February Activities: 14 Months Old.

Last week on instagram I was asked to participate in a challenge under the hashtag makedomontessori. The idea behind this is to show you don’t need expensive materials or wooden toys to be Montessori. I realized I haven’t shared here in a bit and thought showing what I put together for that post would be a perfect way to kick off February!

I decided to make some activities for Eva (she’s 14 months) and my goal was to use what I already had at home (craft supplies, recycled items) and not to spend any money (and if I did, it had to be minimal.) I managed to put together all of these activities in about an hour and only spent $2. 

1. Bell shaker: I made this out of a recycled jar, 2 pipe cleaners and some bells left over from Christmas decor. It’s a great DIY bell shaker. 

2. Sticky pom poms: This is a lint roller and pom poms! The idea is to roll the lint roller over the pom poms (so they stick to it) and then use fingers to remove the pom poms from the lint roller. It’s great for fine motor development.

3. Velcro pull: I used a box I had laying around (it’s from Ikea) and attached some velcro squares to it. Then I cut some hearts out of paper and wrapped them in scotch tape (I could have laminated them but I was feeling a bit lazy) and then put matching velcro squares on the back side of the hearts. The idea is she puts the hearts on the box and then pulls them off. 

4. Coloring: I cut up some paper and paired it with an egg crayon (great for young toddlers.) This is great practice for learning to apply measure to make a mark on the paper.

5. Kinetic sand sensory kit: I used kinetic sand (the kids were gifted it at Christmas time), some pipe cleaners, cookie cutters, plastic cups, rubber ducks and then the only thing I bought was the bin ($2 at Target!)

6. Posting work: For this, I wrapped a shoe box in brown wrapping paper and used golf tees to poke a few holes. Now she can match up the golf tees to the holes and it’s great for hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

7. Rings on a pole: I gathered an old paper towel holder, put strips of washi tape on a paper towel roll and then cut it up into narrow rings. Now, she can practice placing the rings on the paper towel holder.

8. Wrapped blocks: This one is so simple! Eva loved the holidays (and her birthday right before that!) and she really enjoyed unwrapping presents. So, I took the opportunity to wrap up some wooden blocks… just so she could UNWRAP them. This is another activity great for those little fingers.

Will you try any of these activities with your young toddler?