Montessori activities for 14 month old can play a vital role. Young babies are a very active, curious, and keen observers. Educationist says that children’s brain at early years is like observing machine. Every child has his inner urge to provoke him to move and to do something. When a child follows his inner urge and experience things then he learns from his experiences.
So it’s parents’ responsibility to cater to their children’s interests and facilitate the learning process. Parents should make a playing room or small corner for children. Where material /stuff should be placed and children can use stuff according to his interests.
Because by making a specific corner or area in-home child will aware that this is my place and I can play with my toys and materials.
Besides making a corner in the home let’s make children busy with home tasks. If you are washing utensils give glass and a piece of cloth to clean.
In this way, fine motor skills will be developed and on the other side, he will become an independent person in the future. Montessori activities for 14 month old are
Table of Contents
Placing Things
Children love to take things from any container, basket, cupboard any open place and give to another person and place them in another place. They enjoy this taking, giving, or placing things from one place to another place. Through this activity child’s fine and gross motors skills, hand and eye coordination, and muscles become strong.
Pouring small beads or powder
You need one child-sized spoon and two bowls. Put small beads, salt, sand, or measles in one bowl. The child will transfer the given material from one bowl to another bowl with a spoon. Control of error will be to keep the area clean.
In this way, hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills developed. After the activity child should clean the area and arrange things as well. Firstly adults will model how to arrange and clean the area and make the child involved in this process. Gradually he’ll learn that how to complete the activity.
Reading books and turning the page
This is a general perception that when children go to school then they will start reading. This perception is wrong. According to my opinion reading should start from the age of 6 months. Parents should show them pictures; describe pictures with facial expressions and different tones. So that child can feel the happy, sad, shocked, surprised funny moments of the story.
In the early years the more you give them exposure to the world the more they will learn and become more curious.
Hold the hand of a child and turn the page of the story. Put his finger on the text. In this way, he will learn that text starts from left to right.
Finger painting
Colors inspire young children. Put a few drops of paint in the food try. Let him be free to play with paint drops. He will make scribbles on the tray. You can put different paints. While making scribbles he will enjoy color mixing. When he will touch paint through muscular memory his cognitive skills will become sharp.
Sound Bottles
This is a Montessori material. There are 6 bottles having different materials in them. The child shakes them and identifies the sounds. They make pairs of bottles that have the same sounds.
We can make sound bottles at home. Take empty containers and put anything in them eg small stones, sands, beads, nuts, nails, cotton, salt, small blocks. You should involve the child in this process.
This activity will enhance his listening skills and he can differentiate sounds.
Playing music
It’s not compulsory to buy musical instruments for this activity. Take spoons of different sizes and glasses or trays of different materials like metal, plastic wood. Let him play music with the material. The parent will model how to use a spoon and let him play according to his choice.
The child holds and moves the spoon for hitting the material which will develop his hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills. As he is playing music so his listening power will become strong. He can discriminate different sounds.
Sorting shapes and colors
We need 2 containers or baskets which will be filled with matching colored balls/ blocks /buttons/ ice cream sticks/ beads which are easily available at home. Now what child has to do?
He will take an object and place it in a basket that has the same color.
Eg: If he has taken a green ball then he will place it in the green basket.
We can make shapes with charts and sort things according to the shapes.
Eg; cutouts of squares and triangles are placed then children will place square-shaped objects on square cutouts and triangular shapes on triangle cut out.
For effective learning, adults should model and they’ll be doing activities with the child. He will be saying shapes and color names. He has to give instructions to the child he has to follow. Where a child makes mistakes model him the correct one.
Opening and Closing
Children love to open and close objects. We can use lids of wet tissues. We can open and close lids easily. If we paste pictures inside then it will be more attractive for kids. We can fix the mirror inside. Children make different expressions when they see their own self in the mirror. This thing will inspire them more to open and close the lid.
We can give them lotions. Children pick up lotions and creams by themselves from the dressing table and make messes with them.
When mom is busy in the kitchen children aged 12 to 14 months open the cupboard by themselves and take out everything. When all things are out they close the cupboard.
They love to drag things and may drag this around the house.
Playing with water
Young children become excited to see water. They spilled water and start splashing.
Being parent arrange a water splash area where water tubs and colored balls or water toys eg water guns, rubber ducks, turtle or fish will be placed so that children should enjoy the water.
Play with sand
Medical improves that when children play in the sand they grow quickly and become healthy. If the sandy area is not in your home then you can take a big tub, put sand in it. Give them spoons and pots so that they can fill the pot with sand. After filling the pot place it upside down and they can make different things with it. These are the Montessori activities for 14-month-old.
