Welcome to Baby School

Baby H is 13 months old.  Most of H's day is spent observing his sisters playing, but I always try to fit in some new learning experiences that are geared just towards him (mostly sensory explorations and Montessori-inspired activities).  I figure that it's time for H to get his own Baby School weekly post showing all the neat things he has been discovering lately.  I didn't get a chance to capture all the cool activities we've been doing this week, but I'll share a handful of them..



Sensory Exploration

We did a couple seasonal activities this week.  H had fun exploring a variety of small gourds.  I let him play on his own, then joined in and pointed out the different textures, colors, and sizes.  When I had them on the table, he enjoyed throwing them down, so we moved to the floor.

When the older girls and I carved a pumpkin, H watched intently.  I put some seeds and pulp in a ziplock bag, sealed it with some packaging tape, and let him play with it (supervised, of course).  It had a really neat feeling, and H enjoyed mushing it and trying to move the seeds around with his finger.  When he started biting on the bag, I took it away.

Fine Motor Skills & Color Recognition

H plays with a lot of different toys, but each week I try to focus on one or two toys that get special attention until he can master them.  This week I took out these blocks and showed H how to build a pyramid.  We named the colors and said 'on' and 'off' as we assembled and disassembled pyramids, and by the end of the week he had mastered this skill.

Another favorite activity was putting plastic keys into a container.  The keys would not fit in the container unless they were oriented vertically, so this was a nice challenge for H, and good preparation for other fine motor skills which he isn't quite ready for yet (like putting straws and q-tips through small holes).

I also gave H two bowls, some Cheerios and a spoon to try some transferring work.  He had a good time tipping the contents of the bowl all over the floor.  I'll have to do more spooning/scooping/pouring work with him this week.


Music

We spent a lot of time singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments this week, but this is the only picture I managed to capture.  At first, H tried to suck on the recorder, but after I gently blew on his face, H instantly figured out that he was supposed to blow into it to make a noise.

I'll try to remember to capture more photos of H's Baby School activities for next weeks summary.  H is really reaching a fun age where he is learning new concepts so quickly, and I love coming up with new ideas for learning explorations for him.

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