- Dec 20, 2019
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Loving parents want to do what is best for their babies. However, most are unaware when asked, “What play activities should your child be doing?” Many are surprised to learn that their child’s play is more than entertainment; it is skill-building.
The first few months of your baby’s life involve feeding, changing, and making baby faces and funny sounds. As your child moves into toddlerhood, play activities become more complex, and parents often see a purpose to the play, such as patting the baby doll or stacking blocks. By 16 months, your child should have achieved certain play milestones to keep them on track to be ready for school.
Adults often think of play as entertainment. And for them, it is. Skiing at the lake, shooting baskets in the driveway, or gaming online are all forms of adult play. The purpose is to relax and have fun.
But while play for children is also fun, it is not designed to be relaxing or entertaining; it aims to teach skills necessary for life. Mr. Rogers once said, “Play is the work of children.” And he was correct.
It helps parents when they understand that their baby’s activities during the day are teaching real-life skills. For example, when your baby pulls bowls out of the cabinets, fills them, and dumps them out, he is learning to help in the kitchen. While it is messy now, with practice, it will become coordinated. Trying to put on shoes, often on the wrong foot or even backward at first, is not meant to entertain or play dress up, at least not yet. No, your 16-month-old baby is learning to dress themselves.
With this new knowledge, let’s examine the play milestones to better understand what your child should be doing by certain ages.
By 9 months, your child can shake rattles, bang spoons, or bang blocks together. Repeating an action, such as banging toys together, teaches cause and effect. If your baby hits their spoon on the tray (cause), they feel the vibration and hear the sound (effect). And they might even get their desired result, which is your attention.
By 10 months, your baby should be able to remove socks, pull off hats, or take blocks out of the container, which are essential life skills. To undress, you must remove clothing. To help out, you must remove things from containers, such as clothes from the dryer. This age is often when parents say, “My baby makes such a mess!” They are not typically trying to make a mess. Instead, they are mastering taking off and pulling out. Don’t worry; one of the upcoming skills is putting objects in the container.
By 11 months, pushing buttons to see the lights or turning the knob to hear the click will mesmerize your baby. Pushing buttons is vital in life, as we all know, in the digital age. Turning knobs has become harder for children to learn because today’s toys rarely have knobs. But your child must still learn how to turn things using their hands. Two examples are turning their spoon to line up with their mouth during feeding, or turning their wrist to brush their hair.
By 12 months, your baby may pat you on the back to comfort you. They may pat their belly when hungry. Thankfully, they are also learning to put those blocks into the container. Warning: They will also poke their finger in the wall socket or put small cereal pieces up their nose. Have toys such as simple shape puzzles to keep their hands busy, or offer them a towel to put in the dryer.
By 13 months, your child may try to feed you a fry or a bottle to their baby doll. They love opening and closing doors, drawers, and the dishwasher. Offer spoons for them to put in the dishwasher during cleanup, have them help put clothes away in the drawers, or offer dolls or dinosaurs for them to practice feeding or caring for. They are learning to help, even though their assistance will create more work for you.
By 14 months, brushing teeth back and forth or combing hair is fun. They may push a toy back and forth or flip the light switch up and down. These actions can be maddening for parents, but this phase will pass quickly. Remember, these are essential skills.
By 15 months, your baby is pouring water in the bathtub and trying to wash and dry themselves. Setting up water play outside, where they are free to make a mess, offers hours of fun for them. Allow them to help bathe themselves or attempt to dry off. Give them sturdy plastic cups or big spoons to dip and pour in the bathtub.
By 16 months, your child is creating things, like stacking blocks into towers, lining up cars in a row, using a cookie cutter to make cookies, scribbling with crayons, or painting with a paintbrush. Offer these frequently during the day instead of electronic tablets or other digital entertainment. Teachers report that today’s preschool and kindergarten students are uncoordinated with their hands due to inadequate practice doing things other than tapping a tablet screen at home.
If your baby masters these play activities by 16 months, they are ready to launch their imagination into more advanced creative activities to boost their language and social skills. Their ability to imagine, speak, and create original ideas will set the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
Reviewing the activities your baby should learn, you may notice that many toys can be everyday objects. For example, if you do not have blocks, stack cans. If you cannot afford puzzles, cut out cardboard shapes and corresponding holes in your Amazon boxes. Allowing your 16-month-old to help out during daily chores is all they need. No expensive toys or electronics teach as well as everyday objects. And since the beginning of time, children have learned these skills using the objects around the house.
Keep them safe and loved, and offer physical items to keep them busy so they learn everything they should master. Please turn off the digital background distractions, such as television and tablets. Science has shown that those are actually detrimental to your child’s focus on mastering expected skills. Do not worry—your 16-month-old has plenty of time to learn to take a selfie or max out your credit card shopping online.
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The post Eight Play Activities Your 16-Month-Old Should Be Doing appeared first on Focus on the Family.
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Loving parents want to do what is best for their babies. However, most are unaware when asked, “What play activities should your child be doing?” Many are surprised to learn that their child’s play is more than entertainment; it is skill-building.
The first few months of your baby’s life involve feeding, changing, and making baby faces and funny sounds. As your child moves into toddlerhood, play activities become more complex, and parents often see a purpose to the play, such as patting the baby doll or stacking blocks. By 16 months, your child should have achieved certain play milestones to keep them on track to be ready for school.
The Purpose of Play for Children
Adults often think of play as entertainment. And for them, it is. Skiing at the lake, shooting baskets in the driveway, or gaming online are all forms of adult play. The purpose is to relax and have fun.
But while play for children is also fun, it is not designed to be relaxing or entertaining; it aims to teach skills necessary for life. Mr. Rogers once said, “Play is the work of children.” And he was correct.
It helps parents when they understand that their baby’s activities during the day are teaching real-life skills. For example, when your baby pulls bowls out of the cabinets, fills them, and dumps them out, he is learning to help in the kitchen. While it is messy now, with practice, it will become coordinated. Trying to put on shoes, often on the wrong foot or even backward at first, is not meant to entertain or play dress up, at least not yet. No, your 16-month-old baby is learning to dress themselves.
With this new knowledge, let’s examine the play milestones to better understand what your child should be doing by certain ages.
Play Activities Your 16-Month-Old Should Be Doing
1. Repeat Actions With Objects
By 9 months, your child can shake rattles, bang spoons, or bang blocks together. Repeating an action, such as banging toys together, teaches cause and effect. If your baby hits their spoon on the tray (cause), they feel the vibration and hear the sound (effect). And they might even get their desired result, which is your attention.
2. Take Off and Take Out
By 10 months, your baby should be able to remove socks, pull off hats, or take blocks out of the container, which are essential life skills. To undress, you must remove clothing. To help out, you must remove things from containers, such as clothes from the dryer. This age is often when parents say, “My baby makes such a mess!” They are not typically trying to make a mess. Instead, they are mastering taking off and pulling out. Don’t worry; one of the upcoming skills is putting objects in the container.
3. Push and turn
By 11 months, pushing buttons to see the lights or turning the knob to hear the click will mesmerize your baby. Pushing buttons is vital in life, as we all know, in the digital age. Turning knobs has become harder for children to learn because today’s toys rarely have knobs. But your child must still learn how to turn things using their hands. Two examples are turning their spoon to line up with their mouth during feeding, or turning their wrist to brush their hair.
4. Pat and put in
By 12 months, your baby may pat you on the back to comfort you. They may pat their belly when hungry. Thankfully, they are also learning to put those blocks into the container. Warning: They will also poke their finger in the wall socket or put small cereal pieces up their nose. Have toys such as simple shape puzzles to keep their hands busy, or offer them a towel to put in the dryer.
5. Feed others and open and close
By 13 months, your child may try to feed you a fry or a bottle to their baby doll. They love opening and closing doors, drawers, and the dishwasher. Offer spoons for them to put in the dishwasher during cleanup, have them help put clothes away in the drawers, or offer dolls or dinosaurs for them to practice feeding or caring for. They are learning to help, even though their assistance will create more work for you.
6. Move Objects Back and Forth, Up and Down
By 14 months, brushing teeth back and forth or combing hair is fun. They may push a toy back and forth or flip the light switch up and down. These actions can be maddening for parents, but this phase will pass quickly. Remember, these are essential skills.
7. Pour, Wash, and Dry
By 15 months, your baby is pouring water in the bathtub and trying to wash and dry themselves. Setting up water play outside, where they are free to make a mess, offers hours of fun for them. Allow them to help bathe themselves or attempt to dry off. Give them sturdy plastic cups or big spoons to dip and pour in the bathtub.
8. Stack, Cut Out, Scribble, Draw
By 16 months, your child is creating things, like stacking blocks into towers, lining up cars in a row, using a cookie cutter to make cookies, scribbling with crayons, or painting with a paintbrush. Offer these frequently during the day instead of electronic tablets or other digital entertainment. Teachers report that today’s preschool and kindergarten students are uncoordinated with their hands due to inadequate practice doing things other than tapping a tablet screen at home.
If your baby masters these play activities by 16 months, they are ready to launch their imagination into more advanced creative activities to boost their language and social skills. Their ability to imagine, speak, and create original ideas will set the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
God Provides the Toys
Reviewing the activities your baby should learn, you may notice that many toys can be everyday objects. For example, if you do not have blocks, stack cans. If you cannot afford puzzles, cut out cardboard shapes and corresponding holes in your Amazon boxes. Allowing your 16-month-old to help out during daily chores is all they need. No expensive toys or electronics teach as well as everyday objects. And since the beginning of time, children have learned these skills using the objects around the house.
Keep them safe and loved, and offer physical items to keep them busy so they learn everything they should master. Please turn off the digital background distractions, such as television and tablets. Science has shown that those are actually detrimental to your child’s focus on mastering expected skills. Do not worry—your 16-month-old has plenty of time to learn to take a selfie or max out your credit card shopping online.
Keep Growing Into the Best Parent for Your Kids!
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The post Eight Play Activities Your 16-Month-Old Should Be Doing appeared first on Focus on the Family.
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