desperate for stuff to do with active & clingy 13 month old.

[fireredjewel]

Hi everyone,
I'm desperate for ideas here! My DD is almost 13 months old, is walking (she's quite good!) and i'm struggling to find activities/games/toys to play with her. She's pretty spirited. We always go out of the house in the middle of the day, and for a walk in the evening (we'd both go mad otherwise) but the 4hr + A time in the morning is difficult. I have 'play stations' (thanks to the 'spirited thread') around the lounge room for her, with plenty of things to pull up/down on, and the activities have ranged from:
-cubby house
-'music' corner
-play table
- sensory experiences (cotton balls this week!) in a small tub
-little people
-rattles area
-pop up toy area
-crayons (doesn't 'get' them yet)
- posting games/shape sorters
-hide n seek around the house
- peg games
- dumping & sorting
- push-along walker (but prefers to do it independently)
- books (she can easily access her little ground-level bookshelf, and loves reading, and will sit still for ages being read to).
HOWEVER, she seems to be bored by these, and seems to be getting a bit frustrated & is unable to play longer than 1minute or so by herself (despite my positive reinforcement when she does play independently), and i HAVE to be there with her. Are there any activities your LO's LOVED at this age? And any ideas on how I can encourage her to play independently for longer (10 minutes would be a nice breather).

Thanks for your help. :-)

[fireredjewel]

would really really appreciate ideas here - please!

[LizzieN]

Hey sweetie,
Hugs   They can be tricky at this age even when they are fairly independent playing because they really don't play "games" yet, so you are kind of making up the play.....

Umm, trying to remember what DS liked at this age....books books and more books,  playing in water, he also loved (LOVED AND STILL DOES) his little plastic yellow, blue and red bike....you can still get them.  He was a bit older but just walking independently when he first started using it, so she may be ready....hours and hours of entertainment for him, his sister (who is 7yo and still manages to get around on it)...and I'm sure his little sister if she is allowed and when she is ready!!

To be honest if she is going through a really clingy stage, rather than trying to get her to play independently I would just try and include her in what you are doing....so if you are cooking and cutting up veggies, get her in her high chair "helping"...give her some grated carrot, some potatos to feel and touch etc.  If you are cleaning, give her her own little bucket and cloth (and some water if you dare) and get her to "help" you...

I tend to do this as I'm not great with "activities" but I've noticed the kids LOVE doing what you are doing at this age...

gtg but I'll be back later if I think of something more helpful
xxL

[lyeats44]

Tagging along here... I also have a 13 month old spirited LO!  I have listed some activities my LO is interested in right now as well and Im interested in other suggestions you get here!   

She also LOVES books and I find that is the only time she will stay in one spot for more than a minute!  Recently she is very interested in collecting groups of things (grabbing all 5 magnets off the fridge, collecting a bunch of puzzle pieces, trying to grab 4 shoes all at once). 

Getting out of the house really helps.  She is in daycare, so that is full of activities.  But when she is home with me for the day we go to an indoor jungle gym when its raining, or to the park when its nice out.  Even just to the coffee shop or the grocery store with me in the mornings is a great change of scenery for her.

Other things that keep her interested:
- Bubbles
- Eating:)
- Anything outside
- Bouncing on an exercise ball (requires me obviously)
- We have a toy that spits out balls and she loves to run and collect them... I cant think of the name of it off the top of my head, but it keeps her moving!
- Pulling everything out of the laundry basket and she has finally started to be interested in putting it back in again!
- Musical toys (we have a toy piano and drum... loud and annoying, but she loves them and it keeps her busy.  She will walk around with both the piano and drum at the same time)
- We try and limit any TV time, but we have a show called World World that comes in 12 minutes segments that she LOVES,  so we watch it a couple times a week which is a change for her when she is really sick of the regular stuff! 

Hope this helps some!