I have had so much fun writing my baby play series for you all. This month I’m sharing some of our favourite simple play ideas for Audrey’s 11 month!
Please do remember that you don’t need to be constantly entertaining your little ones. They are so capable of creating their own play but don’t expect them to sit still and play for something for long. Their attention span is very short. In fact, I’d say 5 minutes of baby play is equivalent to 764 years in our time haha!
This month was all about exploring art! I’ve been putting it off for so long (art with three children is kind of crazy!) but I put aside those fears this month and did some gorgeous art activities with Audrey!
One of my favourites was her very first watercolour artwork. We were gifted a bunch of Micador brand art and craft supplies this month and the Bubblegum brushes are absolutely perfect for little hands. I just used some watercolour palettes and loaded up her brush for her. The artworks Audrey created turned out absolutely beautifully!
Another simple activity we did this week was Washi Tape on the highchair. This sounds very basic but it’s fantastic for developing their fine motor skills.
I simply peeled some Washi Tape and tore it in short lengths. I stuck it down to Audrey’s high chair and left a corner unstuck. I showed her how to use my fingers (pincer grip) to grab the corner and pull the tape up. She LOVED this one!
The weather has been warming up here and we’ve been doing a bit of water play with the older kids. Audrey has been able to join in now as well because she’s pulling up to stand at the table!
We have an IKEA FLISAT table with TROFAST tubs inside. It’s perfect for water play because it not only encourages Audrey to stand up to play (and also sidestep around the table), but it’s also high enough that she won’t topple in.
We dyed the water with a drop or two of food colouring and then added a few of her plastic balls. She loved sidestepping around the table to try and catch them while she splashed in the water.
This month I also wanted to share a super quick finger painting activity that I did with Elliot around 11 months. I simply printed off some pig templates and added some brown paint to a paper plate.
I invited Elliot to use his hands to paint his pigs with ‘muddy’ paint. It was so much fun and a wonderful sensory experience for him!
I hope you’ve found some new ideas to inspire your play this month! As always, I’d love for you to tag me @littlelifelonglearners and use the #littlelifelonglearners hashtag if you try any of these ideas with your little learners!
Please Note: Supervision is an absolute must with all baby play. Do not leave your baby unattended and always be watching if your baby is exploring something you have created or isn’t originally intended as a baby toy.