her jumpy animal, ride her bike or swing on her rocking horse. Occasionally she climbs up her Pikler triangle. She likes to swing (we have a small baby swing, that can be hung in the door isle) a lot! That she can do for a long time..
And yes, of course, most of all - she likes to help me in the kitchen! So, that part from Montessori, about children enjoying practical life (but not actual tasks, just helping mom and participating in real life) most at this age, and this actually is the main focus all the way until about age 3.
I bought her one of the first child-sized kitchen tools (they're not that easy to find) - a rolling pin for the gingerbread season. :) She seemed to like it.
And helping to clean up.
And that is actually pretty much it. :) What we are doing with our days. Cooking, books, taking long walks outside.. Always fun and never boring, amazing life. And I'm not worried, that she should be doing something else right now, I'm all about following the child and going with the flow. She surprises us with her development each day.
She really has not been that interested lately in any shelf work, work for fine motor skills, which she was a lot more around 15-16 months. You can see in some older posts, what did I introduce or still had out for her around that time - like here. And here. The ones I made the last (post here), she takes out and plays a little sometimes, but rarely.
The exception is the new color sorting work (see my last post), which she loves. And I made her two other new little things, we'll see, how these go.
One, where you have to put these little furry wires through small holes.
And another, where you have to put small balls with a hole in them on a shoe lace. I don't think that's the best fit though, she doesn't seem to like it.
I finally removed some old work, that had been out for ages. It's not an easy decision, though, as she surprises me. For example, our DIY version of the Montessori coin box has been around forever, seriously long. I would think to take it away finally.. But then again, she takes it out today and is enjoying playing with it for a long, long time! So.. I should not take it away then yet, I guess.
Our shelves at the moment look like this:
But most of the day it's - books, books, books!!! She takes me to sit on the couch with her, and we must look through her books, she points and talks, and I have to name the things she points.. It makes sense, that she is so much into this at the moment.. It's great for language development. These are her favorites:
From toys she sometimes likes to take out her blocks - either the big Grimms stacking cubes, which are great and she has liked for a long time - she can put them into each other, build towers, or the best way of using - she likes to step on them! Or usual wooden blocks.
She also has gotten interested in Lego's. I think it's perfect, that we have such a small set for the beginning - she doesn't get distracted, but is slowly discovering them, learning to put the pieces together and take them apart. She enjoys that a lot.
She also likes drawing.. Still, but less than before. She can draw independently on her own, often she wants us to draw for/with her, I try to draw myself as little as possible, encourage more her to do it. And she draws "cats" and "planes".
Adelaide is very much into imaginative play. Meaning - dolls and any animals. I have been observing and thinking about this for a long time.. As Montessori is not that much about this. Not that it would be prohibited, just the thought is, that children actually enjoy other things (practical work, real tasks and developing work) more than playing with dolls and animals. Well.. Adelaide has liked dolls since she has been able to see and take them. I, seriously, as much as I can recall, have not encouraged it on purpose! At the very beginning, when she was like 11-12 months, I used the dolls to point out, where the doll has ears or eyes etc..
It was she herself, who first took the dolls and made them to sit or sleep, or ride her bike. It was totally her, who imagined, that the teddy bear should also eat porridge. And this has been going on ever since. Only way, how we have been implementing this (only after she started it) - it's a great trick - when it's nap time, which she might refuse, if she wants to do something else, we say - time to go sleep, the birdie (or dolly) is already sleeping, let's go see! And she genuinely wants to go see, goes to bed with no problem and is willing to go sleep too. :)
She sometimes likes to jump on her jumpy animal, ride her bike or swing on her rocking horse. Occasionally she climbs up her Pikler triangle. She likes to swing (we have a small baby swing, that can be hung in the door isle) a lot! That she can do for a long time..
And yes, of course, most of all - she likes to help me in the kitchen! So, that part from Montessori, about children enjoying practical life (but not actual tasks, just helping mom and participating in real life) most at this age, and this actually is the main focus all the way until about age 3.
I bought her one of the first child-sized kitchen tools (they're not that easy to find) - a rolling pin for the gingerbread season. :) She seemed to like it.
And helping to clean up.
And that is actually pretty much it. :) What we are doing with our days. Cooking, books, taking long walks outside.. Always fun and never boring, amazing life. And I'm not worried, that she should be doing something else right now, I'm all about following the child and going with the flow. She surprises us with her development each day.
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