How to keep a 1 yr old entertained

This thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=249222 got me thinking. We usually don’t have the tv on while little fallfast is up and about. She turns 1 this week. And we try and keep her busy by playing with her. And there are times when you need to leave her alone to play by herself, like making dinner or cleaning. For you Dopers that have or had little ones, what are some of their favorite toys that kept them busy the most. We don’t have a lot of toys for her, too many and she gets frustrated and bored quickly. Plus, what games did you play with the little 1 year olds?

When the Terrorist Monkey was one, he enjoyed sitting in the “Super Saucer” that had bead and music thingys and sliding do-wops and such. He also enjoyed the swing that you would crank up until the spring broke. As I recall, at one year old, peek-a-boo is a big hit, as well as hide-and-seek.

The wife bought many boxes of flash cards with pictures, colors, numbers, animals and other stuff on them. Terrorist Monkey’s vocabulary and abilty to count, recite the alphabit, identify colors and make animal sounds is months ahead of schedual, according to the books and the doctor. Try them. He really seemed to enjoy going through the flash cards and they really seem to help.

Now, at 2 1/2, he just likes to run full speed everywhere, ride in the Jeep and on the motorcycle and throw golf balls at the livestock! :smiley:

My kid is 19 months now.

One is not too young for the very beginnings of art, if you are ok with as much art getting on the baby as on the paper. Get non-toxic everything, park baby in her highchair, tape down some paper and see what happens.

A cup of oatmeal and some water makes wonderfuly squishy textured goop to play with.

A bowl of water and a spoon on the floor, towels underneath, should get you a good 5 or 10 min.

Music toys, like a drum or toy piano.

Yep peek-a-boo is the Funnest Game Ever still for Twiddlette.

Walk around the house, looking at and talking about everything, even at 1 they hardly ever get a good look at things at adult eye-level.

Make everything an activity. Insead of getting dressed quickly to go do something else, take 45 min. to just get dressed. Roll around on the floor, giggle and tickle. Swap clothing and make faces at each other. Dress a doll, a teddy bear, the cat.

Get some magnets for the fridge, place them low enough for your kid to reach.

That’s all I can think of now. Some of these might be good for slightly older babies - it can be tough to remember exactly what was best when. It all blurs a bit. :stuck_out_tongue:

Twiddle

Give the child/ren a cupboard to themselves in the kitchen. Where they can pull out anything they want ( all childproof stuff) and have fun.

Pot lids, spoons and those misc. plastic lids are the cheapest toys on earth.

Would it be too terribly wrong of me to suggest getting a playpen, throwing a few toys inside with your child, and keeping her there for as long as you need? Sometimes I feel that even very young children should learn that they won’t be entertained every minute of their lives and other people have times when they need to focus on other things.

You think non-toxic crayons are ok for a tot? I’ve been wondering, because mine is 2, but I’ve feared giving him many art materials so far; I know he’s going to try eating them. Is it really safe enough? (I know, paranoid first-time mom here…)

I ask because my kid would LOVE this idea, but I’m scared to try it, in case he eats the crayons/paint and we end up in the ER, or we end up with neon green poo for the next four days after he eats the crayons/paint.

I found one of those magnadoodle things in the garbage bin (trash)* - our 1 yo loves it. Nothing to eat there.

Old magazines are good - or any old books with colouful pictures.

  • dont worry I disinfected it well

Pinky (at nine months) is perfectly content to sit in his playpen for about 30 minutes. He also loves his saucer. He’s got things to play with, and he can bounce to his little heart’s content.

One thing we both enjoy is rolling and bouncing a ball (6" diameter) back and forth.

We have one of those “SuperYards” with a couple of extra panels, SuperYard . Makes for a very large play pen. My wife and I can both lie down in it without touching each other or the sides and little fallfast still has tons of space to play. I’ve spent hours and hours in there with her playing and tickling and giggling.

I really like the idea of the oatmeal and some water to make a gooey dough. Plus, we have been looking for some flashcards that we like.

These are some really good suggestions, thanks.

When they’re one year old, they’re always entertained, because everything is entertainment to them. :slight_smile:

You really don’t need to spend every waking hour devoted to entertaining a 1 or 2 year old.

What ends up happening, IMHO, is that the child gets use to this behavior and expects it and interaction all the time.

I have seen it in the parents who treat their child like a science project and that everything they do ( painting, touch,play) is helping develope whatever scientific developemental buzzword that week.

I have watched one parent I am unfortunate to know who was going to buy for her one year old daughter a swingset because (and I quote) * swinging is important for brain developement *. I would like to state that a) a 1 year old is too young to swing on their own b) this same child in question was never put in a mechical swing for reasons I’m not all together too sure.

Playing and running around is important for brain development. Everything they do they learn from.
But they need to learn to play by themselves. ( They don’t learn to play with others really until 3-4 ish. anything before that is still “ME. MINE” time.)

If you schedule every hour of the day as quality time for you and the baby, and I’ve seen loads of moms who feel this insane need to do this, then what you are doing is , again this is my observation, is creating an attention whore for a child. And when #2 comes along, it makes it a bitter pill to give up 100% of mommy for this encroacher and mommy now has even less time for herself because of some deep seeded (guilt) issues. Eventually, leaving mom less than zero time for down time for herself, causing loads of emotional problems.

What is critical, and the best advice I read in a parenting magazine, was when a child is playing by themselves quietly, make a comment, " Bobby, you play so nicely with your blocks" thus, reinforcing the positive.
The above forementioned child is a prime example of attention whore, princess and extremely bossy because her mommy always did what baby wanted to do and now this little girl has three little brothers (twins-2- and an oops -8 months) does not know how to play by herself and has some major Attention Whoring Issues. BTW, they got a swing for Princess Perfect for her third birthday, but are never home and she only uses it when my kids are over. but they are moving soon, so there is a God! Bad news is it is my SIL, so there isn’t a God. I’m conflicted.

Both my kids were too mobile at one to enjoy the saucer or the playpen.

We blocked off all the stairs and the entire downstairs was their playpen.

Toys were never big (still aren’t, though there are a lot of them) with our kids. Blocks at one for my son. He really enjoyed blocks. We had one of those little plastic slides in the living room. Dancing was always great fun.

Daycare used (in addition to oatmeal) pudding and shaving cream. Also, my children would regularly come home with blue toenails from having their feet painted and footprints made. (One of the coolest things was when they painted their feet when they learned to walk and the kids would walk across paper).

(Art supplies are non-toxic - so there will not be a trip to the emergency room (unless they choke). Although you will wonder why you bothered when your child poops blue playdoh.)

Based on lots of babysitting experience, I’d say that most 1-yr-olds enjoy playing with anything that makes noise. Xylophone, squeaky toy, bowl and spoon, plastic bottle with dry macaroni sealed inside it… the louder, the better.

Warning:
The length of time that a one year old child will play with a noisemaking toy is directly proportional to the magnitude of your headache.

My kids were pretty content in general. I just wanted to say that entertainment presents itself in the strangest ways sometimes. There was a Chinese restaurant that sold a soup called “Yakbak Soup” (no, it didn’t contain Yak). I called my then-husband and said, “On your way home, can you pick up some Yak Soup?”

My son was about 1 and sitting on my lap. He burst into laughter. I looked at him and said “What? Yakbak?” Sure enough, he laughed again - I mean, bellybusting laughter.

For about two weeks we could get him to laugh hysterically just by saying Yakbak. Ahhh those were the days.

Make sure there’s nothing dangerous in your saucepan cupboard, arm them with a wooden spoon or two, put in earplugs and voila, 1/2 an hours entertainment right there!

Oh, tents. Tents were HUGE!

You can make a tent with a cardtable and a blanket. Or a few chairs (if you are going to leave the room with a little one and a tent, make sure its sturdy - don’t need chairs falling on your beloved.) We bought a tent that we could set up in the livingroom - best $30 I spent on a toy - it has a tunnel as well. (We now also have a blow up igloo and a teepee - thanks to my father in law who seems to think space is limitless for this crap and hasn’t been around kids much). (I got both the tent and tunnel for cheaper than what is on that site - course its four years ago, too).

Musical goodies. Try not to skimp by buying cheap crap, a Hohner Marine Band harmonica will last for many years and most of the tooting isn’t terribly annoying. Those little drums that you play by twirling the wrist are good. Triangles, tuning forks and pitch pipes are easy to use. There are tons of percussion instruments around - maracas, bongos, tambourines, shakers. Just look for the real thing rather than anything that has the word toy, colourful or plastic in its description. My second son, 6 years after the first got to use many of the same things. Unless we gave them away they are probably stored away now.

I don’t think people do playpens anymore (I couldn’t have lived without mine!). I see nothing wrong with penning the baby while you do stuff. My kid would have killed himself without it!

That said, an oatmeal box with blocks and stuff to put in and take out is the best toy a 1-yr-old can have. Another of my favorites is “Wing It Off The High Chair”, in which you tie stuff to the high chair with long strings or ribbons. They can wing it and reel it back in on their own. Caution: Not that I need to tell you this, but I will – this should only be done when you’re in the room. For obvious reasons.

Maybe it’s a regional thing, but playpens are still popular around here. However, there is a vocal minority of parents who won’t have anything to do with them.

We’ve got a playpen for our 11-month old daughter. She can occupy herself for quite bit of time with her favorite toys. She also likes to nap in there.

About preparing dinner and cleaning around the home: our daughter LOVES to watch this stuff. If we are doing anything in the kitchen at all – cooking, dishes, wiping the counters, Swiffering – our little one is content to sit in her high chair and “supervise”. Same with cleaning the bathroom, dusting, etc. And for fairly long periods of time … well over 45 minutes. Speaking with her as we go along keeps her attention even better. And like a moviegoer with popcorn, our daughter will often watch us while muching on a half-dozen or so Goldfish crackers.

Here is a wonderful toy set that you can make on your own, that lasts a long time and provides literally hours of entertainment for little ones up to not-so-little ones:

Cover cardboard half-gallon milk cartons in contact paper. That’s all there is to it. You do have to cut and collapse the pointy end so that it’s as flat as the bottom, but that’s really the only work involved. The contact paper isn’t even necessary, but it adds color and pattern, as well as sealing the collapsed pointy end. They make terrific large, lightweight building blocks – and when you have enough of them, your child can make walls and knock them down without an ounce of pain involved. They’re AWESOME. Kid can throw them in a tantrum, no damage. Kid can trip and fall onto them, no pain. Start buying half-gallons when you can, and check with your neighbors, coworkers and family to see if they’ll give their empties to you.

Finger puppets are also good. My mom made them for us out of felt when we were kids, but there are great store-bought kinds, too. 1-year-olds tend to love the tactile experience as well as being able to move these little characters around by themselves. Good for quieter play, especially if you have incorporated them into storytelling before.

You could also try getting one of those rubber balls that are attached to a wristband with elastic string. My nieces and nephews get a kick out of mine. The wristband is velcro, so you just wrap it around the kid’s arm and then let her throw it as long and hard as she wants – it will keep coming back! And because the string is somewhat short, you don’t risk much damage to your household items.

Just to echo some others, 12 months is not too young for baby to learn to entertain herself. It’s equally valuable for the parent and the child to for her to be able to overcome boredom on her own (with help from the parents, of course-- I’m not suggesting just plunking her in a sterile environment).