Baby School - Stacking and Building

H is 15 months old, but all these pictures were taken last month at 14 months old.  He's really been into building and stacking lately, and I wanted to post an update featuring his latest talents..

A little while after H turned 14 months old, I introduced him to stacking blocks.  He was so fascinated by this, that he would sit in his crib for hours practicing stacking blocks over and over again.  His maximum was 3 rubber blocks for a while, but now a month later, he can easily stack 5 or 6 blocks.  He's even figured out the center of gravity and knows how to align them fairly straight.

 

Similarly, when I showed him to to pull Mega Bloks apart and push them together, he undertook this task with much dedication and precision (a true engineer!).  I even tried to trick him a few times by handing him blocks in the wrong position, and he knew how to orient them correctly in his hand so they would fit together.   The twins were definitely a lot less interested in Mega Bloks at this age, and were not as good at rotating and flipping pieces as he is (I remember they could only do puzzle pieces that were shaped like circles for a while, and H has already mastered other shapes).

I found these really cool stacking pegs for babies/toddlers at the 2nd-hand store for $5 (they retail for $20), and all the kids have been enjoying them.

Another used-toy find was a set of 33 Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks (also $5, retail new for $40+).  They're not only fun for stacking, but each one has something cute inside that spins or rattles - the 3 year old twins enjoy it as much as H, who likes putting them in his pail and carrying them around.

 

We're continuing work on shapes and colors - H can hand me the shape or color I ask for most of the time.  He also think it's funny when I 'make a mistake' and name the wrong shape or color (he shakes his head 'no' and laughs).

I've also been doing a lot more art and sensory experiences with H lately, as well (finger painting on aluminum foil with green jello 'paint' in the photo above).  I'll take more photos and share our art experiences next time...

Linking to  Tot School at 1+1+1=1

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