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

A wonder week

Ages ago I read an interesting article about “wonder weeks“. Apparently babies go through predictable stages where they spend a period of time being fussy - unusually clingy and difficult - followed by a period of time when they are much happier after passing through a stage of development.

We’ve definitely had one of those wonder weeks! After several days of extreme crankiness, the last few days have seen Talia

- trying to walk dozens of times a day (whereas beforehand she went for days without trying) and usually managing at least 4 steps per attempt - sometimes up to 8.

- stacking boxes for the first time, including one 4 box tower. Previously she was only interested in destroying any sort of stack.

- standing up in the middle of the room (not pulling herself up on anything) for the first time

- scribbling for the first time (using an etch-a-sketch I bought second hand today)

She has been very pleased with these achievements, with lots of smiles and clapping, and as doting parents we are also very proud of her.

Talia at 18 months

Doesn’t time fly? It’s hard to imagine that a year ago this gorgeous almost-toddler was borderline failing to thrive, and I was struggling with post-natal depression as a result.

Talia at 18 months

Now she’s a little above the 10th percentile at 9.33kg and 74cm long, and has made the move into size 0 and size 1 clothing. I pulled out her summer clothing from last year and marvelled how 000 could look so small, when at first we could hardly imagine she would ever be big enough to wear it. We’ve come through winter with only two minor colds, which is fantastic given that she left hospital with chronic lung disease.

Developmentally speaking, Talia still exhibits global delays, but they do not stop her enjoying life immensely. She is nearly walking, having taken her first few steps, but is happier crawling at the moment - including some new crab walking with her bottom in the air. She recently started baby swimming classes (known here as “synchronised splashing”) and hopefully that will help her core body strength as well as giving her confidence around water.

Her favourite activities at the moment are going on the swing in the park, reading books, playing with balls, pegs and balloons, popping bubbles, starting games of peek-a-boo and hanging out with her bath toys. She has recently grasped the concept of putting pieces into a simple jigsaw (no interlocking pieces) but doesn’t have the dexterity to complete it by herself just yet.

Talia at 6 months (3 corrected) - one year ago.

Eating is still patchy, with the same problems of “loved it yesterday, hate it today, don’t even bother tomorrow”, but she’s continuing to gain weight (and grow out of things) despite the fact that she’s almost 100% self fed on finger food and I’m no closer to getting her to eat off a spoon, regardless of whether I’m holding it or she is. On the positive side, we can feed her a little bit of whatever we are having and no longer have to rely on food organised specifically for her (although we still do to some extent), and we’ve moved from formula to cow’s milk in the last month without any problems - in fact she clearly prefers it.

She will sometimes allow us to brush her teeth but it does take quite a bit of persistence. She sleeps well overnight and has one nap in the middle of the day, usually 1-1.5 hours long. I wish she’d sleep longer during the day but no luck so far - her room is probably not dark enough.

All in all, a wonderful, easy-care baby, even if she came without a manual! We feel very fortunate, and very proud.

13 months corrected

Just a quick post with Talia’s latest achievements…

Since her 12 month corrected paed check up, Talia has started:

- walking behind a cart

- climbing up and down steps (only one a time as our house doesn’t have a staircase)

- responding to a simple command to give me her cup, which was previously always dropped over the edge of the high chair

- recognising some words - she will, if asked, go and find some of her toys which she knows by name

- making a few new sounds - like ta ta ta, and something that sounded suspiciously like her name - Ta-ee-ah

- hugging some of her toys

Putting a foot forward

This evening I am pleased to report independently verified (ie Daddyfeatures saw her do it too) cruising along the footstools.

The cat is looking increasingly worried at these new developments in mobility!