Conference moira::parenting

    My 15 month old loves to color!  I just spread out a BIG sheet of paper
    on her high chair tray, give her the water-based markers and let her go.
    Of course she insisted on doing this after watching her big brother
    coloring.  She really likes the Barney coloring book to look at
    pictures.
    
    Another thing she really enjoys is looking at the family picture album.  

	Yup, Emily loves to color, too.  Of course, you need to be a 
	pretty good interpreter to figure out that that's what she 
	wants.  When she wants to color, she says "round and round", because
	Grammy's trying to teach her how to draw circles...

	Other than that, on my day off, Emily and I do all sorts of things
	together.  We vaccuum, dust, go grocery shopping, go to aerobics,
	take naps ;-)

    I have Fridays off too (girls day).  When Natasha was that age she like
    to do some of the following:
    
    	- Listen to music with a good beat and rock back & forth.  Each of
          you holding a toy.  (At 2 she hear the radio and goes running for 
          a stuff toy for me to hold and dance with, she likes to imitate
          whatever dance move I make)
    
    	- She loved to clean!  A sponge with a little water in the kitchen
          and she'd have a ball wiping my cabinets (of course the floor
          gets wet)
    
    	- We have a U shape kitchen area, I use to remove all the plants &
          table and our socks - then mommy would blow bubble on the floor
          and Tashi would pop them................she's squeel with delight.
    	  When the floor got to wet I'm wipe up with a towel and again we'd
          go.   (be careful....wash floor up good afterward...very slippery)
    
    	- She loved talking & playing peak-a-boo though toilet paper
          tubes.
    
    	- She loved books with pop up & slides (we had to then & now watch
          her carefully with these books because she's rip them)
    
    	- I'd make pom-poms out of paper strips (big used computer works
    	  great.....cut in shreds....tape together with masking tape for a
          handle)    We'd each have a set and we'd walk around with the 
          music going........shaking the pom-poms (great noise) saying,
    	  "go-team-go".   The shred a little, but that was all part of the
          fun.
    	
    	- Again, in the kitchen I'd set up a water table using my dish pan
          and measure cups, funnel and big spoons.   Sometimes I made the 
          water with bubbles.   One day I filled the tub (without water)
          with all kinds of pasta & rice.........make a great
          sound.....just make sure you have a good vacuum. 
    
    	- Play with a box (standard moving box) is always fun.  Put all the 
          stuff toys in...........she can sit in it when its on its side.
    
    
    	- She loved & still loves beaded necklaces.  I put them on her &
          she on me.
    
    We have a good time....usually with just stuff around the house.  We
    always had great fun playing in the laundry when it was cool and out of 
    the dryer.  She loves to fluff & fold laundy.........of courese she's
    just shake it.
    
    Anyway....that's probably more than you asked for.  Thanks for the
    opportunity to remember all the fun things we did back then & now.
    
    Robin :-)))) 

    
    another idea for when you get cabin fever.... a trip to the mall!
    
    I'm *not* a shopper,and when I wantto shop, I'd rather go alone, but
    there's a lot to see.
    
    If you have fountains, a little splashing is always fun. If there's an
    art/poster store, you can play color games.  Cloth shops are good for
    exploring textures, etc....
    
    we also go outside for a few minutes each day, unless it's blizzarding!.
    You can go on nature walks and collect treasures  - rocks are real big
    right now, followed by leaves and sticks. 
    
    

    RE coloring
    
    You can also tape large pieces of paper on the wall, at her height
    level, and let her color standing up. 
    
    A weekly trip to the library would be great, even if you only spend a
    few minutes looking at a book and then a few minutes with whatever toys
    your children's room at the library offers. It's a nice habit to start,
    and they're never to young to be inundated with reading.
    
    

    My daughter also loved the mall, watching all the people.  Our mall has
    a children's play area.  It was a little overwhelming at 14 months but
    she watched and played on the peripheral.
    
    Another thing at 17months we took our daughter to a petting zoo.  She
    loved it - ran from animal to animal.  
    
    Reading - the board books.  Her favorites were "little teapot", "Baa
    Baa Black Sheep" and "Pat a cake" by Moria Kemp.  These books are only
    a few pages in length, Very colorful and durable.  They also have the
    hand movements for us parents who may have forgotten how to move to
    "I'm a little teapot".

ooblek - one part cornstarch to one part water.  Very
strange stuff, lots of fun.  Throw in some food coloring
for variety.  (Blue food coloring is difficult to
remove from skin, BTW).

playdoh - I have a homemade recipe I can bring in, altho
I think it's in here somewhere.

plastic milk carton and clothes pins - good eye-hand
toy, Sarah *loves* this.

along the same line - diaper wipe box with a slot in
the top and orange juice can lids

Dress-up is good too.  Get interesting fabric remnants,
old hats, *big* socks, and a full-length mirror.  Safe
jewelry is good, but very hard to find.


Basically, a one year old is happy doing almost anything.
They love to participate in what *you* are doing.  She'd
be very happy to trash the kitchen cupboards while you cook,
unfold the laundry as you fold it, jump on the beds while
you make them, etc.  The back section of Penelope Leach's
"first Five Years" (I think that's the name), has a
pages-long chart of age-appropriate toys and activities
for kids up to 5.  You could get more ideas there.

Pat

    
    
    I thought  of another ideas source:  "The Mother's ALmanac", a really
    wonderful, heartwarming idea book.
    JAMD

    
    My daughter loved "mazes" at that age, we took the cushions off the 
    couch and she'd crawl and walk all over them, and then build forts
    with them!