Fine Motor and Play Activity Ideas for 12 month olds

I found another of those handouts from the OT department of the State Child Development Centre! Again this is not specifically for prems but just gives some ideas of things you can be doing with your child. Don’t panic if your baby’s development is delayed at this point, Talia wasn’t doing many of these things at 12 months corrected, but she caught up the following year. And if you need help at this point, KEMH will refer you on to physio etc after your 12 month corrected check up - or you can go private if you don’t want to wait that long.

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Babies learn through exploration about themselves and their surroundings. By 12 months old most children do things over and over again becuase that’s the way they understand how things work. Doing things repetitively also builds their confidence and strengthens the connections in their brain’s development.
Their individual personality will favour some types of play more than others. Follow your child’s lead in this, by giving choices within the playtime.
Their memory skills are also developing so they know that when you leave, you still exist and they know they don’t want you to go. This is why babies often get upset when you are out of sight.

At 12 months old (corrected age/full term) babies can usually do most of the following:

Play/Social Skills
- indicate wants and show toys
- show affection to familiar people
- show likes/dislikes and test parent’s reactions
- simple imaginiateive play - likes repetitive play
- explore
- start of no - resistive phase
- wave bye-bye
- know name and simple commands with gestures
- clap hands in imitation

Fine motor/perceptual skills
- pincer grip and poke with index finger
- stoop and recover objects
- show preference for one hand
- imitate scribbbling by end of 12 months
- variety of positions - sitting, crawling, standing - walking
- good visual memory noticing details
- aware of ends and means
- not mouthing objects as much
- post objects
- supinates forearm (ie can move hands to be palms up)
- voluntary release ie throws objects
- builds tower of two blocks
- removes pegs

Activities of Daily Living
- finger feeds
- holds spoon
- drinks from cup (held)
- co-operates with dressing
- sleeps 12-14 hours and naps

Activities that encourage Play & Development at 12 months
- push along toys
- toys that pull apart eg blocks/nesting/stacking toys
- large puzzles
- ball skills with large ball
- shakers
- hide and seek; peek-a-boo play
- screw toys
- pointing and looking at pictures in books together. Understanding the names of familiar objects in books
- action rhymes
- simple pretend play eg puppets, simple dress ups (eg hat on head), cuddling a doll, kissing a doll, feeding teddy or mummy, play “ta” games
- mirror games
- posting toys
- crayons for scribbling

Published by the Occupational Therapy Department, State Child Development Centre 2007