Indoor Activities to do with a One Year Old

The other day, the weather was a bit frightful, so I decided to stay at home with Baby J and enjoy a cozy day.

By the time he had taken all of his books off of his book shelf, all of the toys off the toy shelf, and all of my socks out of my sock drawer, we still had about 7 hours until dad was due to get home from work, so I decided to look up some activities online to try out.

I found some great activities at this very cool website, so I thought I would try them, and do a little review so I could see how well they actually entertained my little explorer. I only did activities that I could actually find the materials for in my house, so there are lots of other cool things that I will have to do for another day-- but it might be useful to know about these activities when you truly are stuck in your house. I tried to describe them as best as I could, and also to relate some of the things that I really liked about each activity and some challenges that I encountered.


Activity #1: Muffin Tin Fun
Materials: Muffin tin and any balls you can find
Pros: It was super easy to put together, and the first time I did it, he played with it for 15 minutes.
Cons:  The second time he played with it for only five minutes.
Modifications: I was thinking that, for older children, it might be fun for them to throw (light) balls at the muffin tin from far away to see how many they can get to land in there.





Activity #2: Paint in a Bag
Materials: Ziplock bag, paint (I used a water based paint), packing tape (you could probably use masking tape or painter's tape).
Instructions: Squirt the paint into the plastic bag. Tape down all sides. You could tape it to the floor, but I chose to tape it to our sliding glass door.
Pros: Totally mess-free painting. Easy to do. It was REALLY fun!
Cons: It is probably more fun for an older kid. Baby J poked it twice and then was done with it. I had a great time drawing designs until J pushed over a chair and I realized it was time for me to stop playing.
Modifications: Sometime I would like to put two colors of paint in the bag so he could see what happens when he mixes the colors.

Activity #3: Tennis Ball Chute


Materials: Mailing tube, ribbon or string, tennis balls or other small balls (as long as they are not a choking hazard).
Instructions: Tie the mailing tube to a play yard or a gate at an angle with the ribbon. Show your baby how to put the tennis ball through the hole in the tube.

Pros: It doesn't take long to make, and we have just left it attached to his play-yard. It was cool to see him put the tennis ball in the tube and then watch where it went. As an added bonus, our dog loved chasing the tennis balls.
Cons: The dog would not give the tennis balls back.













Activity #4: Ramp it Up!
Materials: A box (I used a plastic toy crate), something flat to make the ramp. I had an old shelf that we had lying around, but you could also use cardboard (who doesn't have a million cardboard boxes from Amazon these days?) or even a big board book.









Pros: My husband and I had a great time watching the cars race down the ramp and predicting which cars might be faster. We also liked rolling balls down the ramp. J was amazed every time that the ball or car came toward him and seemed pretty happy.
Cons: He can't quite put the cars back on, so he can't fully appreciate the game. I also think he might have gotten a little splinter, so we are going to figure out something different to use for the ramp. :-(




Activity #5: Beans, Beans, the Musical... Instrument?
Materials: Dried beans (I used black eyed peas because that is what I had), a container (I used a tupperware bowl), things to hit the bowl with-- I used a whisk and a spoon.
Instructions: Put the dried peas in the bowl and allow the baby to play with them (Be sure they don't eat them! I had J keep his pacifier in his mouth so he wouldn't be tempted to eat anything). Once he was done feeling them, I snapped the lid on the tupperware and he could shake it or hit it with the spoon and the whisk, and use it to make music-- or, in reality, noise.
Pros: He really enjoyed this activity and liked feeling the dried peas.
Cons: When we did this activity later, J did try to eat the peas, so it is definitely an activity that requires close supervision.

Final Thoughts:  I am looking forward to trying these activities in the future, and seeing how Baby J will play with them in different ways as time goes on. What are some easy activities that you do with your one year old or toddler? Can you think of different ways that you would modify these activities to change them up? I would love to hear from you!