Activities for 1 year olds at home

What one year olds actually do

A one year old does not play with things so much as investigate them. They bang two objects together, put one inside another, drop something to see where it goes, and look up to check you saw. Everything they pick up goes through the same routine. The activities that work at this age are the ones that make that routine more interesting, with different textures, sounds and containers, rather than anything with rules.

Two or three minutes on one thing is a good stretch. Have a few things ready, let them move between them, and do not worry when they abandon something halfway.

Kitchen floor ideas

Tip a thin layer of flour onto a baking tray and press their hands into it. Then give them a wooden spoon and let them tap it, drag it, and cover the floor. A few mixing bowls turned upside down and a spoon make a drum kit, and a one year old will play it for longer than you would like. Fill a basket with scraps of fabric of different textures, a bit of towel, something silky, a woolly jumper sleeve, and let them pull everything out and feel it.

The clear-up is part of the deal. Put a towel or a tray under things and it comes down to one shake outside.

Ideas that get them moving

Cut a hole in the lid of an empty tissue box and stuff a few scarves inside for them to pull out and post back. Build a wobbly tower out of cushions and let them knock it down, then build it again. Push a low chair or coffee table into the middle of the room so there is something to crawl under and pull up on. A newly walking one year old wants to go under, over and through everything, and giving them a safe way to do that saves the bookshelves.

Keep sessions short and stay close. At this age you are the safety rail as much as the playmate.

Quiet moments

When they slow down, a board book on your lap with pages they can turn themselves is enough. They will not follow the story. They will turn the pages, point at things, and go back to the same page five times, and that is the activity. The list below has the steps for each of these, plus what to look for and a switch-up for when the first go is over. If they are not interested today, leave it out and try tomorrow. Nothing here is a one-shot.

Try this together

Flour Hand Prints from 12 months · 25-40 min Flour Spoon Tap from 13 months · 5-10 min Bowl Drum Concert from 13 months · 30-45 min Textured Fabric Basket from 12 months · 20-30 min Scarf Pull Tube from 12 months · 5-10 min Cushion Tower Build from 12 months · 5-10 min Chair Crawl Under from 12 months · 5 min Board Book Page Turn from 12 months · 5-10 min

More play guides

Rainy day activities for toddlers at home Pick one big-movement idea and one sit-down idea. That covers most of a wet afternoon. Screen-free activities for 2 year olds At two, the best screen-free activities are real jobs: pouring, sorting, carrying, stirring. Things to do with an 18 month old at home At 18 months they want to carry, post, tip out and put back. Give them jobs that are exactly that.