# what kind of games do you play with a 14 month old?



## DesertFlower (Oct 20, 2004)

I feel boring. I dont know how to play with my almost 14 months old son. I put him in the swing, and in the kiddie pool, but I dont know what else to do with him. He's not into books. He just takes them out of my hands, and shakes them (altough sometimes he looks at a book by himself). Any suggestions on how to be more of a fun mom?


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## straighthaircurly (Dec 17, 2005)

Art: let him make a mess with finger paints, strip him down and do it outside if you want. Or get washable markers, more satisfying for my son at that age rather than crayons.

Sensory activities: fill a large dish pan with sand or rice or bird seed or shaving cream

Large easy to hold cars, trucks or trains

Get some ride on toys from a garage sale or thrift store

Balls, roll them back and forth to each other.

Play music and dance together

Talk about different animals noises (good animal book) and act them out for him, encourage him to try the noises (kids can often vocalize noises before words)

A lot of kids playtime at this age can be mind numbingly repititious for us, but they need that. Let yourself be silly and get down on his level. I see so many adults who never get down on the floor or the ground with their kids.


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## Jes'sBeth (Aug 30, 2004)

our 14 month old DD LOVES her animal book... lots of pictures of different animals. She'll look at it longer than any other book. It's worth a test drive in the bookstore!

Fill it up, dump it out is a favourite game. Anything that can be put in anything else will be fun. pails that fit small toys are wonderful. Along with this goes digging in sand with a bucket and shovel and water play. fill up the old baby bathtub and add some plastic cups (best done in the back yard!)

We bought a membership to the local indoor playground. It has an area for under 3's, is all padded and it's GREAT for rainy days (it's way quieter than I ever thought it would be!)

peekaboo continues to be a favourite game.

I second music and dancing as well as singing especially action songs. Annie knows the actions for itsy bitsy spider and will clap when you start singing if you're happy and you know it. It's really sweet to see!

build it up, knock it down is a huge favourite. I build as fast as I can over and over and over as annie decides how high to let my tower get. It works with blocks, stacking cups, books, stuffed animals, anything you can stack really

The park is our 2nd home. slides, swings, etc. On the swing you can sing or play games... Annie calls out and holds out her hand for us to give her five now and loves having her head patted each time she swings to us. I give her 'underdogs' too by running beside her on a pass in the swing (I don't really go under the swing like a real underdog... just go beside her) I count up to 3 and then go and she squeals in anticipation from the first swing on. pushing her from the front rather than the back really helps with interaction.

We have a room that is totally kidproof and sometimes we just sit in there and chat while she plays around us and comes in and out of our conversation to bring us stuff or to climb up or to play with us. Sometimes we're on the furniture an sometimes on the floor.

We tickle a lot

we use EVERYTHING as a hat and try to balance it

Just watch what your child plays with and let him lead you as you play. It sounds like you're already providing him with some fun experiences (and yes, all of the above does get repetative but Annie has a blast and that's what it's about right?!?)


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## Jes'sBeth (Aug 30, 2004)

I forgot to add...

books with very little text on each page and ones that rhyme or books that have things to feel and play with on each page are much better right now than ones with stories. We're still mostly reading board books so they can be thrown around and tormented without significant damage.


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

I am of the philosophy that I don't need to always be playing with ds. He is a kid and thus naturally creative and curious and can make up his own things to do. This will in turn encourage the building of more creativity and curiosity in his brain. Plus, at 14-nearly-15 months, he's starting a little bit of immitation of me here and there in my daily tasks, which is a great thing kids will do on their own.

When I do play with ds, it is because I am finding him to be enchanting in whatever he is doing, which leads me to feel an urge to join him. Either that, or we're both in the mood to wrestle. We do a lot of wrestling, and I do a lot of gently but enthusiastically swinging him around.

The things my ds does when left to his own creativity right now include...

Wander around the house...room to room. Pick up things. Bring them to other spots. Put them down. Pick them back up and take them somewhere else. Open cabinet doors, get stuff out, close them. Open them back up, put stuff back in, close them. Open them back up, and so forth.

Open and close the back door. Go in and outside. Let the dogs in and out. Shake the hose. Crawl or walk after the dogs. Shout after the dogs. Talk to himself. Bring stuff from inside outside. Bring stuff from outside inside. Go to the fence and body slam it. Try to open the back gate.

Look out windows. Bang on windows. Bang on tables. Make lots of noise! Talk to himself. Shout to himself.

Play with bubbles (he's recently started signing "bubbles," sort of). Get mommy to blow them or use a bubble maker he got for his birthday that he can do by himself by pushing and holding down a button (though he still needs me to get the bubble soap on it).

Stand at the bathroom sink and play in the water. Splash. Put things in there...toys, toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, etc.

Let mommy know he wants to be picked up. Get put in the Ergo carrier. Watch as mommy does her thing.

Open the jars on his small snack table to get snacks. Sometimes take out snacks and eat. Other times just open and close the jars.

Just recently, after watching me play with his "baby" (doll) for my own entertainment, he started using a bowl and spoon to "feed" his baby as well as-- just today-- his Koala stuffed animal. He also takes a hat off and puts it back on his baby. And he tried for the first time today to bottlenurse (he is bottlenursed due to being adopted) his baby.

And other stuff if we're outdoors-- try to turn on the water to the hose, and if mommy is willing to help, play with the hose or in the sprinkler; pick grass; wander around the yard; "help" mommy weed; look inside the windows to see what's going on inside the house...
I find the trick to keeping us both happy is to get out and about plenty. On days I am working, we go to the park once a day, and on days I'm not working, up to three or four times. He adores the park, but mommy doesn't do any of the work for him (except helping him onto the swing)...he climbs to get up to the slide, etc. etc. all on his own.

Oh, and we've done swim lessons together (I really hope to get started with this again soon!) and also do things like trips to the local children's museum, the beach, etc. We take lots of walks and some hikes.

This thread has a lot of the other stuff we've been up to:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=457464

~Sierra


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

Oh yeah, the above posts reminded me of some other fun activities, though again, I try not to initiate ds' play too much and spend a lot of time just letting him do his thing:

I've filled a number of jars that have pull-off lids ds can handle with a variety of materials. He gets different sensory play with each one, and can also practice filling and dumping. He's not doing much dumping yet, though.

Fingerplays (we have a book of these because for my own sanity I like to have dozens to choose from)...over and over.

Calling people on the phone. Talking on speaker phone or taking turns. Or if we have no one to call, pretending we are calling someone.

Hide-N-Seek (mommy hides behind the couch or under a blanket or whatever and calls out until ds finds me). Variation: hide-n-seek for items tucked in spots around the room.

Sitting outside in the grass and watching for airplanes. We live by a military fort and get a lot of low-flying planes. When we see them, we sign airplane and get all excited and make airplane sounds.

Watching people mow their lawns and making lawnmower sounds. ds has a total fascination with lawn mowers.

Sensory play in a big tub outdoors...using flour or cornmeal or oatmeal or water for a variety of experiences depending on the day. We haven't tried it much yet, but for extra fun, add in cups and spoons for scooping and pouring.

ds isn't that into stacking yet, but sometimes I will build towers for my own entertainment. ds will either knock it down or try to add on a piece, which also usually knocks it down.

ds recently seemed like he was experimenting with blowing bubbles in his drinking water. We might get out some big straws and a big tub filled with liquid to do some blowing fun.

Practicing using a fork. ds likes to immitate, though he can't really get the food actually on his fork much yet.

Play in big cardboard boxes or in a small tent. Climbing in and out. Having mommy pull ds around the room or yard. At a friend's house where there is a wagon that has a door on it, climbing in and out of the wagon and calling out for people to pull him.

Something we haven't tried yet but that came home in ds' summer "homework" for Early Intervention is a game of pairing objects. You find a bunch of household stuff the child sees used together on a regular basis, such as socks and shoes...toothbrush and toothpaste...bowl and spoon...shirt and pants. Then play pretend that you are going to brush your teeth, etc. and search together for the correct pair of items needed.

Play with nesting toys and stacking cups.


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## 2sweetbabes (Jul 1, 2005)

Some other things my 14 month-old likes to do (besides just playing and discovering by herself). She loves chasing games, every night when dh comes home she screams and tries to run away from him. Sometimes I hold her and we run and chase the dogs or her brother. It's thrilling either way. She is also really into her "bike". I thought she would be too young, but it's a tricycle with a seatbelt and we can go all over the yard with it. It has a handle for me to push. She also loves diving into blankets or pillows on the floor and rolling around in them.

Things are different this time because my 14 month old has a 3 year-old brother. I remember feeling like you when I just had my son. We visited friends and family a lot which was interesting for both him and me.

HTH


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## EastonsMom (Oct 24, 2005)

DS is 14 monthes too. He LOVES to be outside, anywhere, as long as it is outside. He LOVES it when we make tents and climb in and out( NEVER leave him alone under it though!!!) Water is always a hit. To keep from filling up the tub or pool over and over, I will put a little bit of water on one side of the sink and let him sit there, and ALOT on the other side and let him "wash" his dishes. Then when I mop up the mess, I am cleaning the floor so it all kind of works out well for us







I know it sounds stupid, but they seem to love stupid. I get on my hands and knees across the room from him and look at him from between my legs. LOVES LOVES LOVES that!! He will come tear assing across the room, falling over himself. He does it do me now! Anything to get his creativity going. Don't ever worry about the mess, Parenting is not a clean job! Have fun having fun. I love to discover things all over again with my Pootie, he is teaching me so much more than I can teach him most days!


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## Cardinal (Feb 6, 2006)

Going to feed the ducks is a game for us.
Throw food, chase ducks, throw food, chase ducks...

Anything with the ducks is a game for DS.


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## aprons_and_acorns (Sep 28, 2004)

We started playing this game when ds was around 14 months:

Cut out four stars (or any shape) from bright colored paper, have dc go into another room and then stick the shapes around the room (masking tape on the back). Have dc and a helper count to ten and then come out and look for the shapes. Ds got the hang of this right away and loves it. We play it in the evenings after dinner if it's crummy outside.


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## Sierra (Nov 19, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2sweetbabes*
She is also really into her "bike". I thought she would be too young, but it's a tricycle with a seatbelt and we can go all over the yard with it. It has a handle for me to push.

ds has one like this too.

We just got ds' bike out from the garage last week when it was all-too-clear he was too big for his "bike" that he would sit on and push with his feet. The big impetus to take it out of the garage was when my dad dropped by during a bike tour of the cascade mountains.

ds can't reach the pedals on the "new" bike yet, but we've been using it wagon/stroller style with me pushing because ds and I both think it's fun.

At first I wasn't sure because he didn't smile on it at all. I think he was busy checking things out. But he kept going and trying to climb on and then shaking it and hollering out for me to push, and he even tolerates keeping a helmet on (he *hates* anything on his head...and always takes hats off).


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